Photoshop_User_-_February_2016

DOWN AND DIRTY TRICKS ››

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photoshop user

› february 2016

024

©Adobe Stock/alexkar08

Step Fourteen: Drop the

Opacity of the texture layer to

85% and then click the Add

Layer Mask icon (circle in a

square) at the bottom of the

Layers panel. Choose the Gradi-

ent tool (G) in the Toolbox, click

on the gradient preview strip

in the Options Bar, choose the

Foreground to Transparent pre-

set in the Gradient Editor, and

click OK. Also in the Options

Bar, click on the Radial Gradient

icon. Make sure the Foreground

color is set to black by pressing

D then X. Now draw a couple of gradients in the document to

add them to the layer mask, which will hide parts of the texture

so it doesn’t draw attention away from the subject.

Step Fifteen: Now we’re

ready to add some text. Select

the Type tool (T), click on the

Foreground color swatch near

the bottom of the Toolbox,

choose a red color in the Color

Picker, and click OK. Click on

the canvas to set a new text

layer. I couldn’t make out what

the original poster said, so I’m

going to type “SPIKE” in a font

called BN Machine, but almost

any thick, bold font will do. Go

to Edit>Transform and choose

Rotate 90° Counter Clockwise.

Then, press Command-T (PC:

Ctrl-T) to enter Free Transform

and scale the text to fit almost

the full height of the image area. Drag the text near the left

edge of the image and press Enter to commit the transforma-

tion. Drag the text layer to the top of the layer stack in the

Layers panel.

Step Sixteen: We want to add a cracked texture to the text

so that it looks like shattering glass. An image of broken glass

should do the trick (this texture is also available in the exer-

cise download).

Step Fourteen

Step Fifteen

Step Sixteen