Ghosting Text, Beginner-Intermediate Options

[Holic]

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make an image like this:



You will be expected to know:

• How to make a new document
• How to make a new layer
• How to change a layer blend mode
• How to create text

Please note that this was written on a Windows machine and so Mac shortcuts will not be used. I will probably update it later to include them.

I used Photoshop 7.0 for this tutorial, I don't know if it will work in versions 6 and lower (Though if someone could tell me I would be very grateful).

I have used this effect often in images where you need a ghostly/spooky feel. Please enjoy!

The Tutorial:

1) Start off by making a document any size, though I will be using 600x100.

2) Make sure that your colors are rest to black and white by pressing 'D' on your keyboard.

3) Hold down 'Alt' and push 'Backspace'. This will fill the background with black.

4) Ok, now push 'X' to switch white to your foreground color.

5) Make some text! In this tutorial, I used 72pt Times New Roman. A font like Times New Roman (Garamond, or any other serif font) looks the best.
Type "Ghost? Text" and position it in the middle of the image.

6) Now we get into the filters! Go to Filter> Brush Strokes> Spatter. It will ask you if you want to rasterize the text, click yes. Use these values:


7) Ugh, that's pretty jagged and ugly. Which is why you now go to Filter> Artistic> Cutout, using these values:


8) Set the layer's blending mode to screen, and then duplicate the layer.

9) On the new, duplicated layer, select the smudge tool:

10) Then, up in the brush picker, select a grungy brush, and set the rest of the smudge settings to 23px:


11) Now, start smudging from the bottom of each character to the top, making a smoke-like effect. Do this for each character.

Wahoo, you now have ghost text! Since the blend mode is set to screen, you can put this in any image you want (If it's dark, that is).



Have fun with this tutorial and I would love to see your results!

-Wilson

[Mixy]

cool thats awesome

[quicksilver115]

i have found a way to enhance the look

(the font i used is Tempus Sans IPC)

make another copy of original text and make it the top layer

follow the same instructions as above and splatter it but DO NOT use cutout

instead, go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Sumi-e

and input:

Stroke Width: 10

Stroke Pressure: 2

Contrast: 16





then just take the same brush you used and run it over the letters (there should only be an outline until you do this)







you can fill in the letters as little or as much as you like





you could stop here or you could make the effect a little better still


click on the background layer then click Filter > Render > Clouds



(make sure that your words are on a light part)


in the layers menu, hold shift and click on all three layers
now rightclick and select "merge layers"





after you have done this you can take your brush and LIGHTLY (if you do too much it all just becomes blurred)
go over your letters to make their outline a little less defined (it helps if you go in the same direction as your original blurring)

Ta Da!!





This post has been edited by quicksilver115: Feb 17 2007, 08:02 PM

[Eddie_K]

BOTH examples look great

Eddie

[maxguy]

Wow..very impressive work.. very nice work guys..thanks for sharing the tip

[Dinner]

Awesome tutorial! The outcome looks great.

[elly]

Ohhh thank you so much Holic...I'm gonna test it !!

[Maya_Karen]

for sure i can try this tutorial..

thank yeahhhhh

[cazzievee]

Thanks guys for this....I'm off to impress my friends now.
Seriously, this was very easy to follow and the end result is great!

[Frosty]

Awsome tutorial bro