I recently saw a magazine ad for a hair product in which words were “written” on the model’s hair in “liquid text.” Text effects like this have been around for as long as Photoshop has existed. There’s liquid, fire, glass, metal, and so many others. Often, these effects are cheesy. They often appear devoid of context: metal simply because it looks masculine, for example, and they’re usually created in one of two ways: the long way that involves channels and displacement maps, or the short way using ugly default layer styles. What I liked about the liquid text I saw in the magazine was that it seemed totally appropriate given the message, and the design was custom enough to look good. I wanted to find a simple way to reproduce it.
I started with a photo of my own hair, but you can use any interesting background, such as wood, tile, skin, or concrete.
Try to use an even texture because if your background is really wavy, you’ll have to do this the long way, with displacement maps.
Begin by duplicating the layer. This new layer is the one we’ll use to create our liquid text area. But before we do that, I want to bulge and warp the layer a bit, since the liquid would magnify the surface below it. Start with the Wave filter (Filter > Distort > Wave) and create a very large, soft wave. Then add a bulge using the Spherize filter (Filter > Distort > Spherize).
A little distortion makes a big difference. The text we cut from this layer will be magnified and will look a little distorted.
Now, we can cut the text from this layer. Use the Type Mask tool. If you have trouble deciding on a font or character settings when using the Type Mask tool, use the regular Type tool to set the letters. (more…)
