How to Create a Grass-Covered Spring Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

Spring is in the air! And in celebration of that, we're going to create a spring-inspired text effect, similar to the text effects that can be purchased onEnvato Market, using some textures, brushes, layer styles, and filters. Let's get started!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

• Big Bottom Cartoonfont


• Wood Texture v.2by wahyujati2012


• Grass0027Image 5 - Small (1024x680)


• by M10tje


• Grass Stroke Brush


• Black Mambapattern by Federica Pelzel

1. Create the Background

Step 1

Create a new 849 x 603 px document, and then place the Wood Texture v2e image on top of the Background layer, and resize it as you like.

Step 2

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and set the Radius to 0.5. This will smooth the texture a little bit.

Step 3

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Hue/Saturation.

Step 4

Change the Saturation to -15.

Step 5

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon again, and choose Levels, then change the Gamma value to 0.95.

2. Create and Duplicate the Text

Step 1

Create the text in All Caps using the font Big Bottom Cartoon. Change the Size to 120 ptand the Tracking value to 250.

Step 2

Duplicate the text layer, and then go to Edit > Free Transform.

Hit the Down Arrow Key once and the Right Arrow Key once to move the copy text layer 1 px downwards and 1 px to the right.

Hit the Return key to accept the changes.

Step 3

Press the Command-Option-Shift-T keys three more times to create three new copy layers with the transformation applied.

3. Rename and Reorder the Text Layers, and Create Some More Layers

Step 1

Rename the text layers you have to Text, along with the layer's number from bottom to top.

So the original text layer at the bottom should be renamedText 1, and the fifth copy text layer at the top should be renamedText 5.

Step 2

Now change the order of the text layers so that you have Text 1 at the top and Text 5 at the bottom.

Step 3

Create five new layers on top of the text layers you have, and reorder them as well.

Step 4

Duplicate the Text 1 layer, rename itText Top, and place it on top of all the layers you have.

Finally, create one more new layer on top of all layers and call it Grass Stroke.

4. Stroke the Text Layers

Step 1

Right-click the Text 1 layer and choose Create Work Path.

Set the Foreground Color to #b6b567 and the Background Color to #425103, pick the Brush Tool, and choose the Grass Stroke Brush tip.

Step 2

Select Layer 1, and hit the Return key to stroke the path with the brush tip.

Step 3

Right-click the Text 2 layer, choose Create Work Path, and then select Layer 2, and hit the Return key to stroke the path.

Repeat that for the rest of the text layers you have. Make sure to create a work path for each text layer, and then select thelayer with thecorrespondingnumber to stroke the path on.

Step 4

Create a work path for Text 1 again, select the Grass Stroke layer, and stroke the path.

Step 5

Select the Text Top layer, and click the Add vector mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Pick the Eraser Tool, choose the same Grass Stroke Brush tip, and set the Foreground Color to White.

Make sure that the mask thumbnail is selected, and hit the Return key to stroke the Text 1 work path one last time.

Pick the Direct Selection Tool (A) and hit the Return key to get rid of the work path.

5. Add the Grass Texture

Step 1

Group the text layers in a group and call it Text Layers.

Step 2

Place the Grass0027_5_S image on top of the Text Layers group, and resize it to cover up the group's contents.

Step 3

Right-click the grass texture's layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.

Duplicate the grass texture layer twice. Place one of the copies on top of the Top Text layer, and the other on top of the Grass Stroke layer, and create clipping masks for both.

6. Style the Text Top Layer

Step 1

Double-click the Text Top layer to apply a Bevel and Emboss effect using the following settings:

• Size: 13


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: 27


• Altitude: 42


• Check the Anti-aliased box


• Highlight Mode: Soft Light


• Opacity: 30%


• Shadow Mode: Multiply


• Color: #8b8e79


• Opacity: 50%

This will add some dimension to the text.

Step 2

Group all the layers you have except for the Background layers and their adjustment layers. Then duplicate the group, and go to Layer > Merge Group.

7. Style the Group

Double-click Group 1 to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add an Inner Shadow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Color Burn


• Color: #5d6625


• Opacity: 35%


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: -104


• Distance: 8


• Size: 9

Step 2

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings (1):

• Opacity: 43%


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: -41


• Distance: 10


• Size: 27
• Noise:5

Step 3

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings (2):

• Opacity: 25%


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: 41


• Distance: 45


• Size: 27
• Noise: 5

Step 4

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings (3):

• Blend Mode: Linear Burn


• Opacity: 35%


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: 126


• Distance: 15


• Size: 27
• Noise:5

Step 5

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings (4):

• Blend Mode: Vivid Light


• Color: #ffffff


• Opacity: 10%


• Distance: 15


• Spread: 27


• Size: 27
• Noise:5

This will style the extrusion layers and add the shadow.

8. Style the Merged Group Layer

Double-click the Group 1 copy layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 29


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: 61


• Altitude: 37


• Check the Anti-aliased box


• Highlight Mode: Soft Light


• Opacity: 50%


• Shadow Mode: Multiply


• Color: #8b8e79


• Opacity: 70%

Step 2

Add a Texture with these settings:

• Pattern: Black Mamba

This will add some realistic texturing to the grass.

9. Add the Flowers

Step 1

Choose the flowers you want to add from the High resolution: Flowers png pack, and add one on top of all the layers you have.

Enter the Free Transform Mode (Command-T) to resize, rotate, and move it as needed, and then hit the Return key to accept the changes.

Step 2

Double-click the flower layer to apply a simple Drop Shadow effect using these settings:

• Opacity: 55%


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: 90


• Distance: 6


• Size: 9

Step 3

Right-click the flower layer and choose Copy Layer Style.

Step 4

Add in the rest of the flowers you want to add, and duplicate and transform them until you like the result.

Once you're done, select all the flower layers you have, right-click any of them, and choose Paste Layer Style.

Step 5

Group the flower layers in a Flowers group.

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, clip it to the group, and change the Saturation value to -15.

10. Apply the High Pass Filter

Step 1

Duplicate all the layers and groups you have except for the Background layers and their adjustment layers.

Expand the Group 1 copy 2's effect list, and click-drag the Drop Shadow effect tabs to the Delete icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to remove them.

Step 2

Select the duplicated layers, and go to Layer > Merge Layers, then Filter > Convert for Smart Filters, and rename the layer to Filters.

Step 3

Go to Filter > Other > High Pass, and change the Radius to 5.

Step 4

Change the Filters layer's Blend Mode to Soft Light and its Opacity to 50%.

Step 5

Duplicate the Filters layer, and change the copy's Opacity to 35%.

Congratulations, You're Done!

In this tutorial, we used a wood texture for the background, and added some adjustment layers to enhance its coloring.

Then, we created and duplicated the text, as well as a couple of other layers to start working on the effect.

After that, we created the grass stroke, added the grass texture, and styled the different layers to add texture and dimension. We also added and styled the flower layers all over the text.

Finally, we merged and modified the layers, applied a high pass filter that sharpened the details of the effect created, and finished it off.

Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.