Ombré is a French word that means “shaded”, and it describes anything that starts with one color and then gradually fades into another. This tutorial explains how to use two simple filters to apply the Ombré effect to a text using the colors you like.

This effect is inspired especially by the Ombré nail art, in which the nails are painted using two or more colors that fade into each other, in a not very smooth transition, since a sponge is used to blend the colors. Then, a shiny top coat is added to the gradient created. (So much beauty talk here! You can google some images if you like, but I think the effect is really nice ^_^).

The Final Result:

Notes:

* the software used in this tutorial is Adobe Photoshop CS6, but you can use CS3+ versions as well.
* you might want to check the Basix Page to see some useful topics on dealing with Photoshop basics, such as loading palettes and some shortcuts.

Resources:

* blue bokeh texture by beckas.

Note: You might need to load the Contours used in the tutorial, so check this image to see how to do so.

Step 1

- Create a 1024 x 768 px document, set the Foreground color to #501d25 and the Background color to #130709. Pick the Gradient Tool, click the Radial Gradient icon in the Options bar, then click and drag from the center of the document to one of the corners.

- Place the blue bokeh texture on top of the gradient background, resize it as you like, then change its layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 2

- Create the text in white using the font Riot Squad NF. The font size is 250 px. If you are willing to create more than one line of text, create each one in a separate layer.

- Change the text layer’s Fill value to 0.

Step 3

Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style:

- Bevel and Emboss: Change the Depth to 205 and the Size to 10. Then, un-check the Use Global Light box, change the Angle to 76, the Altitude to 74, and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 100%, and change the Shadow Mode color to #898989.

- Contour: Choose the Half Round contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.

This will add a simple glossy looking top to the main effect when it’s created later on.

Step 4

- Create a new layer right below the text layer and call it “Texture”. Pick the Gradient Tool, set the Foreground color to #1b7889, and the Background color to #f6989c.

- Ctrl + click the text layer’s thumbnail to create a selection.

- In the Options bar, choose the Foreground to Background gradient fill, and click the Linear Gradient icon. Make sure that the “Texture” layer is the selected layer, then click and drag from the highest point to the lowest point of the selection vertically.

You can press and hold the Shift key while clicking and dragging to create a straight line.

- This will create the basic gradient fill. You can use any other colors you like, you can even use more than two colors. But keep in mind that different colors might require different Filter values.

Changing the Filters’ values is very easy, and it is explained at the end of Step 6.

Go to Select -> Deselect, or press Ctrl + D, to get rid of the selection.

Step 5

- In order to be able to modify the Filters’ values, the “Texture” layer must be converted to a Smart Object. To do so, select the “Texture” layer, then go to Filter -> Convert to Smart Filters. A dialog box will appear telling you that the layer will be converted into a Smart Object, so go ahead and click OK.

- You can notice that the layer now has a small smart object icon in the bottom right corner.

Double click the “Texture” layer to apply the following Layer Style:

- Bevel and Emboss: Change the Style to Stroke Emboss. This effect requires the Stroke effect to work, so you won’t see any difference until the Stroke effect is applied. For now, change the Depth to 150, the Direction to Down, the Gloss Contour to Ring – Triple, check the Anti-aliased box, and change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light.

- Contour: Choose the Half Round contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.

- Stroke: Change the color to a darker shade of one of the original gradient colors. You can basically try different colors until you find one that you like. Here, the color used is #6f4345.

After this effect is applied, you can see the Bevel and Emboss effect on the Stroke.

- Drop Shadow: Change the Color to #676767, the Spread to 30, and the Size to 7.

This will add depth to the text.

Step 6

- Time to add the Filters. Start by going to Filter -> (Filter Gallery) -> Brush Strokes -> Spatter. Change the Spray Radius to 22, and the Smoothness to 5.

- You should get a result similar to this:

- Go to Filter -> (Filter Gallery) -> Brush Strokes -> Sprayed Strokes. Change the Stroke Length to 0, and the Spray Radius to 8.

- And Voilà! Your Ombré text effect is finished!

As mentioned before, the Filters’ values might need alteration for different colors, so just try to get similar results to the ones in the images for each filter.

And since the “Texture” layer is a Smart Object, you can expand the Filters’ list by clicking the arrow to the right of the layer, then double click the Filter’s name to modify its values.

Experiment with the different values until you like the effect, or the transition between the colors.

- If you are using different font sizes, then make sure to change both the Layer Style values and the Filter’s values.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found it helpful.