How to Create a Realistic Lace Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

This tutorial will show you how to use some shapes to create a lace brush. Then, you will modify that brush's settings to stroke and fill some text, style it, and use some filters to create a lace-inspired text effect. Let's get started!

This text effect was inspired by the many Layer Styles available on Envato Market.

Tutorial Assets

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

• Sofia Regularfont


• by tizjezzme


• 45 degree fabricpattern by Atle Mo

1. Create the Guidelines

Step 1

Create a new 500 x 500 px document, press Command-R to show the rulers, and drag a vertical and a horizontal guideline to place in the center of the document.

If you need to show/hide these guidelines, just press the Command-; keys to do so.

Step 2

Pick the Line Tool, set the Foreground Color to Red, and the Weight in the Options bar to 1.

Create a straight vertical line in the center of the document, and make sure to extend it outside the top and bottom edges.

Step 3

Select the Line shape layer and the Background layer, and then pick the Move Tool.

In the Options bar, click the Align vertical centers and Align horizontal centers icons. This will make sure that the line is exactly in the center of the document.

Step 4

Duplicate the Line shape layer, and press Command-T to enterFree Transform Mode.

Press and hold the Shift key, and rotate the copy line 30° Clockwise. Hit Return to accept the changes.

Step 5

Press the Option-Command-Shift-T keys a couple more times until you get the result below.

Step 6

Select all the Line shape layers you have, and rotate them 15° Clockwise.

Step 7

Group the Line shape layers in agroup and call itGuides, and then click the Lock all icon at the top of the Layers panel to avoid making any changes to them.

2. Create the Base Shape

Step 1

Pick the Polygon Tool, and click once anywhere in the document to get the Create Polygon box.

Set the Width and Height values to 450and the Number of Sides to 12, check the Smooth Corners and Star boxes, and set the Indent Sides By to 10%. Click OK.

Place the polygon in the center of the document.

Step 2

Duplicate the Polygon layer, and scale it down to Width and Height values around 375 px.

You can do that by pressing Command-T, and then pressing and holding the Shift-Option keys, and clicking and dragging the shape inwards. Or, you can simply change the W and H values in the Options bar.Hit Return to accept the changes when you're done.

Make sure that the Polygon Tool is still active, and in the Options bar, change the Stroke Width to 5and the Align to Outside.

3. Create the Outer Ellipses

Step 1

Pick the Ellipse Tool, and click the Geometry Options icon in the Options bar.

Choose the Fixed Size option, set both its values to 14 px, and check the From Center box.

Click and drag slightly in the top center of the document to create a circle between the edges of the two base shapes.

Step 2

Create another circle to the right of the one you have.

Press and hold the Shift key, and then click and drag one more time to add another circle to the right of the previous two.

The Shift key will place the two new circles in the same layer.

Step 3

Duplicate the two circles' layer.

Press Command-T, and then press and hold the Option key, and click and drag the Center (Reference) Point to place it on top of the vertical center guideline.

This will make any transformations occur around the vertical center of the document.

Step 4

In the Options bar, add a - to the W value, and hit Return to accept.

What that does is flip the copy circles vertically.

Step 5

Select all the Ellipse layers you have, and press Command-E to merge them.

4. Duplicate the Circles

Step 1

Duplicate the merged circles' layer, press Command-T, and drag the Center Point to the center of the document (where all the guidelines meet).

Step 2

Rotate the copy layer 30° Clockwise, hit the Return key, and then press the Option-Command-Shift-T keys to repeat that over the whole base shape.

Merge all the circle layers in one layer and call it Outer Ellipses.

5. Create the Inner Ellipses

Step 1

Create a 30 x 30 px circle in the center top of the smaller base shape.

Then create a smaller (23 x 23 px) one to its right, but make them overlap as shown below.

Step 2

Duplicate and flip the smaller circle like you did previously, and merge all three circle layers in one layer.

After that, press and hold the Option key to subtract the front shape, and then create a bigger ellipse that covers the bottom part of the three merged ellipses as shown below.

Step 3

Duplicate the resulting shape over the rest of the base shape as you did with the outer ellipses, and then merge all the inner ellipse shape layers in one Inner Ellipses layer.

6. Create the Drops

Step 1

Create a vertical 30 x 85 px ellipse in the center of the document, below the inner ellipses.

Step 2

Pick the Convert Point Tool, and click the anchor point at the bottom of the ellipse.

Step 3

Pick the Direct Selection Tool, and then click and drag to select the two anchor points in the middle of the ellipse, and use the Up Arrow Key to nudge them a bit upwards.

You can also use the Convert Point Tool to click and drag the top anchor point and adjust it.

Step 4

Repeat the drop shape you created over the base shape, and merge all the drop shape layers in one Drops layer.

7. Add Some More Shapes and Define the Brush

Step 1

Use the Line Tool to add a 2 px line as shown below.

Step 2

Repeat over the rest of the base shape, and merge the resulting line layers in aDrop Lines layer.

Step 3

Duplicate the smaller base shape, drag the copy on top of all layers, and scale it down as you like.

Step 4

Duplicate the scaled down shape, and then scale the second copy down some more, and you should end up with a result similar to the one below.

Step 5

Finally, create a 2 px line between the two top base shapes, and duplicate it to fill the whole area.

Merge the resulting line layers in an Inner Lines layer.

Step 6

Once you're done, go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, and type Lace for the Name, and then click OK.

This will add the shape as a brush tip to your Brush Presets.

8. Create the Background

Step 1

Create a new 850 x 602 px document, and then place the Purple Carpet texture on top of the Background layer, and rename its layer to BG Texture.

Resize the texture as you like.

Double-clicktheBG Texturelayer to apply the following layer style:

Step 2

Add a Color Overlay with these settings:

• Color: #7f89a0


• Blend Mode: Color

Step 3

Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

• Check the Dither box


• Blend Mode: Linear Burn


• Opacity: 18%


• Style: Radial


• Scale: 150%


• Click the Gradient box to create the gradient fill using the colors #ffffff to the left and #6c6c6c to the right.

This will change the texture's color and add some vignette.

9. Create the Text and the Work Path

Step 1

Create the text in White using the font Sofia Regular, and set the Size to a value around 320 pt.

Step 2

Right-click the text layer and choose Create Work Path.

Step 3

Pick the Direct Selection Tool, and in the Options bar, click the Path operations icon, and click the Merge Shape Components command.

This will help get rid of the overlapping parts, which will result in a much cleaner stroke.

Step 4

Create a new layer, call it Stroke, and make the text layer invisible.

10. Modify the Brush Settings and Create the Stroke

Step 1

Pick the Brush Tool, then open the Brush panel (Window > Brush), and choose the Lace brush tip you defined earlier.

Under the Brush Tip Shape tab, change the Size to 25and the Spacing to 60%.

Then, under the Shape Dynamics tab, set the Angle Jitter Control to Direction.

Step 2

Make sure that the Stroke layer is active and the Brush Tool is still selected, and that the Foreground Color is set to White.

Hit the Return key to stroke the path.

Step 3

Command-click the text layer's thumbnail to create a selection.

Step 4

Hit the Delete key twice to get rid of both the work path and the inner part of the stroke.

11. Create the Fill

Step 1

Choose the original Lace brush tip again, and change its Size to 70and its Spacing to 75%.

Step 2

Create a new layer on top of all layers.

Click once, at the top where the text starts, and then press and hold the Shift key, and click where the text ends.

This will create a straight line of lace.

Step 3

Duplicate the line you have, and move the copy below the original. Then nudge it a bit to the right, so that you fill the gaps between both lines.

Next, duplicate both lines, drag the copies down, and then repeat until the whole text is covered.

Place all the line layers in a group and call it Fill.

Step 4

Command-click the text layer's thumbnail to create a selection again, and then click the Add layer maskicon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

12. Style the Lace Lines

Double-click any of the lace line layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 1


• Check the Anti-aliased box.

Step 2

Add a Contour with these settings:

• Contour: Ring - Double


• Check the Anti-aliased box.

Step 3

Add a Texture with these settings:

• Pattern: 45 degree fabric


• Scale: 71%

Step 4

This will style the selected line.

Right-click the styled line's layer, choose Copy Layer Style, and then select the rest of the line layers, right-click any of them, and choose Paste Layer Style.

This will apply the layer styles to all the lace lines.

13. Add the Shadow

Step 1

Select the Fill group and the Stroke layer, change their Fill values to 91%, and then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

Rename the Smart Object to Fill.

Step 2

Double-click the Fill layer to apply a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Linear Burn


• Color: #707070


• Opacity: 41%


• Uncheck the Use Global Light box


• Angle: 129


• Distance: 7


• Size: 10

This will add a subtle shadow.

14. Apply the Filters

Step 1

Make sure that the Fill layer is selected, and then press the Option-Command-Shift-E keys to create a stamp layer, and rename it to Filters.

Convert the Filterslayer into a Smart Object.

Step 2

Go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects, and choose a Spot light with these settings:

• Color: (250, 250, 248)


• Intensity: 20


• Hotspot: 43


• Colorize: (245, 248, 248)


• Exposure: 2


• Gloss: 100


• Metallic: 100


• Ambience: 20


• Texture: Green


• Highlight: 1

Try to get a shape similar to the one below.

Step 3

Go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift.

Set the Blur to 5 and the Distortion to 0, and then try to achieve a shape that blurs the edges.

Step 4

Once you're done, change the Filters layer's Opacity to 50%.

You can play around with different shapes and settings to create your own lace brush and effect.

Congratulations! You're Done

In this tutorial, we used a couple of shapes, with some tips and tricks, to create and define a lace brush.

Then, we modified the background texture, and created the text and a work path.

After that, we adjusted the brush settings, and then used the modified lace brushes to stroke and fill the text, and styled the lace layers we have.

Finally, we used a couple of filters to finish off the effect and give it more dimension.

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