Blog Archive

50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Photoshop’s text and layer tools can be used to create some really awesome effects. We’ve put together a list of 60 of the best tutorials we could find to help you stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques. You’ll find some really cool grunge and glass styles (plus a few surprises!) and learn how some of the best designers create their unique effects.
Preview in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Courtesy: LemonDesign
Instead of listing 100 plus tutorials that you’ll bookmark never to come back, we’ve decided to take you through the basics of typography, hopefully inspiring and then teaching you. Typography is an art just like any other. You have to feel the form, admire the curves and connect with the flow.
You may want to take a look at the following related posts:

Introduction to Typography

Intro in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Typography is the art of arranging type, designing type, and modifying type glyphs. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, line spacing (leading), adjustment of space between groups of letters (tracking) and adjustment of space between pairs of letters (kerning).
Here are some resources to give you further insight:

The Wisest Mind Has Something Yet to Learn

Inspire in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
And we, too, never stop being inspired, learning and creating:

How to Choose the Right Type

Choose in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Guess if you can, choose if you dare. Typeface can make or break your design. Let the type speak for itself: its dimensions, curves, strength and space should define your purpose.

Resources to Live by

Fonts in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Finding quality fonts can be overwhelming because there are literally millions out there and finding the right one is a painful process. Here are a few resources I use to find a font for a project I am working on.

Here Come the Tutorials

Now that you understand the importance of typography, let’s move on to the awesome Photoshop tutorials we were talking about. The above resources on type were pretty general, whereas these tutorials deal mainly with text effects that you could use in posters, magazines or whatever you wish. The basics of typography apply to most of the work you will do with the tutorials below.

Go Crazy with 3D

3D texture
Create amazing 3D-textured text with Illustrator and Photoshop in this in-depth tutorial.
3D-texture in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Create a spectacular flaming meteor effect on text
Take typography one step further by having text falling from the sky in a burning inferno. Yes, this is the text-on-fire tutorial to end all text-on-fire tutorials. It uses a little Illustrator for the text and a lot of Photoshop to burn up the screen!
02 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Funky 3D-style letters
A straightforward guide to creating funky 3D-style letters.
3D-style in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
How to create high-quality metal 3D text in Photoshop
This tutorial shows you how to create 3D text and give it a high-quality metal look using only Photoshop.
03 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Light and shade
In this tutorial we are going to take some very basic principles of light and shade to make a rather impressive-looking text effect.
Shade in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Create Destructive Black and White Lettering with a Dramatic Splash Effect
Learn how to make some expressive lettering, which includes thoughts connected with a central word. You’ll turn standard text into a stunning, destructive illustration, and give it a final unique look.
Lost in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Chunky 3D letters
Create big chunky 3D letters with this colorful tutorial!
Too-big in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Stunning 3D effects in 30 minutes
Together, with a pinch of this and a dash of that, we’ll figure out how to create this cool effect in just 30 minutes.
04 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
How to Quickly Create a Stylish Retro Text Effect
Learn how to create a quite cool retro text effect. You will learn how to use the Perspective tool to create depth and how designers can use default gradients in unusual ways.
Retr in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
3D text with a touch of grunge
A pretty detailed tutorial that shows you how to create grungy 3D text.
05 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Design soft stylized 3D type
Learn the basics of creating polished 3D type using Illustrator and Photoshop.
06 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
07 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Create a dream-like design with 3D typograph
This detailed tutorial shows you how to create a 3D typography-based design. All the elements revolve around the theme of dreaming.
08 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Elements of Nature

Quick and dirty Photoshop text effects from scratch (six tutorials in one)
Learn how to make six different effects using just layer styles. So really, this is like six tutorials in one!
9 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Create a spectacular grass text effect in Photoshop
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a rather cool-looking grass text effect.
10 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Plastic text
Turn text into plastic using Photoshop’s layer styles.
Plastic-text in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Icy cold
Get ready for winter: create icy cold text!
Icy-cold in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Paint-splodged text
This is a quick text effect tutorial. It shows you how to simply create paint-splodged text.
12 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Text in stitches
In this Photoshop tutorial, you will learn how to convert text to a path and stitch that path using a custom brush set.
13 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Wet watercolor
A watercolor on wet paper effect. Experiment to create different painting effects.
Watercolor in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
How to create a gold text effect in Photoshop
Learn how to create a gold text effect. I personally love this effect, so subtle yet powerful.
14 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Colored chrome
Make chrome text and then color it!
Colorful-chrome in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Reflective liquid type
Create liquid text, a very handy trick.
15 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Wood inlay
A decorative wood-inlay text effect.
Wood-inlay in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Paper-craft text effect
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create paper-craft text effects.
16 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Dramatic text-on-fire effect in Photoshop
Learn how to use a photograph of fire to strike text to the match. This is a beautiful tutorial, a must-see.
17 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Grunge & Co.

How to Create a Copper Photoshop Text Effect
This is a strong and eye-catching text effect, though relatively simple to create. You’ll be using bevel and emboss styles, pattern overlays, and combining different techniques to mock-up the text into a related background.
Copper in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Vanity License Plate
In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a custom vanity license plate using a few basic Photoshop tools a piece of reference material and some creative layer stylings.
Cali in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Star Wars text effect
A step-by-step guide to creating a Star Wars text effect.
Clone-wars in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Create a trendy typographic poster design
Using simple shapes, you can produce some great-looking contemporary designs that create a big impact on posters; another good example being the recent Trendy Geometric Lines tutorial.
18 Rotated in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Graffiti with Photoshop
When you don’t have the guts to pull this off in the real world, Photoshop to the rescue. Learn how to make graffiti with Photoshop.
19 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Super-cool frilly bits typography
In this tutorial, you will learn how to mix some vectors with letters to create a really nice design. This one is a personal favorite.
20 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Typography wallpaper in Photoshop
Why not design your own typographic wallpaper from now on?
21 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Dirty grunge text
Create dirty grunge text in Photoshop.
Dirty-grunge in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Rusty text
Make text rusty by following this easy tutorial.
Rusty-text in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Warm neon glow
Six simple steps to create a warm neon glow.
Neon-glow in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Floral
Learn how to make stylish floral typography.
Floral-effect in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Splattered blood
Blood-splattered mafia-style text!
Mafia in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Worn and torn
Create worn and torn text with this easy-to-follow guide.
Worn-torn in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Grunge rubber stamp.
Create a grunge rubber stamp effect in seven simple steps.
Rubber in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Distorted letters
Learn to distort letters using Photoshop brushes with this amazingly easy tutorial.
Distorted-letters in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Decorative text
Learn how to decorate text with colorful floral patterns in this tutorial.
Decorating-text in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Rough metal
Create a rough-metal text effect with this tutorial.
Rough-metal in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Light and Glass

A slick supernatural text effect
Create a smoky night effect with text, giving it an eerie supernatural feel. It’s a good exercise in using the wave distortion filter.
22 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Smoke type in Photoshop in 10 steps
Learn how to create a smoke typography effect by playing with some brushes and adjustment layers. It’s a very easy tutorial, and you will be able to finish the whole process in 5 to 10 minutes.
23 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Moonshine effect
In just a few simple steps, you can add a soft, calm, easy-going moon-like text effect.
Moon-shine in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Transparent glass lettering in Photoshop
In this tutorial, you’ll use some super layer effects and a bit of magic to make a lettering style that looks transparent and stunning.
24 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Scan-line text
Create a style dubbed “Scan-Line Text,” which is basically text that glows like bright scan lines, with a smart reflection as well. Learn how to create this amazing yet simple effect with this easy-to-follow tutorial.
25 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Create a layered glowing text effect
In this tutorial, we will create this effect using very basic Photoshop tools and layering effects.
28 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Vibrant pop text effect
In just a few moments, you can add a vibrant splash to your text that will really give your design a pop-culture flavor!
30 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Slow-shutter effect
Learn how to create this beautiful slow-shutter text effect.
31 in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Colorful glow
A colorful, glowing text effect, great for integrating in designs with dark backgrounds.
Glowing-text in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Retro and Vintage

Colorful retro text
A colorful retro text effect using both Illustrator and Photoshop.
Retro-text in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Colorful watercolor
Learn to make a colorful and distinctive watercolor text effect with this tutorial.
Colorful-watercolor in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials

Experiments

Furry text
Create a tactile, furry text effect that looks like the real thing!
Furry-text in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Wrapped parcel
A cartoon-like wrapped-parcel text style.
Parcel-wrapped in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Barbed wire
Wrap your text in barbed wire!
Barbed-wire in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Light burst
An amazing light-burst effect!
Light-burst in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Sand writing
Learn how to write a message in the sand with Photoshop.
Sand in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials
Flower text
Create a pretty floral text effect. It looks difficult but is surprisingly easy!
Flower in 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials