Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
coming atcha with another video tutorial.
Today I'm going to show you how to make this Eco text effect, which is made up of loads
of tiny leaves, along with vines and water droplets.
This text style is originally from a logo I created for BioThemes back in 2010, but
I recently came across it in my archives and figured it would make a great topic for a
tutorial.
It's a great example of how patience is the key ingredient to creating cool artwork.
It doesn't make use of any complicated tools or techniques, but the result is a really
complex.
How that complexity is achieved is by simply placing 100s of leaf graphics all over the
base text.
"Ain't nobody got time for that"
It sounds awfully tedious, but the process doesn't take too long, so let's get started
and I'll show you how it's done.
Begin by creating a nice large document in Adobe Photoshop.
I'm using the dimensions of 3000x2000 pixels.
Use the ALT+Backspace shortcut to fill the background with black.
Select the Type tool and enter your chosen wording in a bold, sans-serif font.
I'm using Avenir Next Condensed, but the font really doesn't matter at all considering it's
going to be masked by the leaves.
Scale the text up in size to fill the majority of the canvas.
Download a tree bark texture from the Internet and open it in Photoshop.
You can find the images I've used linked in the description area below this video.
Press CMD+A to Select All, followed by CMD+C to Copy, then switch back to the main text
document and press CMD+V to Paste.
Scale and position it to cover the text.
Hold the ALT key, then click the area between the two layers to create a Clipping Mask.
Go to Image > Adjustment > Levels and drag the sliders to darken the texture.
Change the Hue/Saturation from the Adjustment menu and decrease the saturation amount to
around -40.
Find a leaf texture from the web and open it in Photoshop.
Double click the background layer to make it editable, then go to Edit > Transform > Warp.
Drag the top and bottom corners towards the center, then do the same with the bezier handles
to form a point at each end.
Extend the two bezier handles on the right outwards to give it more of a typical leaf
shape, then hit Enter to apply the transformation.
Add a Vibrance adjustment layer and crank up the vibrance setting to the max to bring
out the bright greens.
Right click and select Merge Layer to blend this vibrancy into the main image.
Select all, then copy and paste this graphic into the main text document.
Use the shortcut CMD+T to Transform, then hold Shift and Alt while scaling the leaf
down in size.
Hit Enter to confirm the changes.
Hold the ALT key while dragging the graphic to make a duplicate.
Do this repeatedly to randomly cover the letters with these leaf images.
When you're done, go through and click each one, then press CMD+T to Transform.
Give the corner handle a quite flick to rotate it to make every leaf point in a different
direction.
Make sure the Auto Select feature is turned on by the way.
You can check this in the toolbar while the Selection tool is active.
Shift and click from the first leaf layer right down to the bottom leaf layer in the
Layers panel, then press CMD+G to Group them.
Give this group a name of Large Leaves.
Select one of the leaves and make a duplicate.
Drag this duplicate out of the group and to the top of the layer stack.
Press CM+T to Transform, then scale, squash and stretch it into a slightly different shape.
Drag a bunch of copies of this new leaf shape to fill in some of the gaps where the text
is still visible.
Turn off the visibility of the Large Leaves group to make the selection of this second
batch much easier.
Go back and randomly rotate each one so they don't all point in the same direction.
Group all the leaves in this second set and name them Medium Leaves.
Make a new copy and scale it down even further, then repeat the procedure to fill in any remaining
gaps.
Toggle off both the previous leaf groups and rotate these smallest leaves, then create
a group named Small Leaves.
Turn on the visibility of all the leaf groups to see the full effect, then make any tweaks
to any individual leaf sizes or positions to retain the overall shape of the text.
Rearranging the groups can also provide different results so they aren't just stacked in size
order.
Choose a random leave and double click the layer to open the Layer Styles window.
Add a Drop Shadow and configure the settings to Black, Multiply, 50% opacity, zero distance
and spread but 20px size.
Right click the layer and select Copy Layer Style, then scroll right to the top leaf layer
and click it.
Hold Shift and click the very last layer, then right click and choose Paste Layer Style
to add this drop shadow to every single leaf.
Click the little arrows on each group to tidy the Layers panel back up.
Create a new layer above the tree bark texture, then set up the Brush tool with white, a size
of around 30px and the spacing set to zero in the Brush panel.
I'm using a Graphics tablet for this stage, which allows me to use the pen pressure to
affect the thickness of the line, but you could also do this step with a mouse by either
setting the Fade option under Shape Dynamics, or by simply making the brush size thicker
or thinner.
Draw a series of lines around the text to represent a series of vines that weave in
and out of the leaves.
Double click this layer to add some Layer Styles.
Start with a Gradient Overlay to convert the vines to green.
Choose a dark green to a bright green.
Add a Satin style to break up the flow of the gradient.
Use the settings Black, Multiply, 50% opacity, then 20px for the Distance and Size.
Choose the Contour preset with the S shape.
Next add a Bevel and Emboss to give the vines a 3D appearance.
Change the Soften amount to around 10, then set the highlights to Color Dodge at 100%.
Add the same Drop Shadow settings as used previously and OK the result.
Create a new layer at the top of the Layer stack, then set up a brush with zero hardness.
Dab a few random spots of white across the lettering.
Change this layer's blending mode to Soft Light and reduce the opacity to around 70%.
Rename it to Highlights.
Create another new layer.
Press X to switch the foreground and background colours in order to paint with black, then
dab a few more spots across the design.
Give these the Soft Light blending mode and change the name to Shadows.
These two layers just add some subtle lighting differences to help eliminate the repetition
between the leaf images.
Create another new layer and give it a name of Water Drops.
Switch the foreground colour back to white, then bump up the hardness to 100%.
Dab a load of spots across the leaves, alternating the size slightly by a couple of pixels.
Reduce the Fill amount at the top of the Layers panel to zero, then double click the layer
to add some Layer Styles to give these white spots the appearance of a water droplet.
Begin with a Bevel and Emboss.
Reset the values to Default by clicking the button at the bottom of the panel, then alter
the size to 20px, uncheck the Use Global Light option and manually set an angle and altitude
in the upper left area.
Reduce the opacity of the Shadows to zero.
Add an Inner Glow.
Reset to Default and use these standard settings.
Add a Drop Shadow, again resetting to Default, then change the settings to around 4px distance
and 9px size.
The final result is a cool looking jungle style text effect that's made up of loads
of leaves.
Placing every single leaf into position manually is a bit tedious, but it doesn't take too
long once you get into it, plus the results are worth it.
The more time you put in with different sized leaves, the more realistic the result.
You could even use a mixture of leaf textures to avoid any repetition and further boost
the realism.
This leafy text is great for any kind of jungly, environmentally, eco style themes, but the
same procedure can be used for any kind of object.
So I hope this tutorial gives you some ideas for your projects.
If you enjoyed this video a thumbs up to help spread the word would be really appreciated.
Don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you want to stick around for more, and head
over to my website at spoon.graphics for loads of written tutorials and free design resources.
So as always thank you very much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.