Locked lesson.
About this lesson
This is a quick way to create an old-style-retro or futuristic neon look to your text headings. Remember, you can also use these techniques on basic shapes as well, such as hearts, road signs, or any of the basic shapes found in the Shapes Panel.
Exercise files
Download the Photoshop file used in the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.
Neon Text Effect.psd983.6 KB
Quick reference
Topic
Make a neon light text using only layers styles
When to use
This is a quick way to create an old-style-retro or futuristic neon look to your text headings. Remember, you can also use these techniques on basic shapes as well, such as hearts, road signs, or any of the basic shapes found in the Shapes Panel.
Instructions
Set up document
- Choose font and type text: large 250 points.
- Then open the Layer Styles dialogue box (double click layer)
Gradient
- Style: Reflected, Gradient Color Left: ea f7 ff, Gradient Color Right: a1 ca f8, Scale: 50%.
Bevel And Emboss:
- Depth: 150, Size: 10.
- Bevel And Emboss Shading: Angle: 90, Altitude: 90, Gloss Contour: Ring Contour, Anti-Alias: On,
- Shadow Mode: Color Burn, Shadow Opacity: 100%, Color: 00 2b 57, Contour Option: Rounded Steps, Range: 100%
- Texture: Herringbone, Scale: 50%, Depth: 5%
Inner Shadow:
- Blend Mode: Overlay, Opacity: 100%, Size: 20, Distance: 0, Color: white, Anti-Alias: On, Choke: 10%.
Drop Shadow:
- Opacity: 15%, Global Light: Off, Size: 4, Angle: 90, Distance: 6.
Outer Glow:
- Blend Mode: Linear Dodge, Opacity: 100%, Size: 170, Color: 6f b9 fe, Range: 60%, Quality: Gaussian Contour.
- 00:04 Hey everyone. Now before I begin, I have to remind you,
- 00:07 the layers styles that I'm about to use work well for the font and size that I
- 00:10 chose to use.
- 00:11 If you use a different font and size, you definitely need to tweak the layer
- 00:14 styles to get the result that you are looking for.
- 00:16 Let's begin, starting off with my font. I downloaded the 'neon 80s'
- 00:20 font from DaFont.com. It's usually the site I go to
- 00:24 when I'm looking for new fonts in terms of size. I'm going to be going big:
- 00:28 250 points. Now I can type out my word of choice.
- 00:33 Once your text is typed out,
- 00:36 let's dive into the layer styles starting with a gradient overlay.
- 00:39 Before editing the actual color of the gradient, change the style to ‘reflected,’
- 00:44 and the scale to 50% - now we can edit the colors.
- 00:48 The far left color will be a nice light blue:
- 00:52 I can use EA f7 FF F for the
- 00:55 value. And then on the right side,
- 00:58 it's going to be a slightly darker blue: a1 ca f8.
- 01:02 Good, and that's all for the gradient. Of course, if you want a
- 01:08 different colored neon text, you can change the colors accordingly.
- 01:11 Now, to give your texts some depth, let's add bevel
- 01:15 and emboss. Starting at the top, turn the depth to 150%,
- 01:20 and the size to 10 pixels. Moving down to shading,
- 01:25 we have a lot of changes: start by turning off global light
- 01:28 and set both the angle and the altitude at 90 degrees.
- 01:32 For the gloss contour, I found the ‘ring contour’ gave a really nice result.
- 01:37 You also want to make sure to turn on anti-alias whenever that option is available,
- 01:41 to make sure the edges of your texts are nice and smooth.
- 01:44 Now as for the highlight mode, you really don't have to worry about any of these
- 01:47 options,
- 01:48 because our altitude was set at ninety degrees and these options really won’t affect
- 01:52 us.
- 01:52 The shadow, on the other hand, is a very different story.
- 01:55 Change the blend mode to color burn and the opacity to 100%.
- 02:01 Now, we're going to use a nice dark blue for the color -
- 02:04 I'll use 00 2b 57.
- 02:09 Good. At this point, things are still looking pretty flat.
- 02:13 Go ahead and activate the contour option on the left.
- 02:16 There are a few contours that will add some additional depth to our text,
- 02:20 but I found that the rounded steps contour works quite well
- 02:23 with the range of 100%. And finally, I want to add a texture to
- 02:28 our bevel.
- 02:29 This will give our text a slight glass feel to it.
- 02:32 For the pattern, I'm going to be using the ‘haring bone’ pattern.
- 02:36 If you don't see this pattern, click on the arrow at top right hand corner,
- 02:40 the ‘pattern picker,’ choose patterns, and then click
- 02:44 append. For the other options, I set my scale at 50%
- 02:49 and my depth at 5%. We only want a very subtle texture.
- 02:53 Next, to lighten up the edges a little bit,
- 02:56 let's add an inner shadow, which is actually going to be an inner highlight.
- 03:00 Set your blend mode to overlay, with your opacity at 100%,
- 03:05 and then change your color to appear white. Now, down below,
- 03:10 decrease your distance to 0, increase the choke to 10
- 03:14 and the size to 20. Two more to go, we're almost finished.
- 03:18 To pull our text slightly away from our background,
- 03:21 let's add a drop shadow. Start by sending opacity to 15%.
- 03:26 When that's done, turn off global light and set the angle
- 03:30 at 90 degrees. Now set your distance at 6
- 03:34 and your size at 4. Good. And finally, we need to add a
- 03:39 glow. Let's add an outer glow. Starting with the blend mode, depending on the
- 03:43 background that you use, you may need to try a few different options,
- 03:47 but for most backgrounds, linear dodge should work quite well
- 03:50 As for the color, I can use a baby blue:
- 03:53 6f B9 fb,
- 03:56 with an opacity of 100%. Under elements, to create a soft glow,
- 04:02 crank up the size to 170 pixels.
- 04:06 Now, down under quality, I'm going to use the ‘gaussian contour’
- 04:10 with a range of 60%. And that should do it.
- 04:14 Neon text created only with layer styles. Of course, if you want a different color than
- 04:19 neon text,
- 04:20 just go back and change the blues to a green or purple or yellow.
- 04:23 It’s up to you.
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