How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop

How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop
How to Create Shiny Retro Text with Photoshop

step6_b

Repeat with the other two words:

step6_c
step6_d

Step 7

To enhance the glows now create some light crosses using the pen tool. Set the brush tool first to 100% hardness and a size of 4px with the pen pressure option selected and draw a cross using the pen tool and stroking the paths.

step7_a

Rotate the crosses a little bit and duplicate the layer several times. Place the little crosses on top of every glow from the previous step.

step7_b

Your image should look something like this after duplicating the crosses many times and placing them on the glow orbs:

step7_c

Step 8

For the glowing waves details behind the type,first start off creating a new layer and setting your brush tool with 100% hardness and a size of about 9px. Whit the pen tool stroke a large horizontal line and then go to Filter>Distort>Wave. Use the next parameters for the first wave:

step8_a

On new layers stroke some other horizontal lines and go to the wave filter again. I suggest you experiment with different settings here to get the waves you see more fit for your composition.

step8_b

Select one wave layer and open the layer styles menu. Check the options "Outer Glow" and "Gradient Overlay".

step8_c

On the gradient overlay option select the "Reflected" style and change the colors of the gradient to match the color palette of your type.

step8_d
step8_e

You can now copy the layer style into a different wave layer you created and position them under your type.

step8_f

Now you can duplicate and create new wave layers and tweak the color of the glow and the gradient overlay to match the colors of the other two words.

step8_g

This is the result of the type so far:

step8_h

Finally in this step, for the dotted background, we are going to use again the same method as with the waves but with different filter parameters to get the effect.

step8_i

Transform the layer to fit the entire canvas:

step8_j

Step 9

In this step we are going to add some bokeh stock images to finish up the composition and effects of the type. From the Sparklestock bokeh images select one you see fit for your illustration. Set the layer blending mode to "Screen" and lower the layer opacity to 30%:

step9_a

Now I use a combination of different stock images to complete the effect. You can choose whatever bokeh images you want. If you are brushes just sample the color of the type you are applying the effect to. If you are using flat bokeh images, change the hue with the Hue/ Saturation adjustment option.

step9_b
step9_c
step9_d

Keep adding different layers and changing their colors to get a better result.

Step 10

For the final step we are going to create some Adjustment layers to enhance the look of the composition. Go to menu Layer>New Adjustment layer>Hue/Saturation and increase the Saturation to make the colors look more alive.

step10_a

Under that Adjustment layer, now create a "Brightness and Contrast" adjustment layer and use the setting above:

step10_b

Finally under that layer create a "Levels" Adjustment layer to bring the whole composition together.

step10_c

Final Results

final_results[1]

Download the PSD

Download

Tutorial by Edmar Cisneros

profileThis is how we end this tutorial. I hope you liked it and please experiment using different typefaces and color combinations on your compositions. Try different settings for the bevel and emboss setting to get different textures on the letters.- Edmar Cisneros

Pages: 1 2 3

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

  1. NO PUEDO HACER NADA CON EL TEXTO NO DEJA CAMBIAR NADA NO CON LOS PSD QUE REGALA QUIERO PONER UN NOMBRE Y NO DEJA COMO LO AGO GRACIAS

  2. 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!

  3. 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?

  4. 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.

  5. 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?

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

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

  8. 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

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