Vintage Tiles Text Effect

This tutorial will show you how to create some letters, convert them to shapes, exclude them from rounded rectangles, then apply a simple layer style to create lovely vintage looking tiles. Then, a nice action will be applied to enhance the coloring of the final result.

The Final Result

Tutorial Details

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

Resources

• Libre Baskerville font.
• Wood Texture 2 by Rifificz.
• Motivos Florales by ValeCat.
• Photoshop Action 24 by saturn-rings.

Step 1

Create a new 1100 x 800 px document. Place the Wood Texture 2 image on top of the Background layer, and resize it as needed.

With the Foreground and Background colors set to Black and White, double click the wood texture layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect:

• Blend Mode : Soft Light
• Opacity : 55%
• Style : Reflected
• Scale : 150%
• Check the Reverse box
• Choose the Foreground to Transparent gradient fill

This will darken the corners a little bit.

Step 2

Create each letter of the text in a separate layer. If you have a numeric keypad, a faster way to do this would be by typing the letter, hitting the numeric keypad’s Enter/Return key, then click again to type another letter, and so on.

The font used is Libre Baskerville, but you can use any other font you like. The font Size is 130 pt, and the color is #e8deae. The letters are created in All Caps, but it is optional.

Once you’re done creating the letters, select all the text layers (click the one at the top, then press and hold the Shift key, and click the last one at the bottom). Then, right click any one of them and choose Convert to Shape.

This will convert all the selected text layers to shape layers.

Step 3

Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool, choose the Shape option in the Options bar, and click the Exclude Overlapping Shapes icon. Then click the geometry settings icon, click the Fixed Size button, set both the Width and Height values to 145 px, and check the From Center box.

(If you are using a different font Size, you’ll need to use different dimensions.)

Change the Radius value depending on how rounded you want the rectangle corners to be. Here, it is 25 px.

This will help you create fixed size rounded rectangles with one click. Don’t forget to click the Unconstrained option back again after you’re done with the tutorial. 😉

What you will need to do for each letter is the following:

1 – Select the letter’s shape layer.
2 – Always make sure that the Exclude Overlapping Shapes icon is active in the Options bar.
3 – Click and drag slightly so that the letter is in the middle of the rounded rectangle.
4 – Release the mouse button, and the letter will be excluded from the rectangle.
5 – If the letter is not perfectly positioned in the middle of the rectangle, you can undo and recreate, or fix this as shown in the next step.

Pick the Direct Selection Tool, click the tile you want to modify, then click and drag to select the shape of the letter inside it.

Use the Arrow keys to move the letter shape as needed, and make sure to hit the Enter/Return key when done to remove the selection.

When all the tiles are created, you can select and rotate some of them by going to Edit > Transform > Rotate. And After you rotate each letter, hit the Enter/Return key to accept the changes.

Tip: You can check the Auto Select box and choose Layers from the drop down menu in the Move Tool‘s Options bar, so that you can select the tiles by directly clicking them. Make sure to un-check the box when done though.

Place the letters as you like in the scene, before you move on to the next step.

Step 4

Double click a tile’s layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Bevel and Emboss

• Technique : Chisel Hard
• Size : 4
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Highlight Mode : – Color : #e7cc8a
• Shadow Mode – Color : #6d6d6d

– Contour

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

– Pattern Overlay

• Blend Mode : Multiply
• Pattern : Floral3 (from the “Motivos Florales” pack)

You can use the other patterns, or use totally different ones if you like, but you might need to change the tile color or the Pattern Overlay Blend Mode.

You can click and drag the pattern to move it inside the tile if you don’t like how it looks. This can also be done any time later. You’ll just need to double click the layer to open the Layer Style box, then select the Pattern Overlay tab, and click and drag the pattern.

– Drop Shadow

• Opacity : 45%
• Distance : 6
• Size : 10

This is what you should get. Right click the styled layer and choose Copy Layer Style.

Select all the remaining tile layers, right click any one of them, and choose Paste Layer Style.

Double click any tile you want to move the pattern inside to do so as explained above, and make sure to apply any other changes before moving to the next step.

Step 5

The last step is applying the action. To do that, you first need to save the final result as an image (a .jpg file), then open it in Photoshop.

Load the .atn file of the Photoshop Action 24, then open the Actions panel (Window > Actions). Select the action tab (will be at the bottom of the Actions panel), then click the Play selection icon.

The action will do the rest of the work and give you a nice final result. 🙂

Keep in mind that you can use any other font you like. For example, the font Bree Serif is used below:

This is the final result once again. 🙂