Smilies Text Effect Photoshop Tutorial

Photoshop Tutorial 

Notes:
* the software used in this tutorial is Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended
* the size of the final result image is 1024 * 768
* you might want to check the Basix Page to see some useful topics on dealing with Photoshop basics, such as loading palettes and some shortcuts.
Resources:
* The Background used.
Step 1:
- We will begin by creating the pattern that we will use later on to create the text effect. So create a new document that is 200 x 200 px. Let the background be white for now.
Set the Foreground color to #ffee2e, and grab the Ellipse Tool.

- Draw a small circle in the middle of the document, hold the Shift key while you’re drawing to get a perfect circle.

- Change the Foreground color to Black, then draw two ellipses for the eyes.

- Click on the Custom Shape Tool, then, choose the Circle Thin Frame shape from the pop-up panel. Draw the frame so that you create a ’smile’.

- Grab the Rectangle Tool, and click on Subtract From Shape Area to remove the upper part of the Thin Frame.
Make sure that the shape is selected in its layer (a grey border appears around it) before you do this.

Step 2:
Double click on the yellow circle’s layer to apply the following styles:
- Drop Shadow: Change the Opacity to 50%, the Distance to 2, and the Size to 3.

- Bevel and Emboss: Change the Size to 4, the Gloss Contour to Gaussian, and the Shadow Mode color to a39a38.

- Group all the smiley’s layers and call the group “Smiley”.

- Duplicate the group, press Ctrl + T, then rotate and move the new group.

- Repeat the previous step until you feel the pattern is good. Leave some empty spaces between the faces, this will give a nice effect when the pattern is used later on.

Step 3:
- Select the top group, then press Shift and click on the last one, and put all of them in one group called “Smilies_Faces”.
It’s always good to keep a copy of the original shapes so that you can modify them easily if needed later on. So duplicate the group you’ve just created, and remove the eye icon next to the original group to make it invisible.
Right click on the copy, and click Merge Group.

- Grab the Rectangle Marquee Tool, and draw a rectangle that approximately covers 1/4 or 1/5 of the pattern. Press Ctrl + X to cut that part, then Ctrl + V to paste it in a separate layer.

Move the original layer (Smilies_Faces copy) content to the left until it touches the edge of the document, and the part you’ve just pasted (Layer 1) to the right until it looks like a part of the pattern.

- Select “Layer 1″ then press Ctrl + E to merge it with the “Smilies_Faces copy”.
Then grab the Rectangle Marquee Tool again, but this time, create the selection at the bottom part of the layer. Press Ctrl + X to cut it, then Ctrl + V to paste it in a separate layer.
(You can make the “Background” layer invisible if you prefer a transparent background).

Move the content of “Smilies_Faces copy” downwards until it reaches the bottom edge, and the “Layer 1″ upwards until you think it looks good with the pattern.
Merge both layers when done.

- Next, we need to get rid of the extra parts around the pattern, make sure that the background is transparent (make anything else invisible), and go to Image -> Trim. Choose Transparent Pixels, and check all the boxes under Trim Away so that no transparent pixels are left.

Step 4:
- Go to Image -> Adjustment -> Levels, and change the Shadows value to 50. This will make the pattern more vibrant.

- Finally, go to Edit -> Define Pattern, and type in a name for the pattern.

Step 5:
- Now, it’s time to create the text. So go ahead and open the Background image provided at the Resources section at the beginning of this tutorial, or simply create a new document and fill the background with a red color or gradient, or whatever other color you like.
Create the text with the color #ffee2e. The font used is Futurama Bold Font, and the size is 175 px.
Duplicate the text layer, then change the Fill value for both layers to 0.

- Double click on the original (the bottom) layer, and add a Pattern Overlay using the pattern you’ve just created, which will be available in the pop-up menu.

That’s it for this layer.
Step 6:
Double click on the copy layer, and apply the following styles:
- The default Drop Shadow.

- Bevel and Emboss: Change the Depth to 330. Un-check the Use Global Light box, then change the Angle to 50, and the Altitude to 30. Also, change the Gloss Contour to Steps, and the Shadow Mode color to #a39a38.

And that’s it!