In this tutorial we are going to make some design out of text that is coloured differently into certain shapes, however we are going to do it in a simple way that doesn’t require us to change all the type colours in the excacly right way.
Step 1
Create a new Photoshop file, I’m using 580×300px at 72 pixels/inch. Make sure the background is set to white so the document has got a white background fill
Step 2
Grab your text tool and drag out a text box that covers the most part of your document (as seen below). Set to the colour of your choice (I’m using #679027). Also set the size to about 10px, depending on the font you select.
Step 3
Go to Lipsum.com and generate a paragraph of lorem ipsum text. Copy it and paste it in until you fill the frame with seemless text.
Step 4
Create a new blank layer. I’m going to use the Custom Shape Tool, selecting the question mark shape there and drag it out so that it fits within the block of text that I created. I’m going to use a fill colour of black. You can however use whatever you wish to appear in the text.
Step 5
With the objects layer selected go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask or use the shortcut Command + Option + G. This will clip the object into the text, only showing it within the boundaries of the letters which gives the illusion that we just changed the colour of the type. We can then repeat this and step 4 as many times as we wish to add more objects.
About Erik Bernskiold
Erik is the owner of the Bernskiold Media Group and is a Web Designer, Photographer and Software-Trainer. He is interested in all aspects of graphic design and media production as well as gadgets and technology.
Most podcasts about the Creative Suite is about the tools in the apps. We put out a weekly podcast that mixes the tools with real-life techniques that help you learn to use the Creative Suite, creatively.
this is really simple!!!thanks man
Glad you like it and had use for it! =)
nice one. use the uther way. that is make the clliping mask to underneth text that gives nice effect. anyway nice idea man…..
That is certainly also possible and gives a final result which is a little different.
Hey, for the letters/numbers.. how did you do that?
I mean.. how did you do the word “SELL”.. because I can’t find any letters in the custom shape tool.
No need for the shape tool, just use the text-tool (T) and you’re done!
Yeah, like pete said, you can do the same with any text layer, which is how I created the sell text. It really was unintentional to use a shape that is also available as type as a demo, I just missed that in the creation
So basically, you can clip anything on its own layer in this way
Hi there,
This rocks. What I love about it, is that you have put together something so simple which not only shows a great example of a technique but without realising it creates a good display of colour theory.
Why do those colours work in that way? Would you be able to read the word sell if that was red for example.
I’ll be checking back regularly now.
Well, to say without realizing would perhaps be a little understatement. Of course I did play around with the colours to make sure I had good visible ones that gave a good contrast against the green text, while still archiving the simple look.
Actually, if the word Sell was a dark shade of red, or a certain lighter shade, it would work and give enough contrast. The same with most other colours, midtones won’t give a good enough contrast but dark and bright usually will.
It’s great ! I would like to translate this tutorial into Chinese to share with my friends
\(^o^)/
that was simple, nice job.
This is a very simple and fantastic tutorial. I’ve been looking for how to do this for ages!
Nice !!
tnx!