create the walking dead text effect

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HALLOWEEN

Create "The WalkingDead" Inspired GrungyText Effect in AdobePhotoshopby Rose 8 Oct 2014

18 Comments

108 196 218


What You'll Be Creating

Layering textures and brushes can give detail and depth to simple designs, making

them look more interesting. This tutorial will show you how to do that, with the help

of some blur filters and simple layer styles, in order to create a nice grungy text

effect in Adobe Photoshop.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

SI Font Regular font


Dirty Grunge by crestfalleen

Roughed Up Grunge Brushes by digital-amphetamine

Monster Splatter Brush Set by miskis

7 by darkrose42-stock

Grunge-Backgrounds by Chrisdesign

1. Creating the Background and Styling It

Step 1Create a new 1920 x 1080 px document, set the Foreground color to #2a1e20 and

the Background color to #1a0f13 , then go to Filter > Render > Clouds, and

duplicate the Background layer.


Step 2Double-click the Background copy layer to apply the following layer style:

Opacity: 50%

Color: #d0fbc1

Size: 15


Step 3In the Gradient Overlay section, choose the following settings:

Blend Mode: Hue

Opacity: 70%

Angle: 107

Scale: 138%

Click the Gradient box to create the gradient


You can click the Opacity Stops at the top of the gradient bar or the Color Stops

below it to modify their values. The gradient is created using the colors #016f6e to

the left and #fee847 to the right, and the right Opacity Stop value is set to 0.

Step 4After applying the layer style, click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon on

the Layers panel and choose Levels.


Step 5Set the Shadows value to 8 and the Gamma value to 1.21. This will brighten up the

corners and the edges a little bit.


2. Adding the Grunge Brushes to theBackground

Step 1Set the Foreground color to #2b1c1f , pick the Brush Tool (B), and choose one of

the brush tips from the Dirty Grunge pack. Then create a new layer on top of all

layers and change its Blend Mode to Screen.

Add the brush to the background, but make sure not to overwhelm it. You can add

the brush to the corners and edges instead of filling the center. You can also use


different tips from the pack if you like.

Step 2Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and change the Radius to 2 to soften the

result.


Step 3Set the Foreground color to #857276 , create a new layer on top of all layers, pick

the Brush Tool, and choose the tip below from the Roughed Up Grunge Brushes

pack.

That brush will be used to add some more grunge to the corners and at the bottom

of the document. To do so, you'll need to rotate the brush and then flip it. Open the

Brush panel (Window > Brush) to modify those settings.


Step 4The brush can be rotated by changing the Angle value under the Brush Tip Shape

tab to 90.


Step 5To flip the brush, check the Flip Y box. Use those options to add the brush to the

background.


Step 6Set the Foreground color to #121212 , pick a big, soft, round tip, create a new layer

on top of all layers, call it Center, and change its Opacity to 55%. Then add the big

brush in the center of the document to darken up the area behind the text we're

going to create later.


3. Adding the Texture and Finishing Off theBackground

Step 1Place the 7 texture image on top of all layers, resize it as needed, then rename its

layer to BG Texture, and change its Blend Mode to Multiply.


Step 2Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and change the Saturation value

to -50.


Step 3Set the Foreground color to #6e5f40 , create a new layer on top of all layers,

change its Blend Mode to Screen and its Opacity to 35%, then use some more big,

soft, round brush tips to add a bit of a bright color to the bottom corners.


Step 4Create another new layer on top of all layers, change its Blend Mode to Screen

and its Opacity to 65%. Use the brush tips below from the Monster Splatter Brush

Set to add some splatter to the sides of the document.

You can flip the second brush by checking the Flip X box in the Brush panel to

apply it to the right side. You can also move these brushes up and down later after

adding the text if needed.


Step 5Double-click the layer to apply a simple Inner Glow effect.

Blend Mode: Vivid Light

Opacity: 50%

Source: Center

Size: 7


Step 6Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and change the Radius to 1.5.


Step 7Select all the layers you have except for the original Background layer, then group

them and name the group BG to keep things organized.


4. Creating the Text, Styling It, and Adding theTexture

Step 1Create the text in All Caps using the font SI Font (or you can use Impact instead).

The font color is #e6d5b5 , the Size is 225 pt, and the Tracking value is set to -10.

The text at the top is optional, but it is created using the font Gill Sans MT

Condensed, and the font Size 85 pt. You can use any other similar condensed font

for that part as well.


Step 2Double-click each text layer to apply a simple Inner Glow effect.

Opacity: 30%

Color: #d5c09f


Step 3Select the text layer(s) you created, then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters,

and rename the smart object's layer to Text, then duplicate it, and drag the copy

below it.

This will help with applying non-destructive filters to the text, as well as keeping the

text editable for any further changes.


Step 4Place the grunge-background3.jpg image from the Grunge-Backgrounds pack

on top of the original text layer, then right-click it and choose Create Clipping

Mask.


Step 5Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, change the Hue to 4 and the

Saturation to -30.


5. Darkening the Text

Step 1Pick the Brush Tool, open the Brush panel (Window > Brush), pick a soft, round

brush tip, and then modify its settings as shown below:

Brush Tip Shape


Shape Dynamics


Color Dynamics


Transfer


Step 2Create a new layer on top of the grunge texture layer, call it Brush, change its

Blend Mode to Multiply, right-click it and choose Create Clipping Mask, then set

the Foreground color to #a5a196 and the Background color to #b8976c .


Now start painting the upper part of the text, and randomly inside it to create some

darker spots along the top edges and inside the letters.

6. Adding the Grunge Inside and Around theText

Step 1Set the Foreground color to #fffada , create a New Layer and call it Splatter,

create a Clipping Mask for it, change its Blend Mode to Screen and its Opacity to

70%, then pick the brush tip shown below from the Roughed Up Grunge Brushes

pack.


Click as many times as needed to fill the text with the selected brush tip, but make

sure not to click and drag.

Step 2Command-click the Text layer's thumbnail to create a selection.


Step 3Make sure that the Splatter layer is selected, then press Command-J to duplicate

the selection in a new layer.

Rename the duplicated layer to Horizontal and change its Blend Mode to Screen,

then duplicate it and change the copy's name to Vertical.

Select the Horizontal layer, zoom in a bit, then hit the Left Arrow Key six times to

move the brush 6 px to the left.


Step 4Create a text-based selection again, then hit the Delete button to get rid of the part

inside the text and keep the edges, and go to Select > Deselect.

Repeat the same steps to move the Vertical part 4 px upwards.


Step 5Pick the Eraser Tool, choose a soft, round tip, and delete some parts of the

horizontal and vertical edges you've just created.


Step 6Convert each of the Horizontal and Vertical layers to Smart Objects, and change

their layers' Blend Modes to Screen.

Then select each smart object's layer, and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur,

and change the Radius to 0.7.


Step 7If needed, you can change the Opacity values as well to create a subtler effect.


7. Finishing Touches

Step 1Select the Text copy layer, then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur, change the

Angle to 90 and the Distance to 10.


Step 2Pick a 1 px hard round brush, and make sure that its Spacing value in the Brush

panel is set to 1.


Step 3Create a new layer on top of all layers, call it Line, and set the Foreground color to

#f26d7e .

Click once at the top of the left edge of the letter in the middle of your text, press


and hold the Shift key, then click once more at the bottom.


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Step 4Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and change the Radius to 0.7.


Congratulations! You're done.


In this tutorial, we used a couple of grunge brushes and a texture and layered them

to build up a simple grungy background, then added some coloring.

We then created some text and converted into a smart object, added another

grunge texture and brush, and used the brush to create some grungy outer edges

around the text.

A couple of Gaussian and Motion Blur filters helped soften the effect, and finally we

added a bright red line to one of the letters to finish off the effect.

It is all about building up the grungy effect using different textures and brushes,

along with some color adjustments and different layer Blend Modes, as well as Blur

filters to avoid any harsh lines.

Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.


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About Rose

Rose is a Graphic Designer who has beenusing Photoshop since 2007. Rosecurrently runs Textuts.com.

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Sharon Milne 7 months agoMod

Season 5 starts today! I'm so excited :D

1

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Rose 7 months ago> Sharon Milne_^^

1

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Daniele 2 months ago

Molto bello!

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JheiBee Maglana 4 months ago

ill share mine

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Gamby 5 months ago

Wow! Awesome

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Ayoub Lam 6 months ago

I love what you do good job

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Tessa 6 months ago

I cant help but ask, why is it saying the walking dread instead of dead?

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klgrube 4 months ago> TessaTo avoid copyright infringement on the series.

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Zach Meyer 7 months ago

Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial. I run a Crafting Dead Minecraft server and this was perfect!

Guest 7 months ago

Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial. I run a Crafting Dead Minecraft server and was exactly what I waslooking for!

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Rose 6 months ago> GuestThat's great to know! The outcome looks great as well :)Thanks a lot for the comment and for sharing your work.

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oonko 7 months ago

.

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Rose 7 months ago> oonkoGreat outcome indeed!Thanks for sharing your work :)

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Pankaj Sharma 7 months ago

This is what I have designed.

Rose 7 months ago> Pankaj SharmaVery nicely done!

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Thanks a lot for sharing your work :)

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334061981 8 months ago

Very good

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Rose 7 months ago> 334061981Thank you :)

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Rose 7 months ago> Yogesh MankaniAmazing! Thanks a lot :)

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create the walking dead text effect

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