Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
back with another video tutorial for Adobe Photoshop.
Today we're going to create a furry text effect by combining a real fur texture image with
type, then we'll use a clever Photoshop Brush trick to eliminate the hard edges from the
type to give it a fuzzy appearance with lots of tiny hairs.
My example uses the fur of a tabby cat, but you can use the same process with any animal
pattern, such as cheetahs, zebras and tigers for a cool safari themed type style.
You'll need a close up texture image of the animal fur you're going to use, which can
be sourced from a stock photos website.
The one I'm using can be picked up for free from the link in the description area below
the video.
Open up Photoshop and create a new document.
I'm using 2000x1500px.
Select the Type tool and enter your chosen wording.
Use a nice bold font so there's plenty of space for the fur texture to be applied.
Make sure there's adequate spacing between the letters so that when the furry outline
is applied, the word is still legible.
Right click on the text layer and select Convert to Smart Object.
Head to Filter > Noise > Median and enter 20px.
This will round off the corners of your font to give it more of a cute appearance when
they're turned into furry letters.
Open up your fur texture into Photoshop.
Use the shortcut CMD+A (or CTRL+A on Windows) to Select All, then CMD+C to Copy.
Switch back to the main document and paste in the texture.
Press CMD+T to Transform, then rotate and scale it to fit over the first letter.
Hold the ALT key while clicking and dragging the texture to create a duplicate for the
next two letters.
Shift and click to select all the texture layers in the Layers panel, then press CMD+E
to Merge them into one layer.
Hold the CMD key and click on the thumbnail of the text layer to load its selection.
Activate the fur texture layer, then click the Layer Mask button to trim it to the outline
of the letters.
The fur texture has been applied to the wording, but it doesn't look very realistic with those
hard edges.
Create a new document at 200x200px.
Zoom in, then set up the Brush tool with the 5 pixel Hard Mechanical preset (or just max
out the Hardness slider with a 5px brush tip).
Open the Brush panel and reduce the Spacing to zero from under the Brush Tip Shape settings,
then under Shape Dynamics, change the Size Jitter Control to Pen Pressure.
Select the Pen tool and click a point in the top corner, then another in the opposite corner.
Drag out a bezier handle to give the path a slight curve.
Right click and select Stroke Path and ensure the options are set to Brush with Simulate
Pressure.
Hit the delete key a couple of times to remove the path, then draw another path in the opposite
direction.
Stroke this new path, then add a few more lines that intersect in different directions.
Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset to save this fur brush, then close the document.
Now you have this brush saved, any future furry artwork you create can skip this step.
Back in the main document, select the brush tool and open the Brush panel to edit the
settings.
First reduce the spacing to zero under the Brush Tip Shape section, then under Shape
Dynamics, max out the sliders for Size Jitter, Angle Jitter and Roundness Jitter to totally
randomise each instance of this brush tip.
Use the square bracket key to reduce the brush size to size to around 80px.
CMD+click the thumbnail of the text layer to load its selection, then activate the Marquee
tool.
Right click and select Make Work Path with a Tolerance of 1 pixel.
Switch over to the Pen tool and right click and select Stroke Path.
The brush will produce randomised hairs all around the letters to give the text a realistic
furry appearance.
Hit the delete key to remove the path to see the effect in full.
There's a couple more effects we can apply to boost the realism a little more.
Double click the fur texture layer to add a Bevel and Emboss layer style.
Set the Depth to 500, Size to 100, then max out the Soften slider.
Under the shading options, set both the highlights and shadows to Soft Light at 80%.
This will give the text a subtle three dimensional appearance.
Add a Drop Shadow to give the text some depth.
Use 20% Opacity, 20px Distance at 90 degrees and 20px Size.
Those fuzzy edges are the key part of this effect.
Without them the texture doesn't look right clipped to the outline of the letters, but
with the help of a special Photoshop brush, thousands of tiny hairs give the effect a
realistic furry appearance.
So I hope you find this effect useful within your projects.
If you enjoyed the tutorial or learnt anything new, a thumbs up on the video would be really
appreciated.
Be sure to subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel to stick around for more video
tutorials, and join my mailing list over on my website to receive my free bundle of design
resources.
Thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one!