Dash of Inspiration: You’ve Got Style

A Dash of Inspiration, A Cup of Creativity by Doreen

You’ve Got Style!

A great question was posted on the GCU forum this past week; “How do you get the metallic text, such as the Gold Text Effect?”  It made for a good discussion for anyone else who is not familiar with using Layer Styles in Photoshop, GIMP and Paint Shop Pro.

What are Layer Styles?  These are wonderful non-destructive additions to an individual layer which allow editing at anytime without making any ‘effect’ permanent or un-editable.  When working in layers, any blending options which are applied and combined to a given layer are considered layer styles. These programs have made it easy for you to save styles when you come up with something you like and would use again. Styles can be applied to text and other elements, though using them for greeting cards does require a light hand so as to not create an over-done look.  Many have heavy beveling and shadow effects which won’t render well on a greeting card, so you’ll need to tone those effects down while maintaining the overall ‘look’ of the style.

One more thing to keep in mind when using a layer style you’ve downloaded; styles don’t look the same on all fonts and/or elements, and they change their appearance based on the resolution difference between what they were created in and what resolution you are working in. What you need to do when you find a style you like is to install it, create a test layer, apply the Style and then make adjustments to each of the blends until you like the results.  Once you do, save the Style as a new one so you can use it again.

Below I’ve offered tutorials on how to create and install layer styles, then also some nice links to download styles for your upcoming projects.  As always, when you follow a link be sure to read the TOU!

See you next week!

Tutorials:

How To Install Photoshop Layer Styles

Creating Layer Styles in Photoshop by Irene Alexeeva

How to Convert Photoshop Plug-ins to Paint Shop Plug-ins By Kyle Cavnett

Using Layer Styles in Free Image Editor Gimp

Mastering Photoshop Techniques: Layer Styles By Tom Giannattasio

Downloads:

Ultimate Roundup of 750+ Free Photoshop Layer Styles from Web Designer

Ultimate Collection of Free Photoshop Styles from Vandelay Design

The gold ‘filigree border’ around the snake and the ‘black laquer’ text were created with layer styles for this card

The ‘candy cane’ text used on this card was done using a layer style