Photoshop Tutorials
How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop

How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop

How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop
step_2e

Step 3

We are basically going to do the same process for the other 2 words. For the second one, I played around with the Tetra font and how the upper case and lower case of the font has different decorations for each letter.
step_3a
For this word, I chose a color palette ranging from a dark purple to very light pink.
step_3b
Feel free to experiment with your color choices and combinations. To apply the layer style effect you can copy the layer style from the previous word and paste it on the next word layer:
step_3c
step_3d
Don´t forget to fix the Brightness and contrast of the image as well as dodging the highlights of the type:
step_3e
step_3f
For the final word I´m going to use a combination of colors going from a very dark brown to red and light yellows.
step_3g
Copy and paste the layer style of the other words:
step_3h
Remember to dodge the highlights and adjust the Brightness and contrast.
step_3i
After you are done coloring type you should have something like the result below:
step_3j

Step 4

From this step on we are going to add colorful elements to decorate the type. To create the glowing lines, first, create a new layer, take the brush tool and select a hard brush 100% hardness 100% opacity of about 4px then open up the brushes menu and under the "Shape Dynamics" option, change the control to "Pen Pressure". After adjusting these settings, select the pen tool (P)
step_4a
While holding the key "Shift" draw a path to create a horizontal line. Right-click on the path and select the option "Stroke Path" change the "tool" option to Brush and check the "Simulate pressure" option on.
step_4b
Double click on the layer thumb to bring up the Layer styles menu and check the options "Outer Glow" and "Gradient Overlay". Under the outer glow option use the settings shown below:
step_4c
Under the gradient overlay option check "Reverse" and set the angle to 0°
step_4d
Double click on the gradient to bring up the editor. Change the gradient to the next colors to match those of the type.
step4_e
step4_f
Now we are going to start duplicating this shape and placing it on the edges of each letter. Rotate it a bit where necessary:
step4_g
step4_h
Use the "Warp" transformation tool to curve the glowing line to match the round parts of the letters:
step4_i
step4_j
step4_k
I recommend not to put too much detail because we are going to add other elements to the composition and it my look a bit too heavy on some parts:
step4_l
Grab one of the glowing lines from the first word and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and change the color to match the other word.
step4_m
Arrange them the same way for the other 2 words.
step4_n
step4_o
step4_p
This is the result we´ve got so far:
step4_q

Step 5

For the light flashes under the letters first we need to duplicate the layer of the colored type and place it under the type layer. Go to menu Filter>Blur>Motion blur and set the angle to 0 and the distance to 998.
step5_a
Duplicate the layer and merge both blurred layers together to get a stronger effect.
step5_b
Repeat this step with the other 2 words:
step5_c

Step 6

For the shines take the brush tool with 0% hardness and a size of about 120px with color white. Create a new layer on top of the type layers and brush little glows on top of every highlight:
step6_a
Lower the size of the brush and add some smaller glowing orbs around the bigger ones:

Pages: 1 2 3 4

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33 comments on “How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop”

  4. Please help! Im stuck doing the pen tool, it doesnt work as i want it to do. I can only se the paths but no color, how do i fix it? i have tried anything i can come up with.. Its sad being stuck when i have done so much already. Thx!

    Reply

  6. I'm on Photoshop CC 2014 and I cannot for the life of me get the same effect that Step 2 is telling me I should be getting. Any advice?

    Reply

  8. Most instructions were not given clearly, pen tool behaved in a very different way from what you barely explained, and the font you are using called "Tetra" is not in photoshop CS6 or CC.

    Reply

  9. Don't know if it's an actual problem or if i'm just doing something wrong, but I can't figure out how to warp the light effects.
    The program swears that there aren't any pixels in the selection, and by the time i finally get the selection to warp, it doesn't warp the glow of the light effect so there's just an eclipse shadow left behind.

    Help?

    Reply

  14. Final result looks really cool, lots of steps to do, but I wanna try this for sure! Thanks a lot for the tutorial! :D

    Reply

  15. Step 4 does not work for me? I have tried everything, does somebody know what the reason behind this could be?

    Reply

  16. not good instructions for the lines on page 2, for on i can't make them with this pen pressure crap, or even warp the lines correctly

    Reply

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