This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Clear Inline Type Effect
It doesn't get any downer or dirtier than this! This is a quick way to create an interesting type effect, where the type remains very readable, but has three levels of depth thanks to the shadows inside and outside the letters. It's that depth that helps it work so well, especially when created on a white background.
- Step ONE. Open a new document in RGB mode at 72 ppi. Click on the Foreground Color Swatch in the Toolbox and choose a light gray in the Color Picker as your Foreground color. Fill the Background layer with this gray by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). Press the letter “d” then “x” to set your Foreground color to white, then press the letter “t” to get the Type tool and create your type. (I used the font Helvetica Black here, with the Horizontal Scaling set to 120% in the Character palette.)
- Step TWO. Choose Drop Shadow from the Add a Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. When the Drop Shadow dialog appears, simply increase the Opacity to 100%. (Note: For high-res, 300-ppi images, increase both the Distance and the Size of the Drop Shadow to 21.) Don't click OK yet because we want to add another Layer Style in the next step.
- Step THREE. Next, in the Layer Style dialog, click directly on the name Inner Shadow in the left-hand list of Styles. When the Inner Shadow dialog appears, change the Opacity to 100%. (Note: For high-res, 300-ppi images, increase both the Distance and Size to 21.) Now you can click OK to apply both the Drop Shadow and the Inner Shadow to the type.
- Step FOUR. For other lines of type, just duplicate this “Freaks” Type layer by pressing Command-J (PC: Control-J). Use the Move tool to reposition this copied type above your main type, then highlight it with the Type tool and type in a new word. Since this is still a Type layer, you can simply highlight it and lower the point size in the Options Bar or Character palette to make it fit between the “F” and the “k.”
- Step FIVE. Repeat Step Four to add any additional lines of type. To complete the effect, in the Layers palette click on the Background layer, and press the letter “d” to set your Foreground and Background colors to their defaults. Press Command-A (PC: Control-A) to select the entire gray background, then press Delete (PC: Backspace) to remove the gray, leaving a white background (as shown here).
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