Create Super Cool Fancy Pants Style Text Effect in Photoshop

This time I am going to offer you to create funny Fancy Pants Text from scratch in Adobe Photoshop. In the process of work you’ll be firstly using Graffiti photo for Background which is from my own archive and I leave it as unrestricted stock for anyone who would like to include it in their own projects.

You will be also using many Blending Options, default Dirt Pattern, Golden Gradient and most important- Transparent Stripes Gradient in combination with red Foreground Color which will add unique touch to your Text design.

The Fancy Pants stock Font I have used is downloaded from www.fontsquirrel.com. In Step 7 you could get the link and grab the awesome Font.

This tutorial is good for Beginners level users and all Photoshop versions are applicable. Do not be afraid of the Golden gradient which is exclusive for the higher versions. I have given you its color stops so that you can prepare it yourselves.

This is the final result you should get if you are disciplined, obedient and strictly following my instructions:

At first create a new Adobe Photoshop .psd file of 1200px Width and 700px Height. Set Resolution to 96 Pixels/Inch (if you don't intend to print the final result) and select Transparent for Background Contents so that your first layer to become editable. I have called my file Fancy Pants Text Effect after the stock Font I have chosen for this tut.

Rename also Layer 1 to Background, then press Ctrl+G to place it in a Group. Call the Group Background too.

In Steps 2-6 you need only to colorize the first layer in Background group then you should apply Inner Shadow Layer Style in order to darken the canvas borders and to create the famous Vignette Effect.

When you are ready with the Background layer, you should Create a New Layer in Background group and Paste there my stock Graffiti Texture. You have to Transform the Photo so that it covers your canvas, then change its Blend Mode to Overlay and lower its Opacity Option.

Change Foreground color to #2b4f58 and while the Background layer is selected, use Paint Bucket Tool or Edit, Fill, Foreground color option from the Menu bar to colorize the Background layer.

Double click on Background layer or go to Layer, Layer Style, Blending Options and tick Inner Shadow. Change its settings like this in Layer Style dialog box:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color of Shadow: #000000

Opacity: 100%

Angle: 120 degrees

Use Global Light: ticked

Distance: 0px

Choke: 30%

Size: 250px

Contour: Linear

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Noise: 13%.

Press OK button to apply the effect and to close Layer Style dialog box.

Click on the Graffiti image below in order to open it in a new window then right click and select Save Image As to save it in the respective folder on your computer.

This Graffity image is my own photo and unrestricted stock. You can use it for your own projects.

Create a New Layer on top of Background group and call it Graffiti. Keep this new layer highlighted.

Open in Adobe Photoshop the Graffiti image which you downloaded in the previous step, press Ctrl+A to load selection then press Ctrl+C to copy it. Go back to your Fancy Pants Text Effect.psd file, and press Ctrl+V to paste the texture in Graffiti layer. As the texture is bigger than your canvas, go to Edit, Free Transform and drag the nodes vertically and horizontally in order to resize the texture to cover your canvas. Press Enter to apply the Transformation.

Change the Blend Mode of Graffiti layer to Overlay and reduce its Opacity to 50%.

In the coming two steps you should download the Fancy Pants Font and type it on your canvas with pink Font Color and 150pt Size. If you are happy with the preliminary typography on your canvas, you should duplicate twice your first text layer and reduce the Fill Opacity of both upper copies to 0%.

Now we'll start to create our Fancy Pants Text Effect.

Big thanks to Fontsquirrel for the cool text effects which they have given us for free. Download the Fancy Pants Text Effect from here:

Install the font then select Horizontal Type tool from the Tools bar (or press T). From the Font Family drop down menu choose the new Fancy Pants Font. Set the Font Size to 150pt. Choose #c786a3 for Text Color then type Fancy Pants in Capital Letters as you see on the screenshot below.

After you have typed the Text, you can select it then click on Toggle the Character and Paragraph Panels icon in the Options bar and Set the Tracking for the Selected Characters to a value you like. I have left it to 50. I haven't changed the Leading too and left it to Auto by default.

Press Ctrl+G to place the Text layer in a Group. Call the newly created Group Text.

Now duplicate Fancy Pants Text layer twice and reduce Fill Opacity of both copied layers to 0%.

In Steps 9-15 you have to work hard on the original Text layer. Your task is to Shadow Effects, default Dirt Pattern to improve the Texture, vivid colored Gradient Overlay, orange Glow and thin dark red Stroke. You will finish your work on the first Text layer with applying of 3D Effect- Bevel and Emboss and Contour.

Select the original Fancy Pants Text layer, right click on it, choose Blending Options and firstly tick Drop shadow. Change its settings as follows:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color of Shadow: #000000

Opacity: 75%

Angle: 120 degrees

Use Global Light: checked

Distance: 14px

Spread: 14%

Size: 10px

Contour: Linear

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Noise: 0%.

Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: checked.

Don't close Layer Style box. We have six more Blending Options to add to the original Fancy Pants Text layer.

Check Pattern Overlay in Layer Style dialog box and apply the following settings:

Blend Mode: Overlay

Opacity: 33%

Pattern: Dirt (150 by 150 pixels, RGB mode)

Scale: 100%

Link with Layer: checked.

Now tick Gradient Overlay and insert these settings:

Blend Mode: Overlay

Dither: unchecked

Opacity: 100%

Select Red-Orange, Blue-Green Gradient

from the Gradient Picker.

Reverse: unchecked

Style: Reflected

Align with Layer: checked

Angle: 90 degrees

Scale: 100%.

Now add Inner Glow Layer Style with these settings:

Blend Mode: Hard Light

Opacity: 100%

Noise: 0%

Color of Glow: #fcb457

Technique: Softer

Source: Center

Choke: 0%

Size: 70px

Contour: Cove-Shallow

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Range: 50%.

Jitter: 0%.

Now tick Inner Shadow to add dark shade:

Blend Mode: Multiply

Color of Shadow: #4a4916

Opacity: 75%

Angle: 120 degrees

Use Global Light: ticked

Distance: 0px

Choke: 0%

Size: 5px

Contour: Linear

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Noise: 100%.

The next Layer Style to be added to the original Fancy Pants Text layer is Stroke. Insert these settings:

Size: 2px

Position: Outside

Blend Mode: Normal

Opacity: 100%

Fill Type: Color

Color: #721325.

The next Layer Style to be added to Fancy Pants Text layer is Bevel and Emboss. Modify its settings as follows:

Style: Inner Bevel

Technique: Smooth

Depth: 170%

Direction: Up

Size: 7px

Soften: 0px

Angle: 120 degrees

Use Global Light: checked

Altitude: 30 degrees

Gloss Contour: Linear

Anti-aliased: not checked

Highlight Mode: Multiply

Color for Highlight: #fafc59

Opacity: 100%

Shadow Mode: Multiply

Color of Shadow: #000000

Opacity: 70%.

Tick Contour Layer Style which is below Bevel and Emboss and change its settings as follows:

Contour: Rounded Steps

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Range: 50%.

This is the Retro Style look you should get after adding all Blending Options to the first Text layer:

In the coming two steps you have to improve the unique look of your Fancy Text with more Blending Options. For the purpose select Fancy Pants Copy layer and apply on it Gold 1 Gradient, Bevel and Emboss and Half Round type of Contour.

Now select Fancy Pants Copy layer, right click on it, choose Blending Options and check Gradient Overlay in Layer Style box. Change the settings like this:

Blend Mode: Soft Light

Dither: unchecked

Opacity: 100%

Select Gold 1 Gradient from the

Gradient Picker.

For those of you whose Photoshop version

doesn't have this gradient the color stops are

the following:

First Color Stop (Location 0%): #030303

Second Color Stop (Location 2%): #462f1f

Third Color Stop (Location 25%): #5b3c21

Fourth Color Stop (Location 50%): #a88347

Fifth Color Stop (Location 75%): #d9b675

Sixth Color Stop (Location 98%): #fcf6d0

Seventh Color Stop (Location 100%): #ffffff

Reverse: unchecked

Style: Reflected

Align with Layer: checked

Angle: 90 degrees

Scale: 100%.

Keep Layer Style box opened as we have to add 3D effect in the next step.

Check Bevel and Emboss Layer Style and apply these settings:

Style: Inner Bevel

Technique: Smooth

Depth: 1000%

Direction: Up

Size: 16px

Soften: 0px

Angle: 120 degrees

Use Global Light: checked

Altitude: 30 degrees

Gloss Contour: Linear

Anti-aliased: not checked

Highlight Mode: Screen

Color for Highlight: #ffffff

Opacity: 30%

Shadow Mode: Multiply

Color of Shadow: #000000

Opacity: 35%.

Tick also Contour Layer Style and change its settings like this:

Contour: Half Round

Anti-aliased: unchecked

Range: 50%.

Press OK button to close Layer Style box.

This is the outcome you should get so far after you have processed the first duplicated Text Layer:

You will finish this funny tut with creating red stripes with the help of default Gradient Overlay. Just select the second duplicate of the Text, set your Foreground Color to deep red and apply Transparent Stripes Gradient with Soft Light Blend Mode to make it translucent and preserve the visibility of the Text contents under the stripes.

Now select Fancy Pants Copy 2 layer- the one on top of Text group. Change Foreground color to #9d0c24- the color of the Gradient we are going to use now depends on the chosen Foreground color.

Right click on Fancy Pants Copy 2 layer, select Blending Options and check Gradient Overlay in Layer Style box. Change its settings as follows:

Blend Mode: Soft Light

Dither: unchecked

Opacity: 100%

Select Transparent Stripes

from the Gradient Picker.

Reverse: unchecked

Style: Reflected

Align with Layer: checked

Angle: 90 degrees

Scale: 102%.

Press OK button to apply the Gradient and to close Layer Style dialog box.

You should have the result shown on the screenshot below if you have followed all my steps in detail. To the right is Layers pane with two groups of layers:

1. Background Group which contains two layers: Background and Graffiti;
2. Text Group which contains three Text layers: Fancy Pants, Fancy Pants Copy and Fancy Pants Copy 2 layer.

This is my Fancy Pants Text Effect saved in .jpg format. You should get similar income if you have followed my steps in detail.

Hope you like this short tutorial and find it useful. Good luck and have fun! :)

And this is just one simple example, i.e. my bonus from me to show you what cool slogans you could create with this type of Text Effect. :)