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How To Create An Abstract Text Effect In Photoshop

Posted on 08. Sep, 2009 by Daniel in Tutorials

In this tutorial you will learn how to modify a simple text to get an abstract text effect in Photoshop. This tutorial only takes a few steps and the outcome looks very artistic.

Let’s start designing!

Step 1

First of all open a new 800×600 document and fill it with a white background. Add your Text (T) and choose whatever font you prefer. For this tutorial I chose Helvetica. To place your text in the center of the document, click the align horizontal center and align vertical center buttons while having the background and text layer selected and the Move Tool (V) active.

Step 2

Now it’s time to change the spacing and kerning. With your text layer selected, open up the Character window (Window » Character) and play with the settings. Let’s see how much negative spacing we can apply while the text is still readable. You can also move some letters up or down.

Step 3

The next thing we want to do is manipulate the text and delete some pixels. Since our layer is still considered a text layer, you will notice that you can’t delete anything with tools such as the Eraser Tool (E). So what we have to do first is to rasterize the type (Layer » Rasterize » Type). After that, activate the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), make a selection of your choice and then cut out (Return Key) random pixels of your text.

Step 4

When you’re finished, we will move on to the coloring. Choose three to five harmonising colors of your choice. I recommend Adobe’s Kuler to do so.

Create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl + N) and start with adding some colored sprites. Use the Polygon Lasso Tool (L) to draw some polygons and then select the Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill your selections with color. With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) you can also add circles. For some objects you can set the layer blending mode to Lighten in the dropdown list. This will only color the part where your sprite and text meet each other. Just experiment around a bit. When you’re happy with your outcome, we can move on to the last step.

Step 5

Last but not least we will come to the final adjustments. Grab a nice texture from one of these links. Place (File » Place) the texture on top of all layers and set the layer blending mode to Multiply and decrease the opacity to about 50%.

Conclusion

In this tutorial we used the selection tool, lasso tool and layer blend modes to transform a text into an abstract looking piece of art.
Got a question or anything to add regarding this tutorial? Feel free to leave a comment!