Today I'm going to take you through the process of creating a vivid 80s style neon chrome
text effect.
This ultra rad style uses the most intense RGB colours available to creating the brightest,
most fluorescent effect possible that smoothly transitions through a variety of colours.
We'll use Photoshop layer styles to create the foundation of the effect, then add the
vibrant colours with a combination of gradient tools.
Some subtle texturing helps to add some intricate details to the chrome text surface, then the
a new document in Adobe Photoshop. I'm using dimensions of 4000x3000 pixels. Most importantly,
make sure you're working in the RGB colour mode.
To ensure we see the most vibrant RGB colours, go to View > Proof Setup and make sure Monitor
RGB is selected, then turn on Proof Colors.
Swap the default foreground and background colours around and use the CMD+Backspace shortcut,
or CTRL+Backspace on Windows, to fill the canvas with black.
Select the Type tool and lay out your text wording in your chosen font. I'm using one
of my favourite aggressive brush fonts named Hyperwave.
This font includes three versions, which makes it easy to fully customise your type to eliminate
any repetitive characters, giving it the appearance of a hand lettered piece.
You can pick up this font for $16, or with up to a 50% discount if you buy it along with
other fonts or design resources by following the link in the description.
Slight kerning adjustments between two characters can be made by placing the cursor, then holding
ALT while nudging with the left or right keyboard keys.
Once you have created your type, right click on the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object.
This will preserve the live type, and also allow us to apply adjustments non-destructively.
This particular brush font has a few too many tiny details. First go to Filter > Noise > Median
and choose a value that smooths out the text. Around 20 should do.
Double click the layer to apply a few layer styles. Begin with a Color Overlay to give
the text a neutral grey fill. Enter zero in the Hue and Saturation fields, then 50 for
Brightness.
Add an Inner Shadow next, set the Distance value to zero, then adjust the size to around
100px. Increase the opacity to around 60%.
Next apply a Bevel and Emboss. Max out the Depth slider, then adjust the size to determine
how large of a chamfer you want around your text.
Set both the Highlights and Shadows to 80% opacity.
Finally add a simple Outer Glow using the default settings.
Once important step to make this effect work correctly is to apply a gradient overlay.
Choose Gradient from the Adjustment Layer list and choose a basic black to white gradient.
Set the angle to make the gradient flow diagonally across the canvas.
Change the blending mode of the gradient layer to Overlay.
We only need the gradient to be overlaid over the text, so apply a clipping mask by holding
ALT while clicking between the layers.
When you do so, it breaks the gradient. A quick fix is to unclip the layer for a moment,
then make a Group containing that single text layer using the CMD+G shortcut.
Set the clipping mask again between the Group and Gradient and the effect should now work
as expected.
Double clicking the gradient layer allows you to change the angle of the gradient, I'll
show you how this affects the effect in a moment.
Apply a Gradient Map adjustment layer. Another way to create a clipping mask out of adjustment
layers is to click the little clip icon in the Properties panel.
Edit the gradient and add several new swatches. Give each one a different shade of grey, somewhere
between black and white.
As the gradient bar is filled, you can see it gives the text a shiny chrome appearance.
The position of these gradient swatches and the fill colour can be adjusted to target
specific areas.
Just using shades of grey produces a typical chrome appearance.
If you turn off the visibility of the regular gradient layer for a moment, you can see how
it allows the effect to work correctly.
Adjusting the angle of the gradient also allows you to customise the reflectiveness of the
chrome.
Using this same principle, you can create gradient maps to produce all kinds of shiny
effects. Drag the gradient map over the new layer icon to duplicate it.
Turn off the visibility of the original, then edit the colours of the gradient to add some
blues and pinks.
Max out the brightness and saturation to create a really vibrant effect.
You can place colours in any order, but it helps to choose hues that naturally blend
into each other on the colour wheel for smooth transitions.
Play around with the gradient angle to refine the appearance.
Create another gradient map duplicate. Let's create the rad, radioactive, retina-burning
colour scheme we've been waiting for.
Edit the gradient swatches with super bright colours, again choosing an order that naturally
follows the colour spectrum.
The more swatches your gradient is made up of, the more reflective and shiny the text
will appear.
Adjust the spacing to allow some colours to take up more space than others to fine tune
the appearance.
Let's add some finishing touches to the effect. Download this free rainy window image from
pixabay. Open it in Photoshop and go to Select > All, Edit > Copy.
Close the image, then in the main document, select the top most layer so the rainy image
will be placed at the top of the stack, then go to Edit > Paste.
Convert the layer to a Smart Object, then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/saturation.
Reduce the Saturation value to zero.
Change the layer's blending mode to Overlay to allow the details of the rain drops and
background lights to interact with the colours of the text, giving it a subtle textured appearance.
Enhance the details further with a Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Experiment with
the sliders. I used around a 300 Amount and roughly 3-4px Radius with zero Threshold.
Reduce the opacity to tone back the texturing so it looks more natural. Around 25% should
do.
Scroll down the layer stack and activate the background layer. Add a Solid Colour Adjustment
Layer above it. Find a deep, dark blue colour.
Open up the free tiger stripe image I also found from Pixabay. Copy and paste it into
the main document, above the solid colour adjustment layer.
Set the blending mode to Overlay, then Invert the image with the CMD+I shortcut.
Each of the three gradient maps shown in this tutorial generate a completely different look,
plus there's many more you can create with alternative colour schemes.
What's more, since this effect makes use of Smart Objects, you can easily change the wording
of the text and the effect will automatically update.