Create a Realistic Grass Typography in Photoshop

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Part 1—The Background
This tutorial is made up of three parts—the background, the text, and some final extra effects. So first of all we're going to make a background. To do this we create a new document in Photoshop. I made mine 1920 x 1200 because I want this image to sit on my laptop background. We start by drawing a Radial Gradient with the Gradient Tool (G) going from a light yellow-green (#adbf41) to a mid-range green (#328a26).

Step 2
Now for this image we want to create a really textured background, faintly resembling paper. So the first thing we need is a paper texture!Grab some paper textures, use a one first, desaturate it (Ctrl+Shift+U) and stretch it over the top to fit the canvas.

Step 3
Now we set the layer to Overlay and 70% Opacity to blend the texture with our nice green background.

Step 4
Now to get a really distressed look, I then copied this layer, spun it around 180' and set it to 20%.Then I brought in a few more layers of paper texture (using different textures) and set them all to faint overlays, one on top of the other.This was partly for the extra distress, but also because I realized that the textures looked a bit grainy and not small and sharp. So by combining extra textures and then fading it all back, I can get a nicer, sharper overall look.By layering multiple grungy paper effects we can create more depth to the background texture.

Step 5
Now I duplicated the original background gradient, placed the duplicate layer above all the textu res and set it to 40% Opacity.This tones back the texture so it's not quite so grungy!

Step 6
Now we create a new layer over the top and using a large, soft, black brush, add some black to the edges. It's worth toning back the opacity to about 30% and Overlay. You can then duplicate the layer and run a heavy Gaussian Blur over it (set to about 32px). That way the edges really soften out.


Part 2—Grass Text
Okay.We're now ready to make the text part.Download an image of grass with high quality.Let's see what I've found. :P After downloading copy the image on to your canvas.

Step 8
Next we need some type. So select a font you want to cut out with. I chose Impact, which is fat and condensed type. I thought it looked nice and grand. And I've written the text "YNM CREATIONS", My company name. Anyways, so just set your text out in white and set it to Overlay and like 50% Opacity. This layer won't actually show in the end, it's just a guide layer.

Step 9
OK, so here's the text on top of the grass we got earlier. Now a bit of planning! To make text out of grass, it's not going to be enough just to stencil out the grass. Rather we need it to look all rough, with bits of grass sticking out the edges. To do that, we're going to use the letter shapes as a rough guide and then trace roughly around them and periodically jut out to trace around blades of grass. I'll warn you now, it's very tiresome!

Step 10
OK, so here we are tracing. You should use the Pen Tool (P) and frankly, if you're not handy with it before you start, you will be by the end! Notice how in the parts where my path juts out, it sort of follows individual blades of grass. That way when you have the final cut-out they will look like pieces of grass sticking out.

Step 11
When you've finished your path, it's best to save it in the Paths Palette. You can do this by switching to that palette and then clicking the little down arrow and choosing Save Path. That way if you need the path again later, you can grab it. Anyhow, double-click the path to get the selection and go back to your grass layer. Duplicate the grass layer so you still have more grass for the other letters, then invert your selection (Ctrl+Shift+I) and cut away the excess grass. In the screen shot I've faded back the duplicate grass layer so you can see the cut out "Y" part.

Step 12
OK, so here we have our "Y" on the final background. As you can see, it looks only slightly better than if we'd just used the letter to stencil out the grass without bothering to trace. But that's OK, what it needs is a bit more depth. After all, if that letter was really sitting there, we should see some shadow and sides to it.First of all though, we'll add some layer styling to give it a bit more of a three dimensional look. The styles are shown below.

Step 13
we'll add some layer styling to give it a bit more of a three dimensional look. The styles are shown below.

Step 14
So this was all just experimental, and it kinda looks OK, but obviously has a long way to go. Now we'll add some shadow. For that we'll use Light and Shade to Bring Text to Life. The idea is to make a three dimensional look. So Ctrl-click the grass layer and then in a new layer below, fill it with black. Then press the down arrow once and the right arrow once and fill it again, then repeat over and over until you get an effect like that shown. I think that was about 12 steps of filling.

Step 15
Now we run a Filter > Blur > Motion Blur on our shadow with a 45' angle and a distance of about 30. Then set the text to a low opacity of about 50%. You should have something that looks like the screen shot below.

Step 16
Now move the shadow layer down and to the right and magic happens! All of a sudden it looks like the letter is casting a shadow. Pretty neat!

Step 17
Now I duplicated this layer three times. Each time I erased a bit of it away so that as the shadow is closer to the text it gets darker. I set these layers to Multiply.

Step 18
So this text is looking pretty cool, but for that extra bit of depth we should add some bits of grass in the background/shadow area. Rather than cutting out more grass, we can just use this current letter transformed about so that it's not obvious that we're hacking it together.
So as you can see below I created a few pieces of grass. They are just cut up bits of our main letter.

 Step 19
Now by moving those pieces into the shadow areas, we can make it look like there is grass sticking out and it's a real 3D object made from grass!Because these new grass bits are in shadow, you might want to use the Burn Tool (O) to darken them appropriately.

Step 20
Yipee, one letter down ... eleven to go! :D

Step 21
Finally, the whole word! The only extra thing I did here was to move the letters apart a little. Each letter is in its own Layer Group which makes moving it around much easier.

Part 3—The Final Makeover!
Now nice as it's looking, our text is a little lonely and monotonous. So in this last section we'll add a few more elements to the design. Note we don't want to overdo it, though, because I want this to be a desktop background. So first up, let's add some extra text. Here I've placed our vision. I love this vision, personally. The text is in a variation of 'JI Hidden Vines' which looks classy. Using multiple fonts from the same family (heavy, light, etc) is a good, safe bet for keeping your type looking coherent. So here I've set the quote to Overlay and 50%, then duplicated the text and set it to Screen and 50%. Then I've added quotation marks in the
same font, but made them extra large and a bright shade of green. Finally, the source of t he quote is in splattered letters and centered vertically. And, of course, the whole quote has been measured out so it's exactly the length of the main text.

Step 23
Next we'll add a bit of a highlight to the scene. To do this, create a new layer above all the rest, and using the Gradient Tool (G), draw a gradient of white -> transparent towards the top left. Then set this layer to Soft Light and 50%. This will turn it into a nice subtle bit of lighting.

Step 24
We can add some eye-catching elements to offset all the green.Here I used a brilliant blue butterfly and a little red ladybug.
(As you can see, the lady bug looks a bit weird actually because I did a quick 'n dirty job of cutting it out. But that's OK because it's gonna be tiny so you won't be able to see the details anyway. So paste them in and then shrink them down and place them appropriately. It's best if they aren't close together, because that way they'll balance each other. I added a drop shadow to each. With the ladybug it's a very close shadow because he's small and walking on the grass. With the butterfly, I set the distance to about 10px because he's hovering in the air and therefore the shadow lands a little ways away. )

And there we have it, one neat little composition featuring text made out of grass! :) (Click here for the full-size version)


More Photoshop Typo Coming Soon!


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