In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this Cool Liquid Text Effect with Feather Brush Decoration in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level tutorials and some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!
We will be heavily using the liquid filter (which in my opinion is one of the most versatile tools in Photoshop) in this tutorial. I won’t be going through each command of the liquify filter (there will be a basic tutorial here on PSD Vault very soon about this topic), however, I want you to have a go at it regardless and see how far you can go.
We will also be making a feather-like brush and create some ink effect, so there is a lot to learn in this tut :)
Have a try!
Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)
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Ok Let’s get started!
To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stock:
Step 1
Create a new document size 1400px * 900px, use Gradient Fill to fill the background with the following radial light: (light grey to white)
Type some text onto the canvas we the font we downloaded: (no need to use the same colour as I used here)
Step 2
We can give the text a little bit of depth by adding some blending effect:
Inner Shadow
Bevel and Emboss
Gradient Overlay
and here is the effect so far:
Step 3
We’re onto to fun part – liquify the text. Duplicate the text layer once, go to Filter > Liquify, you will see this window come up, click OK to continue:
Select the “Forward Warping Tool” with the following settings:
Start liquifying from the edge, adjust the tip size as you go to ensure you get the right shape:
You can also break apart the text with forward warping tool:
Keep going until you get something like this: (can be a bit tricky – you need patience, a lot!)
Step 4
Now we can add some ink effect to the image. Normally we can do this via cloud, however, I want to use brush instead this time – would be great to practice some painting skills here.
Grab the following brush, make sure you set the opacity and flow to around 20%:
Use this brush to paint some patterns as shown below:
Resize it as shown below:
Select the eraser tool, apply the following settings (use same brush as above):
Use this eraser to gently remove bits of the brush, you will eventually see this effect below:
Duplicate this layer a few times, resize and rotate them around, then attach them to positions shown below:
Step 5
We can add some highlights around the text to make it shine. To do this, use a soft white round brush to paint some random dots around the text:
Some innovation we can do here –
1. We can perspective the light dots to form a bursting effect:
2. We can also compress the group so it forms some series of light stripes:
Rotate and attach this light stripe to left and right side of the text, as shown below:
Also paint some white dots over the text, and here is the effect so far:
Step 6
Now we’re onto creating the feather shape. Firstly draw an oval and fill it with some colour:
Again we use liquify filter to make a feather-like shape: (this can be a bit tricky, you need to be patient!)
Resize it to a small size if necessary:
Step 7
Now we can start defining this brush. Ctrl + Left-click the thumbnail of this feather layer to select it:
Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset …
Give this brush a name and click OK:
Press F5 to bring up the brush window, apply the following settings:
Shape Dynamics
Scattering
Other Dynamics
Use this brush to paint over the image on a new layer, adjust the brush size, flow and opacity as you see fit:
Step 8
We’re almost done! For some final touch-ups, we can flatten the image and duplicate the background layer, apply the following smart sharpen filter to the duplicated layer:
Duplicate this sharpened layer once, add the following Lens Flare Filter to this duplicated layer:
Add a Photo Filter image adjustment layer on top to give the image a warm finish:
and here is the final effect: (click to enlarge)
That’s all for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful :) Till next time, have a great day!