Hi, before I begin, I’ll repeat again, I’m using GIMP, GIMP is an image manipulation freeware, you can download it at, http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ So, let’s see how to create a stone age style text like this,
Using GIMP.
You begin with a blank template. Then duplicate it by going to the ‘Layers’ toolbar at the left side, then clicking this icon
at the bottom, This is where you change ‘Mode’
Click here to duplicate layer.
So, now you will see 2 layers, I need 2 layers to create the type of background I want, you can skip this step if you already have a background which you’re satisfied with. Back to the layers thingy, select the top layer, change the ‘Mode’ to ‘Multiply’, select the Gradient tool, select you desired background color, at the ‘Gradient’, select ‘FG to BG (RGB)’.
Select ‘Gradient’ tool.
Select desired color
Select ‘FG to BG (RGB)’, or any background you want.
Using the ‘Gradient’ tool, click on top of the top layer and drag to the middle. Select the second layer, using the ‘Gradient’ tool, click at the bottom of the second layer and drag to the middle.
Hint: holding ‘Ctrl’ while dragging the ‘Gradient’ enable straight line when dragging. Right click the top layer, and select ‘Merge Down’. This will combine the selected layer with the layer just below it. Then, select the ‘Text’ tool at the right side tool bar, click on your background, and write any word.
Select ‘Text’ tool.
Select desired Font style, I selected ‘Berlin Sans FB Bold’ Adjust Font size Font color. For this tutorial, we start with black. Where do you want your text to be? I select ‘Centered’.
You should get something like this,
At the ‘Layers’ tool box at the left side, select the text layer. At the top toolbar, select: Layer > Layer to Image Size
This will render the text layer becoming same size as the background layer. After that, go to: Filters > Distorts > IWarp
Click on the text to shape ‘Move’ the sides to give it a ‘blocky’ feel.
Select ‘Move’
Hint: • Don’t move too much the bottom part of the text, else it will give you trouble when you want to combine the ‘reflection’ (mirror image).
At the ‘Layers’ tool box at the left side, select the text layer again. Right click the text layer, select ‘Alpha to Selection’, at the ‘Lock:’, check (tick) the box to lock alpha channel. Tick box to lock alpha channel.
Right click text layer, Select ‘Alpha to Selection’.
Then, go to: Filters > Render > Clouds > Solid Noise
Set ‘Detail’ to 3
Select ‘Randomize’
Then click ‘OK’.
X size: 16 Y size: 16
Unselect (uncheck) the ‘Lock:’ box. Press: Ctrl Shift A
to unselect the alpha selection.
Caution: Be careful when pressing ‘Ctrl Shift’, it might change your keyboard keys, if that happens, just press ‘Ctrl Shift’ again. You will get something like this.
Duplicate the text layer. Select the bottom text layer, go to: Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur Then set the blur radius to 2.0 or 3.0, whichever you deem more suitable. Don’t make it too blur. Select the top text layer, set the ‘Mode’ to ‘Overlay’. Right click the top text layer, select ‘Merge Down’.
Then, Duplicate the merged text layer 2 times. Rename the top layer. Double click to change the name. Purpose: To avoid confusions due to too many layers. The ‘Eye’ , will mention it later. This means ‘Open’ Eye.
( The Repeat ) Click at the ‘Eye’ of the top most text layer, middle text layer and the background layer to shut their ‘Eye’s. Then, click at the bottom most text layer (this layer’s ‘Eye’ is open, so you can still see it), go to: Colors > Level Adjust bar here to darken the text color. Why? Because this layer will be the side part of the text, which is darker. You will know what I mean later.
Darken until you see something like this.
Then, click on the ‘Eye’ of the middle text layer (the one below the top most text layer) to open it’s ‘Eye’. Then, make sure you select the bottom most text layer, go to: Filters > Blur > Motion Blur
Select ‘Zoom’.
Unselect ‘Blur outward’.
Set length at 12. Or some lower value if you feel it’s too blur.
Duplicate multiple times the layer which you have done ‘Motion Blur’, until you see a blocky shape.
Like this,
So now you can see, by duplicating the ‘Motion Blur’ layer, you create the ‘sides’ for your text, which is why you need to set it at darker color just now, to give it a more realistic ‘3D’ feel. Now, right click on any of the duplicated ‘Motion Blur’ layer, select: Merge Visible Layers
Select any of the ‘Motion Blur’ layer, then select ‘Merge Visible Layers’. Then click ‘Merge’. Click on that merged layer, duplicate it. Then, follow this,
This is the top most text layer. Will mention it later.
After duplicate, click at the upper layer (meaning this layer), change the mode to ‘Overlay’. Then, right click this layer and select ‘Merge Down’.
The purpose of this step is to make your text look more solid. ( The End of Repeat )
Now, open the ‘Eye’s of both the background layer and also the top most text layer, this layer will be the reflection. Select the top most text layer, at the top toolbar, select: Layer > Transform > Flip Vertically Move this layer until it looks like a reflection of the text layer. Like this,
Then, you will have to repeat to this layer, the steps from where I marked: ( The Repeat ) until ( The End of Repeat ) Then you will get something like this:
Hang on, it’s almost done. Select the reflection layer, right click it, select ‘Add Layer Mask’ > White (full opacity) > Add Then, choose: Gradient tool > FG to BG (RGB)
Make sure the default color is at Black
.
Then,
Drag the gradient from the bottom till the point where reflection connects, as shown by the red arrow. Hint: You might want to hold down the ‘Ctrl’ key when dragging the gradient.
So, to get a floor, what we need to do is, first, select the background layer, because it is at the bottom most. Then, at the top tool bar, select: Layer > New Layer > Transparency Then click ‘OK’. Make sure you have selected the new transparent layer. Then fill it in with any color or pattern you want your ‘floor’ to be. I use the ‘Bucket Fill’ tool and choose pattern fill.
Scale tool Bucket Fill tool Select Pattern Fill to use ‘Patterns’
Choose from existing patterns. I chose ‘Blue Web”.
After that, use the ‘Scale’ tool to scale this layer until it covers only a little bit of the bottom part of the text, as shown here,
Then click ‘Scale’. Then go to the Top tool bar, select: Layer > layer to Image Size
The floor layer looks too fake. To make it look nicer, right click this ‘floor’ layer, then choose ‘Add Layer Mask’. Repeat the gradient thingy just now. To make it look more realistic, click on the ‘reflection’ layer just now, at the ‘Layer’ tool box, you can see the ‘Opacity’ slide bar at the top, reduce the opacity.
Adjust the opacity of the layers with ‘Layer Mask’ to make the reflection look more realistic.
This is my end result, hope you catch what I meant ☺