GREEN ORGANIC TEXT

Step 1 - Open Your Canvas
Open a new document, In this tutorial I am using 500?500, with a white background. (The Images are cropped to save space.)

Now you want to select your font and itís various styles. I selected a somewhat stylish font called "Cocon" Type the text you want, for the purposes of this tutorial I have centered it.

 

Step 2 - Format Your Text
You now want to format it. Open your Character window (if itís not already opened) by navigating Window -> Character. Now once your character palette is up, change to the settings shown here. Also, now is the time to choose a color. I am going for lime green (#87C332) because I think that it looks good for the purposes
of this tutorial and goes with the font. Now that I have the basic text set up, Itís time to start applying effects.

 

Step 3 - Blending Effects
Right click your text layer, and open blending effects. We are only going to add a base gradient to the layer, all other effects will be on new layers.

   * Check ìGradient Overlayî
   * Leave the default gradient
   * Set the blending mode to ìSoft Lightî
   * Set the Opacity to around 70%

You now have a base gradient.

 

Step 4 - Advanced Effects
Now for some more advanced effects. We are going to start with giving it a nice organic look. Create a new layer on top of your current text layer, name it "Brush" or "Gloss".

   * Set the opacity to 70%
   * Set the Blending Mode to "Overlay"

Now take out your brush tool. A reasonable size should be about a third the height of your text. Set the color to brush with to White, and brush all the way
through the middle of the text. You should be getting a yellowish tinge. Hold down your control button and click the text layer, but make sure that the Brush (or gloss, whatever you named it) layer is selected. Then go to Select -> Modify -> Contract. I set "2px" for my text, but you can do 1, 2, or even 3px if you have bold text. Anything over 3 will look bad. Right click the newly made selection, click "Select inverse" and then hit the delete button. De-select and have a look at it. Yours should be similar to the picture shown Below.

 Step 5 - Adding Some Shadow
Youíre almost done! Pat yourself on the back. For our final step we are going to add a nice silvery/metallic stroke around the text. Make a new layer, name it "Outline"

   * Blending Mode: Normal
   * Opacity: 100%

Ctrl + Click the text layer but have this layer selected (like last step), Select -> Modify -> Expand: 2px. Fill this with white.

Alright, almost done, now to add blending effects to this outline layer. Right click on the layer and go to blending effects, check "Drop Shadow" and "Gradient Overlay". For Drop Shadow, leave all settings default except these:

   * Opacity: 15%
   * Distance: 2px
   * Size: 0px

That should leave a soft drop shadow. Now on to editing the gradient. Use these settings:

   * Blend Mode: Normal
   * Opacity: 30%

Now, click on the thumbnail of the current gradient, a gradient editing window should pop up. Make your gradient look like screenshot.

 

Step 6 - That's it!
Alright, you are done! If you'd like you can add a soft blue background like I did. Simply create a new layer and place it behind your text layers. On this layer add a light gradient to really make your text stand out. Here is how mine turned out.