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Smudged Watercolor Text Effect

This tutorial explains how to modify the settings of a simple brush and a smudge brush to create a smudged watercolor text effect easily.

The Final Result:

Tutorial Details

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

Resources

Step 1

Create a new 1152 x 864 px document and fill it with the color #dfddc4.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 1

Place the Crumpled white paper texture on top of the Background layer, then change its layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply and its Opacity to 50%.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 1

Step 2

Create the text in Black. You can use All Caps if you like as well. The font used is Y2K Neophyte. If you have more than one word, and/or different font sizes, create each of them in a separate layer. Also, set the Tracking value to 200 to avoid overlapping of the smudged watercolor later on.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 2

Make all the text layers invisible by clicking the eye icons next to them.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 2

Step 2

Open the Brush panel (Window -> Brush), choose the Rough Round Bristle brush, and modify its Settings as below:

Brush Tip Shape

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 3

Shape Dynamics

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 3

Dual Brush

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 3

Color Dynamics

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 3

Transfer

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 3

And check the Wet Edges and Smoothing boxes too. This will create the basic watercolor brush. The Size Jitter and Dual Brush values add randomness to the brush shape, while the Color Dynamics and Transfer values add color and opacity variations so that the brush has a more realistic effect.

Step 4

Right click the first text layer and choose Create Work Path. Set the Foreground color to #a6a6a6 and the Background color to #424242, and pick the Direct Selection Tool.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 4

Create a new layer on top of all layers, rename it to whatever text you’re working with, and change its Blend Mode to Color Burn. Then, right click the path and choose Stroke Path.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 4

Choose Brush from the Tool drop down menu and un-check the Simulate Pressure box.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 4

This will stroke the path with the watercolor brush.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 4

Step 5

Pick the Smudge Tool with a 70 px soft round brush. In the Options bar, change the Mode to Hue and the Strength to 25%.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

Open the Brush panel once again and modify the smudge brush Settings as shown below:

Brush Tip Shape

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

Shape Dynamics

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

Scattering

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

Transfer

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

Right click the Path once again and choose Stroke Path. This time, choose Smudge from the Tool drop down menu, and make sure that the Simulate Pressure box is still un-checked.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

This will smudge the watercolor stroke. Hit Enter/Return to get rid of the path.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 5

Step 6

Create a new layer for the next line of text, and don’t forget to change its Blend Mode to Color Burn.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 6

If you are using a smaller text size, you’ll need smaller brush sizes as well. In this case, the watercolor brush Size is set to 15 px.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 6

The smudge brush Size is set to 40 px. You can experiment with different sizes until you like the result.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 6

Step 7

You can as well stroke each letter with a different color. To do so, you’ll need to select that letter first, by clicking and dragging around it using the Direct Selection Tool.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 7

Then, choose two shades of the color you want to use, a light one for the Foreground color, and a dark one for the Background color. The ones used here are #e890b9 and #7b1b3b.

On a new layer, stroke the selected path with the watercolor and smudge brushes just like you did previously.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 7

Once you’re done, and before you hit Enter/Return to get rid of the path, select the next letter, two new colors, and repeat the same steps.

Smudged Watercolor Text Effect step 7

Your watercolor text is now finished!


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