How to Create a Colorful and Shiny Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to make glossy text in Photoshop with two layer styles.

If you'd like to skip this tutorial but still wish to buy the text effect, you can head over to GraphicRiver and buy 7 Shiny Photoshop Styles 2.

The complete pack has seven different text effects and works with shapes and text.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during this tutorial:

• Font: Lobster 1.4
• Background and Contour inside the zip file attached to this tutorial

1. How to Create the Layer Styles

Step 1

Go to File > Open, and open the background image.

Step 2

Pick the Horizontal Type Tool (T) with these settings:

• Font: Lobster 1.4
• Size: 210 pt
• Anti-Aliasing mode: Sharp
• Color: White #ffffff

Step 3

Write Shiny and place it in the center of the document.

To center a layer, press Control-A to select the document, and then pick the Move Tool (V) and click on the Align Vertical Centerand Align Horizontal Centericons.

Step 4

Double-click the layer Shiny to open the Layer Style window.

Feel free to turn on and off the following effects to see what's changed. Let's start with the Gradient Overlay; this way you will be able to see better what is happening.

Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Dither: Unchecked
• Opacity: 100%
• Reverse: Unchecked
• Style: Linear
• Align with Layer: Checked
• Angle: 90º
• Scale: 100%

Click on the Gradient Bar and make a gradient with these settings:

• First Stop Color: #ffc600
• First Stop Position: 0%
• Second Stop Color: #f8e45f
• Second Stop Position: 100%

Step 5

Add a Bevel & Emboss with these settings:

• Style: Emboss
• Technique: Smooth
• Depth: 286%
• Direction: Up
• Size: 10 px
• Soften: 0 px
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 96º
• Altitude:16º
• Gloss Contour: Click on the Contour box and load the file Shiny Contour.shc (zip file)
• Anti-Aliased: Checked
• Highlight Mode: Screen
• Highlight Mode Color: #ffee93
• Highlight Mode Opacity: 67%
• Shadow Mode: Normal
• Shadow Mode Color: #190a20
• Shadow Mode Opacity: 9%

Step 6

Add a Stroke with these settings:

• Size: 4 px
• Position: Outside
• Blend Mode: Normal
• Opacity: 100%
• Overprint: Unchecked
• Fill Type: Color
• Color: #7344ac

Step 7

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Color:#ae00f6
• Opacity: 100%
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 120º
• Distance: 5 px
• Spread: 100%
• Size: 5 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-Aliased: Unchecked
• Noise: 0%
• Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Checked

Your image should look like this:

Step 8

Select the layer Shiny and press Control-J to duplicate it. Then right-click and choose to rename it to Shiny TOP.

Step 9

Right-Click the layer Shiny TOPand choose Clear Layer Style. Then double-click the layer to open the Layer Style window.

Add a Bevel & Emboss with these settings:

• Style: Inner Bevel
• Technique: Smooth
• Depth: 551%
• Direction: Up
• Size: 16 px
• Soften: 0 px
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 96º
• Altitude: 16º
• Gloss Contour: Cove - Shallow
• Highlight Mode: Screen
• Highlight Mode Color: #ffee93
• Highlight Mode Opacity: 67%
• Shadow Mode: Normal
• Shadow Mode Color: #190a20
• Shadow Mode Opacity: 9%

Step 10

Add an Inner Shadow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Multiply
• Color: #bf8c01
• Opacity: 21%
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: -45º
• Distance: 5 px
• Choke: 0%
• Size: 5 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-Aliased: Unchecked
• Noise: 0%

Step 11

Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Color Burn
• Dither: Unchecked
• Opacity: 100%
• Style: Linear
• Align with Layer: Checked
• Angle: 90º
• Scale: 100%

Click on the Gradient Bar and make a gradient with these settings:

• First Stop Color: #a5a5a5
• First Stop Position: 4%
• Second Stop Color: #ffffff
• Second Stop Position: 27%
• Third Stop Color: #e2e2e2
• Third Stop Position: 74%
• Fourth Stop Color: #b2b2b2
• Fourth Stop Position: 100%

Step 12

Add an Outer Glow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Screen
• Opacity: 75%
• Noise: 0%
• Color: #eac919
• Technique: Softer
• Spread: 0%
• Size: 0 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-Aliased: Unchecked
• Range: 50%
• Jitter: 0%

Step 13

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Exclusion
• Color: #1eff00
• Opacity: 100%
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 120º
• Distance: 3 px
• Spread: 100%
• Size: 3 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-Aliased: Checked
• Noise: 0%
• Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Checked

After that click OK

Step 14

Now hold Controland click on the layers Shiny and Shiny TOP to select both. Then press Control-G to group the layers.

Step 15

Double click the group layer to open the Layer Style window.

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Color: #000000
• Opacity: 30%
• Use Global Light: Unchecked
• Angle: 120º
• Distance: 3 px
• Spread: 39 %
• Size: 5 px
• Contour: Linear
• Anti-Aliased: Checked
• Noise: 0%
• Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Checked

After that, click OK.

And the result is:

Congratulations, You're Now Done!

In this tutorial, you learned how to create a colorful and shiny text effect in Adobe Photoshop. We started out by creating a layer style, and then we added another layer style on top of that to complement the effect.

Don't forget to save the styles, so you can use them with other things.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and feel free to leave your comments below.

This text effect we just created is part of 7 Shiny Photoshop Styles 2.