Colorful Sparkling Glass Text Effect

This is a super easy tutorial that will show you how to use basic Filters and simple Layer styles to create a bright colorful glass text effect.

The Final Result

Tutorial Details

• Software Used : Photoshop
• Version : CS6 Extended
• Time : 0:30 – 0:45

Tutorial Details

• Playball font.

Step 1

Create a new 1250 x 750 px document, fill the Background with Black, then duplicate the Background layer.

Set the Foreground and Background colors to Black and White, then go to Filter > Render > Fibers. Change the Variance to 20 and the Strength to 5.

Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Change the Angle to 90 and the Distance to 1000.

Change the Background copy layer’s Blend Mode to Linear Burn. This will not create any effect for now, but it will once we add the colors later on.

Step 2

Create the text in white using the font Playball and the font Size 250 pt.

Change the text layer’s Fill value to 0, then duplicate it.

Step 3

Double click the original text layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Bevel and Emboss

• Style : Outer Bevel
• Technique : Chisel Hard
• Gloss Contour : Cone – Inverted
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Highlight Mode : Linear Light
• Shadow Mode – Color : #b5b5b5

– Contour

• Contour : Cone – Inverted
• Check the Anti-aliased box.

– Stroke

• Size : 7
• Opacity : 0%
• Color : #ffffff

– Drop Shadow

• Color : #474747
• Distance : 11
• Size : 8

This will create the first layer of the glass effect.

Step 4

Double click the copy text layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Bevel and Emboss

• Size : 13
• Gloss Contour : Rolling Slope – Descending
• Check the Anti-aliased box

– Contour

• Contour : Guassian – Inverse
• Check the Anti-aliased box.

– Inner Glow

• Blend Mode : Overlay
• Noise : 100%
• Color : #ffffff
• Source : Center
• Size : 20

The Noise value will add a subtle sparkling effect to the text when the colors are added. You can decrease the value if you want a more clear-looking glass/result.

This will create the second layer of the glass effect.

Step 5

Pick the Brush Tool, choose a big soft round brush, and set the Size to a value around 450 px. Then, create a new layer between the two Background layers and call it Color.

Next, you’ll need to pick different Foreground colors, then for each one, click once behind the text to add dots of color. Make sure to choose lighter colors as they will create a better effect.

You can increase or decrease the brush size if needed as well.

The colors used in the tutorial are shown below, but you can choose any other colors you like.

And that’s it! Very simple, but bright and fun.
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial 🙂