Tutorial 2 – Flaming Text

(PS Elements 1 by Mr. Dave Winsa)

(altered for PS Elements 5 by Mr. Campeau)

In this lesson, we will look at how to create the Flaming Effect around text or even objects. It should look something like the image below. You may try to change things up a little if you wish.

STEP 1

Open Photoshop Elements 5. Create a new file that is 500 x 500 pixels in size.

STEP 2

Use the fill command (Edit > Fill Layer) to fill the background layer with black. You could also use the Paint Bucket tool if you prefer.

STEP 3

Choose the text tool and make sure the text colour is white. Set the size of the text to 72 pt. I would suggest using a font such as Times New Roman.

STEP 4

Type your name on the canvas.

STEP 5

You should now see a new Layer in the Layers panel for your name. If you don’t have the Layers panel open, open it by using Windows > Layers

STEP 6

Use the move tool to move the text to the center of the canvas. You don’t have to be perfectly centered.

STEP 7

Simplify the text layer by right clicking on the layer (in the Layers panel) and choosing Simplify Layer.

STEP 8

Next, you will duplicate the layer containing your name. To do this, right-click on the layer and choose duplicate layer. At the prompt, choose OK.

STEP 9

You should now have 3 layers: the background, your name, and your name copy in the layers palette. Make sure the layer your name copy is highlighted.

STEP 10

You now need to rotate the top layer only. To do this, you will simply drag the shown location on the image below. Note that this is really the Free Transform tool that is in use.

STEP 11

Rotate the text so that it is completely vertical. Use the SHIFT key to ensure that the angle is exact. Hit the green checkmark to confirm your transformation (rotation).

STEP 12

Make sure to move the text so all of the text can be seen on the canvas. (Sometimes after rotation, the name goes off the canvas.)

STEP 13

Unselect anything that you have selected by hitting CTRL-D.

Choose Filter > Stylize > Wind. You should do this 3 times. Note that you might have to change the Wind direction if you rotated your name the other way.

STEP 14

Select the top layer (this should already be done). Rotate it back to its original angle using the circle shown below.

STEP 15

The names no longer line up. Use the Move tool so that the top layer is moved back to exactly where it was originally. Note that you can use the arrow tools to move the layer around slowly.

STEP 16

Use Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to blur the wind lines a bit. Set the pixels to 2.0 and choose OK.

STEP 17

Choose the middle layer in the layers palette and create a new layer. It will appear between the two layers with your name.

STEP 18

Fill the new layer with black. You can use the Edit > Fill Layer option to do this.

STEP 19

Notice the eyes beside each layer. These indicate if the layer is visible. If you click on the eye for a layer, it will toggle between visible and invisible (invisible being when there is no eye in the box). Deselect all the other layers so that only the top two layers (the black fill and the wind-modified text) have an eye beside them.

STEP 20

Choose Layer > Merge Visible. This will merge the two layers you have visible at the moment (the black background and the wind-modified text) on to a new layer that you can work with.

STEP 21

Next, we are going to make the flames. Choose Filter > Distort > Liquify.

STEP 22

Choose a brush size of 10 and make sure the pressure is 50. Note that you might want a different brush size if you are using different units. Simply pick a size that is about one third of the width of a letter.

STEP 23

A) To make the flames, you will take the brush and begin to drag from the top of the letters.

B) Drag upwards, moving left and right as you are dragging up from the tops of the letters. This will produce a flame effect.

STEP 24

Once you have done the tops of the letters, reduce the brush size and add ‘side’ flames. Add more detail to the flames without distorting the text.

STEP 25

Once you are satisfied, choose OK. You should have something that resembles flames.

STEP 26

Switch the layer we have just modified to screen mode.

STEP 27

Go to the Hue/Saturation command (Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation).

STEP 28

A) Check the Colorize option.

B) Push up the Saturation to 100.

C) Set the Hue to about 40 so that the flames are a warm yellow. Note that you could choose a different colour here if you wanted.

STEP 29

Duplicate the yellow flame layer by right clicking and choosing duplicate layer.

STEP 30

A) Go back to Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation.

B) Make sure Colorize is deselected.

C) Change the Hue to -20. This will add orange to our flames.

D) Choose OK.

STEP 31

Change the mode of the layer to overlay. (This is done on the drop down menu of the Layer panel.)

STEP 32

Drag the original name text (the layer that is not wind-modified) to the top of the layers palette. To do this, click and drag the layer up to the top of the layers palette.

STEP 33

Make the top layer visible again. (This could have been done a while back really.)

STEP 34

With the untouched text layer selected, click the lock transparency check box. This will make sure any changes you make will only affect the object on this layer (the text).

STEP 35

Change the colours in the colour boxes at the bottom of the toolbar to white as the foreground colour and yellow as the background colour.

STEP 36

Choose the gradient tool from the toolbar and click and drag from the bottom of the text to a little bit over the top of the text. You will see a nice effect with the lettering.

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed it!

STUDENT RESULTS

Alex Astgen - 2009

Ruth Tindall - 2009

Billy Palecki - 2009

Did you try changing the colours or using a different effect? Send me your results and some will be posted below. Be sure to briefly explain what you did differently.