Light writing styles are becoming quite popular in graphic design right now. There have been several tutorials from PSDtuts on the subject and one in particular that used letters and layers. It was a looong process to go through and change each letter on 20 different layers!
Well guess what! I have a Photoshop action for you (developed by my husband, Jerrol) that will do almost the same exact thing in a matter of seconds! The only difference is that it will not change the font for you. I think it looks just as good with all the same font (sometimes even better, depending on the effect you want), but you can always go in and change it after the action creates all the layers for you.
Follow these simple instructions to get your light writing type in just a few minutes:
- Download the Light Writing Action
- Install the action by double clicking it (this will also launch Photoshop).
- In a new Photoshop document, create a 300 pt letter on its own type layer (individual letter layers work best, even if you’re creating an entire word).
- Select the letter layer and run the Create Light Writing action from your Actions Palette
- In order to get the best results, create a nifty background, preferably dark with a wide range of tonality and color (just like in the PSDtuts tutorial)
This action was created in Photoshop CS3, but it should work in any version that supports actions. Be sure that you are working in RGB.
A couple more examples:
Other News
In other news, I recently wrote a guest article for Just Creative Design to help Jacob out while he is on vacation. Check out Want to Know How to Design? Learn the Basics.
Also, some of you may have seen a little writing project called Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008. Janet will be running this writing project through July 26, 2008. It was designed to get the word out on some great blogs that haven’t been around for very long—blogs like Creative Curio!
My favorite emerging blogs for 2008:
You are most welcome to join in on the writing project even if your blog started before July 2007. Nominate your favorite emerging blogs with a post listing them and link back to Janet so she knows to come look.
I’ve noticed this popping up all over the place – it’s similar to light graffiti in photography.
I was wondering though; if this is an actual text layer that has editable text (and 20 copies etc) of it then why not use one smart layer?
Create your text, right click the layer and convert it to a smart layer, work through the tut and then if you want to edit the word just double click any of the layers to change it.
This obviously won’t work if you need to rasterize the type! Just an idea which might save a little time.
(ed, having read the tut closer this might not quite work but it’s still something that could be applied.)
Jack,
Yup, same thing as light graffiti, only it’s created digitally instead of with film. Honestly, I’ve never worked much with smart layers, but I think they are designed to function similarly to symbols in Illustrator. In that respect, sure you could use them instead of having 5 million text layers by the time you’re through with your words! I imagine it would cut down on computer resources significantly. Definitely something to try. Thanks for the idea!
Looks like an excellent ‘action’, Lauren. Great job! Thanks very much for mentioning Logo Design Love as one of your favourite emerging blogs! I haven’t seen a couple of your other choices, so am heading over there now.
David,
Thanks! If you have any troubles with the action, please let me know and I’ll see about fixing it. Logo Design Love is definitely an influential emerging blog and it deserves a mention for sure! OH!! And how could I have forgotten iLT?! It’s so popular I just always think it’s been around longer than a year.
Thanks for the “enlightening” action and for Doodlage being mentioned in such great company.
If you ever have an inspiration to be our guest doodler, or just write about anything even remotely doodle-related, you’re more than welcome to do so
RaShell,
You’re welcome for the action and thanks for the invite to guest-doodle! I don’t know that I’m brave enough to put my doodles out for the world to see (erm…)
Hi Lauren. Please don’t forget to post a comment in the writing project page so I can include it in our week 8 summary this Thursday. Thank you so much for joining.
That’s cool! If only I had photoshop… It’s cool, I’m not in a neon mood anyway… more of a natural paper and subtle tones kinda mood
I’ve never seen doodlage… that’s awesome!
Janet,
Done!
Kris,
Yeah, I’ve been subscribed to doodlage for a couple of months now and I really love the stuff that RaShell shares. Be sure to go back and see the previous posts you missed!
Mmm, natural paper and subtle tones… I think you’ve come to the right place for that!
Thank you very much for your entry. Just like you to know that doodlage started before July 2007. Should you update this entry, kindly advise so I can include your new additions.
Thank you again.
Hi Janette,
doodlage did formally start in March 2007, sort of like a “test run”, but didn’t really pick up again, ’till November 2007 (when I joined it
). Perhaps you can bend your rules a little for us, we’d love to still be included in your project… 
Great stuff, Lauren. Thank you. I’ve had some fun playing with it. A great time saver, and love the effect. You should write a tutorial for Smashing Magazine next.
Janette,
Yes, please do consider a slight exception for Doodlage. It only started being regularly updated in November 2007. 3 small posts back in March 2007, and then silence. It would be a shame if it was not considered, especially since it would have hardly been eligable for a nomination last year because it was never updated. It’s really a great site.
johno,
I’m glad you could take some time for fun, especially seeing as it’s with your favorite subject! Eek, a tut for SM?! What would I talk about (besides the need for a modern adoption of the interrobang)??
Hey,
I haven’t had chance to use the action yet, but it looks great! Thanks.
//Harry
Harry,
Hope you enjoy when you do get to trying it out!
Hi Lauren/RaShell. I’m afraid it will be hard to do that as there were earlier entries that had similar scenario and were already excluded. Sorry about that.
5 more blogs to go for your entry to be included in our masterlist. Kindly advise should you update. Thank you.
Janet,
That is unfortunate that RaShell’s blog, doodlage, cannot be included in the writing project, but I understand the need to stick to established rules. I’m afraid I don’t understand your comment about the master list. Do you mean I should submit 5 more blogs for consideration or that 5 more blogs need to nominate Creative Curio?
Hi, Just tried out the awesome action… but sadly i didn’t get that cool effect. Can you help me out. I’m a student currently learning graphic design, so I’m still a newbie.
The problem: It doesn’t have the cool rainbow colour effect through the text. All i get at the end of the action is white text. Not those awesome rainbow colours.
Here’s what I got:
I have Photoshop CS3 on my mac.
It is in 300dpi, RGB/8 bit mode.
Can anybody help me out? It will help me a lot.
Thanks in-advance.
Mars,
Did you put a gradient in the background? That’s the key to getting colors. Whatever colors are in the bg will be enhanced in the text. For mine, they are actually very dark, but the text effect picks them up.
I love the action! Great job. I do have a bit of a problem however after “installing” it. My fonts are all jacked up now. When Im typing them out they are all fat and bloated. After I deselect them they go back to semi normal but its not crisp and clean. Whats the problem? I deleted the action but that didnt help…
I’m sorry Angela! I’ve never encountered that problem before. The only thing I can think of is to try resetting your character palette. Go to your Character Palette and click on the menu for it in the upper right corner of the palette. At the bottom there is an option to Reset Character. If that doesn’t work, you could try resetting the tools and/or purging your preferences, but that will delete any customization you’ve done to your menus, shortcuts, tools, etc.
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