Art [T] Typography [E]

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1]Right, then. Here we go with a tutorial for typography, or [B]text[/B]. I use PaintShopPro 9 to make my graphics, so if you use Photoshop there?s a different method of carrying out these steps. (You guys have it easier, believe me). I?ve only covered one effect of many that could be applied in this tut, so feel free to ask if there?s anything else you wish to know. Even if you use Photoshop, I?ll try and answer.

This is your tool kit. The buttons you?ll be using have been circled and labelled.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/screen_1.jpg[/IMG]

I made a very simple image to show for this tutorial. In order to add text, all you need to do is click the button I labelled ?Text? and then click anywhere on your canvas. Your screen will then show this.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image2.jpg[/IMG]

You will be given a lot of options at the top of your screen. First you?ll want to select your font style. Keep in mind that style has a lot to do with what stock you?re using and what kind of effect you want to give. For example, bubble fonts are good for bright, big and cute pictures, while a serif and more angular font is good for smaller banners and serious pictures. I?m going to use the Garamond font, and select it in bold and with a ?sharp? anti-alias. This simply means the edges will be slightly smooth.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image3.jpg[/IMG]

Type in the word you want, and it will go into both the text box and the canvas. Don?t worry about the colour, size or position yet. Those are really easy to change.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image4.jpg[/IMG]

Now, here?s the part where you start thinking of colour schemes. I find it?s best to select a colour from my stock using the dropper tool. I?m going to use the yellow. Now, PSP is a bit retarded, so make sure the colour you want to use for your text is the bottom box rather than the top.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/colour_palette2.jpg[/IMG]

Now you have the yellow, you can change the font colour and simply drag the text to wherever you want.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image6.jpg[/IMG]

Now let?s change the size. Click the drop down menu for the size whilst your text is selected in the text box and choose the size. I like a big font size that?ll fill the empty white space.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image7.jpg[/IMG]

This next bit is where I?ll show you how to add a neat glowing that can be useful when you have text on a banner or graphic with lots of colours. First you?ll need to right click on your text layer, and select the option ?Duplicate?.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image8.jpg[/IMG]

One the layer is duplicated; you?ll have two Vector layers (text layers). The top one will be ?Copy of Vector 1?, and the bottom will be called ?Vector 1?. You need to convert [B]both[/B] of them to Raster layers, which makes them easier to work with. However, this will mean you can?t edit your font size, style, anti-alias etc any more. So make sure you like what you?ve chosen! Right click each layer in turn, and select the option ?Convert to Raster Layer?. What was Vector 1 will now be renamed ?Raster 5?.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image9.jpg[/IMG]

You may be wondering what those padlock symbols are by the side of the layers (I sure did for a few months). These show whether or not the layer pixels are locked. By default, all layer will be unlocked which means you can draw anywhere you like on them. However, locking a layer means you can only draw/edit over the pixels on that specific layer. This is really useful for text and when using the pen tool. Simply click the padlock symbol to lock the layer.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image10.jpg[/IMG]

Once I?ve locked ?Copy of vector 1?, I?m going to colour it white. Simply select a white colour and use the brush tool, running it over the text. Because the layer is locked, only the text will be coloured. Now it?s disappeared as it blends with the canvas, but that's okay.

Next, select Raster 5, where the text will still be yellow. Click Adjust [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image122.jpg[/IMG]

You?ll be given this screen, where you can adjust how much blur you want. For text, a small amount of blur is fine, so I?ll adjust it to ?2.00?.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/Image14.jpg[/IMG]

Now your text will glow! But it isn?t very easy to see. No problem. Lock Raster 5 and select a new colour from the stock, which is darker. I?m going to use a dark orange and colour the glow with that. This is why layer locking, as well as using multiple layers is so important. Try to keep each feature on a different layer so if you have to go back and change something it?s easy.

[CENTER][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/AzureImi/ruchielu_TUT.png[/IMG][/CENTER]

Huzzah! It is done. Hope that was okay, I know it was long but it can't be helped. Doing the steps actually doesn't take very long once you know how.[/SIZE]

[cancer]

I'm confused about the locking of the layers. I'm using photoshop, so I think that's where my problem lies. Do you know how to do the same thing in Photoshop as locking the layers in PSP? I tried to lock the layers in Photoshop, but all that did was prevent me from editing the layer at all. Or am I supposed to lock the layers that I'm not editing?

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1]To be honest, I'm not sure on the Photoshop front. It's been ages since I used it so I can't really remember much about the tools. I seem to remember, though, to add a glow to text is so much simpler because you can right-click the layer, select 'Layer Properties' (I think) and choose your glow/stroke from there. That may have only been for CS, though.[/SIZE]

[cancer]

Thanks, I'll try out the blending options for the text layer. I do believe it is a lot simpler to add a glow in Photoshop. I do have PS CS2 as well, so I'll try it in that.