Ismael Burciaga

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to create metallic text in Photoshop CS4.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. The size I am using is 600×300 pixels, but you can choose whatever size you want.

Step 2

In the Layers Panel, double click on the first layer that is highlighted blue and rename it to Background. This will unlock the layer so that we can add a filter to it later in the tutorial.

Step 3

Once Background layer is selected, go to the Tools Panel and double click on Foreground Color and select a color of your choice. In this tutorial I used #042e5d.

Step 4

Now that you have selected your background color, use the shortcut SHIFT + F5 to pull up the Fill window. Make sure that Foreground Color is selected and click OK.

Step 5

In this step we are going to add a noise filter to the layer labeled Background. In the top menu select FILTER / NOISE / ADD NOISE. This will bring up the Noise Filter window. Place the amount at 1.5%, select Gaussian Distribution and make sure Monochromatic is checked. Then click OK.

Step 6

Go back to the Layers Panel and create a new layer and label it Gradient. Then go to the Tools Panel and select the Gradient tool (Shortcut Key G). Once the tool has been selected, go to the top horizontal menu and make sure to select Reflected Gradient.

Step 7

Once Reflected Gradient is selected, double click on the gradient swatch left of the gradient option icons. This will pull up the Gradient Editor. Select the second swatch named Foreground to Transparent and click OK. Now go to the Tools Panel and double click on the Foreground Color swatch and change the color to black #000000. Now place your cursor in the middle of the canvas, hold down SHIFT then click and drag, while holding down SHIFT, the cursor to the right. Holding down SHIFT keeps the gradient tool at a perfect horizontal line. Return to the Layers Panel and change the blending mode to Multiply and drop the opacity to 65%.

Step 8

Now press COMMAND + T to bring up the Character Panel. Select a font of your choice or Trajan Pro if you have it on your computer. Select any size and type the word of your choice. In this tutorial I typed Monique.

Step 9

Return to the Layers Panel and double click on the Text Layer. The Layer Style window will appear. On the left column click and check the Drop Shadow. The right column will change to the Drop Shadow styles. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply, and set the Distance to 0, the Spread to 0 and the Size to 1.

Step 10

Now click and check the Inner Shadow. The right column will change to the Inner Shadow styles. Change the Blending Mode to Normal, Change the black color to white (#ffffff), Change the Angle to -47 and make sure the Global Light is unchecked. Now set the Distance to 2, the Choke to 0 and the Size to 1.

Step 11

Now click and check the Gradient Overlay. The right column will change to the Gradient Overlay styles. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply, set the opacity to 70% and set the Scale to 53%. Now double click the Gradient color box. This will open up the Select stop color window. Change the color of the bottom points to a dark navy and then click OK. Before clicking OK on the Layer Style window, take your cursor over to the text on the canvas and click then hold while slightly dragging the mouse down. You will notice that the gradient moves with your mouse. This will be a slight move towards the bottom. Now press OK.

Conclusion

This is a very simple tutorial on how to make a beautiful metallic text design. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Let me know if this tutorial was helpful.