Neon Glow Text Effect using Photoshop
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Written by Saran on
July 8, 2014,
Updated
July 10, 2014In this tutorial, I am going to create some sharp-looking neon glow effects on 3D text using a combination of layer styles, the Pen Tool and some filters. Most of this tutorial is done in Photoshop, the 3D letters are created in Illustrator. If you don't have Illustrator, you can also try making 3D letters in Photoshop, I will show you how? The end effect is quite stunning and hopefully you'll pick up some tips and techniques you didn't know before. Lets get start.
Program : Adobe Photoshop CS3 Difficulty : Intermediate Estimated Time : 1 hr. Tutorial Provider :
Vecteezy Final Result :
![Advanced-Neon-Glow-Effect_final Advanced-Neon-Glow-Effect_final](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/advanced-neon-glow-effect_final.jpg)
STEP 1
Let's start by creating a new document . Set the dimensions of the canvas to
1800×1200 px. with Black background color (# 000000).
![Step_1 Step_1](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_1.jpg)
STEP-2 (Create Background)
Take a new layer, using
Elliptical Marquee Tool(M) create circular shape in the center of canvas and give Feather radius 100pt.
(Ctrl + Alt D) then fill it with green color(# 089724). It'll look nicer at the end.
![Step_2 Step_2](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_2.jpg)
Then duplicate the layer and change the layer mode to
Color Dodge. This will make your light ball a stronger light effect as shown.
![Step_2a Step_2a](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_2a.jpg)
Take a new layer, Set the background color to White (# ffffff) Foreground color to Black (# 000000) and make selection around the ball shape by holding Ctrl button click on layers thumbnails. Then create cloud effect go to
Filter > Render > Clouds. ![Step_2b Step_2b](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_2b.jpg)
Change the layer mode to
Overlay and change the
Opacity to
35%. Now go to
Filter > Sketch > Chrome, change the settings (Detail 10 & Smoothness 10) as shown below and press OK.
![Step_2c Step_2c](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_2c.jpg)
The effect will look like this after adding Chrome.
![Step_2d Step_2d](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_2d.jpg)
STEP-3 (Creating text)
Create 2 new layers, using
Horizontal type Tool(T) type NEON in one layer and GLOW in another layer then place them as shown.
![Step_3 Step_3](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_3.jpg)
Then double click on NEON Text layer to access the layer style and give
Outer Glow as shown below.
![Step_3a Step_3a](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_3a.jpg)
The effect will look like this after adding Outer Glow.
![Step_3b Step_3b](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_3b.jpg)
Lets add styles to the Glow, double click on the glow text layer to access the layer style and add Gradient Overlay, Inner Glow and Stroke as shown.
![Step_3e Step_3e](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_3e.jpg)
The effect will look like this after adding above styles.
![Step_3f Step_3f](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_3f.jpg)
STEP-4 (Creating 3D effect )
Lets start to create 3D effect to the GLOW text. Duplicate the glow text layer and remove all layer styles, fill with (#101010 )color of it then move a bit top left I as shown.
![Step_4 Step_4](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4.jpg)
Take a new layer using
Pen Tool(P) make connections and fill with same color(#101010)
![Step_4a Step_4a](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4a.jpg)
Make the connections to the below showed areas.
![Step_4b Step_4b](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4b.jpg)
Using same method make the connections to create top surface and fill it with (#252525) dark gray color and merge the these three layers.
![Step_4c Step_4c](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4c.jpg)
lets change the color of the text using Color Balance(Ctrl +B) give values (0, +60, –60) as shown.
![Step_4d Step_4d](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4d.jpg)
Then double click the Glow text layer to access the layer style and add below styles.
![Step_4f Step_4f](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4f.jpg)
The effect will look like this after adding above styles.
![Step_4g Step_4g](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_4g.jpg)
STEP-5 (Creating lighting curves)
In this step we will give beautiful effect to the text by adding lighting curves and sparkles. To do this in a new layer using
Pen Tool (P) draw curved line as I shown.
![Step_5 Step_5](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Step_5.jpg)
After creating the curves right click on curve line, select
Stroke path, select
Brush and click Ok. Select
Soft Round 4-5 pixel brush (B) with Green color(#3dfc65). and hit F5 to see
Other Dynamics of
Brushes and follow setting as shown below
![step_5a step_5a](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5a.jpg)
The Brush strokes will look like this
![step_5b step_5b](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5b.jpg)
Now duplicate the layer and scale it a bit small
![step_5c step_5c](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5c.jpg)
Then double click on curved line layers to access the layer style and give
Outer Glow as shown below.
![step_5c step_5c](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5c.jpg)
The effect will look like this.
![step_5e](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5e.jpg)
Using
Eraser Tool(E) erase lines at below showed areas.
![step_5f](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5f.jpg)
STEP-6 (Add sparkles on lines)
At the final stage I have decided to finish by adding some sparkles on the curved lines, for that take default
Soft Round Brush(B) and make settings as shown.
![step_5g](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5g.jpg)
Create sparkles on lines using this brush and Green color(# 1eb43e). Use small brush to add sparkles at the start and end points of lines.
![step_5h](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/step_5h.jpg)
You can add Outer Glow to the sparkles as we given to lines in the above step, so that they looks more effectively. Here is how our final effect looks.
Final Effect: ![Advanced-Neon-Glow-Effect_final Advanced-Neon-Glow-Effect_final](//www.sanwebe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/advanced-neon-glow-effect_final.jpg)
Hope you enjoyed by reading this tutorial, lets have a try. Thank you!
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