Showing posts with label pop art lettering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pop art lettering. Show all posts
Lusus

Create Pop Art Typography With Gimp Part 2

 


This is part 2 of the tutorial on how to create pop art typography with Gimp. Part 1 focused on creating the outline text with dots, and in this section we'll create the other two text layers and give them a 3d effect. We'll then finish by creating a background to match the text. 
 

Creating The Second Text Layer


1/ After completing the outline text we created in part 1, delete any layers that aren't needed. This should leave the outline text layer, two more text layers, the layer filled with grey, and the background layer.

The text we're now going to work on is going to be blue, so click on the lightest blue in the colour palette so it becomes the active foreground colour.
 

2/ Make sure the text layer second from the top is the active layer, then right click on it and from the drop down list select Alpha to Selection.



3/ Add a transparent layer below the top most layer and make it the active layer. Using the Paint tool fill the selection so it becomes blue text. 
 
The text layer below this can now be deleted.
 
 
4/ The blue text needs to match the perspective of the outline text, so select the Unified Transform tool from the Tools panel.
 

5/ Drag the right vertical handle of the transform bounding box upwards, then drag the top horizontal handle to the right, so the text matches the slope of the outline text exactly.
 
A full explanation of this step is given in Part 1 of this tutorial, under the subheading, Adding Perspective To The Text Layer.
 
 
 
6/ When you're ready hit Transform in the Unified Transform window.
 

7/ Now that we have another text layer that matches the perspective of the outline text layer, duplicate it, then hide the lower blue text layer. Also hide the grey layer.
 
Select the darker blue from the palette so it becomes the active foreground colour. Make sure the top blue text layer is the active layer.

 Adding A 3d Effect To The Text

 
 
1/ A quick and easy way of adding a 3d appearance to text in Gimp is to use the Long Shadow tool. To open this hit Filters > Light and Shadow > Long Shadow.


2/ This window will open.
 

 3/ Dragging the Angle slider will change the angle of the shadow, or in this case, the angle of the depth of the text. Here 136 has been selected. We need to remember this angle for when the Long Shadow effect is applied to the other text layers.

Dragging the Length slider will change the length of the text depth.

The Color option shows the darker blue from the colour palette because we selected it as the foreground colour in step 7, above.
 
When you're ready, hit OK.


4/ The text now has a cool 3d appearance.

Creating The Third Text Layer

 
 
1/ To start creating the third text layer, hide the blue 3d text layer, and make the layer below that the active layer.

Select the mid tone red from the colour palette to make it the active foreground colour.


2/ The red text in the finished design is larger than the other text. To create this from the lower blue text layer, right click on it and select Alpha to Selection.

Now hit Select > Grow.


3/ Because the text should be quite a bit bigger than the other text, 36 has been entered in the Grow Selection window. Now hit OK.


4/ The text will now have an enlarged selection around it.


5/ Create a transparent layer and make it the active layer. With the Paint tool fill the selection with the foreground colour.

Add another transparent layer above this layer.


6/ Select the pink from the colour palette to make it the active foreground colour. With the transparent layer active, use the Paint tool to fill the selection.

There should now be one red layer and on pink layer.
 

7/ The pink layer will be used to create a border for the red layer. With the pink layer active hit Select > Shrink.

In the Shrink Selection window 10 has been entered. Hit OK.

 
8/ Hit Delete on the keyboard.


9/ The pink layer will now be an oultine of 10 pixels.


10/ With the pink layer still active, right click on it in the Layers panel and from the drop down list select Merge Down.


11/ Now select Layer > Crop to Content.

Adding A 3D Effect To The Red Text Layer


1/ Click the dark red in the colour palette so it becomes the active foreground colour. Make sure the red text layer is the active layer.


2/ Select Filters > Light and Shadow > Long Shadow.


3/ Depth is added to this text in the same way it was added to the blue text. The angle needs to be the same for both layers so the 3d effect is consistent. In this case 136 is the angle used.

The length setting is whatever looks good to you. Here 50 has been used.

When you're ready hit OK.


4/ The red text now has the feel of being 3d.


5/ Unhiding the blue text layer gives an idea of what the final design will look like. Use the move tool to place the blue text so it looks correct.


6/ Adding the 3d effect to the outline text layer is done in the same way as the other two layers. This layer was left to last because the depth of the text needs to be quite slim, and its easier to judge against the other text layers.

The colour used for the depth of the outline text was the grey from the colour palette. The angle setting again needed to be the same as the other text layers, so 136 was used.

Adding Shadow to the Red and Blue Text Layers

 


1/ Adding subtle shadows to the blue and red text layers adds to the sense of being 3d. No Shadow was added to the outline text because the shadow would have been too complicated and would have ruined the look of the design.
 
To create the shadow, select the red text layer, then hit Filter > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow.


2/ The above window will open. Click on the  link icon to the right of the X and Y sliders, so each slider can be moved seperately.
 
Now drag each slider so the shadow for the red text looks natural. The Grow radius and Opacity sliders can also be adjusted. 

When you're ready hit OK.

Repeat this for the blue text layer.

Creating A Background

 
 
1/ We're now going to create a dotted pattern for the background. With the grey filled layer active, select Filters > Distorts > Newsprint.
 

 2/ The above window will open.


 3/ White on Black has been selected from the Color Model drop down menu.

The period for the dots is around 30, and the angle is 45. Play with these setting to get the look you want.

Click OK.


 4/ Select Colors > Invert.


 5/ The dots will now look as above.


6/  Select Colors > Color to Alpha.

 
7/ The above window will appear. Hit OK.
 

8/ The dots will now have a transparent background. Right click on the dots layer in the Layers panel, and from the drop down menu select Alpha to Selection.

Now hit Select > grow.

 
9/ The Grow Selection window will open. We want the dots to be 1 pixel larger, so enter 1, then hit OK.


10/ Add a transparent layer above the dots layer and make sure its the active layer. Select the darker yellow from the color palette.
 

11/ With the Paint tool set to a large size, sweep the cursor over the canvas window to fill all the dots with the dark yellow.
 

12/ Create another transparent layer under the yellow dots layer, then using the Bucket Fill tool, fill it with the lighter yellow from the colour palette.

Merge the two background layers into one layer.

Position each of the text layers so you're happy with them, then if you want merge them to one layer. 
 
Alternatively, hide all layers except for the text layers. Right click on one, and from the drop down menu select New from Visible. This will create one new layer containing all the text, but will keep the original layers.

Now all that needs to be done is to position the text against the background and if needed crop the image.

There are a lot of steps to creating this pop art typography design, but ultimately its worth all the effort.
 
We hope you've enjoyed following this two part tutorial, and will soon be creating your own eye catching pop art text. If you've found it useful fee free to follow and like our Facebook page.
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Lusus

Create Pop Art Typography With Gimp Part 1

 

Pop art typography (also known as pop art text, or pop art lettering) has become a popular design element that has lots of impact, so much so that many graphics platforms offer them for sale. For those that would rather create their own pop art typography using Gimp this tutorial will explain the simple techniques used, which can then easily be developed into unique, personal designs.

 
This tutorial is divided into two parts simply because whilst all the steps are easy to follow there are quite a few of them. For this reason dividing all the information into two sections will hopefully make everything easier to digest. The most complex of these steps involves generating text with dots in the centre, so part one will focus on that, and part two will focus on creating the 3d text, shadows and background.
 

Using A Colour Palette

In a recent series of tutorials we covered various aspects of how to generate colour palettes, including how to import a colour palette file into Gimp. In this tutorial we'll use a colour palette created specifically for the design created here. You can either download then import the colour palette into Gimp and use it whilst following the tutorial, or you can use your own - although we will be referring to our own colour palette quite often.

 

Creating The Outline Text Filled With Dots

In this section we're going to delete the centre of some text and replace it with dots. The font used here is called Jagger SF which is nice and chunky. Its also free with no license restrictions. 

Click on each image below to enlarge.



 1/ Open Gimp, and create two layers by hitting the icon to the lower right (highlighted in red). Make sure the correct colour palette is selected, top right. Click the grey from the palette so it becomes the active foreground colour. 
 
Use the Bucket Fill tool to fill the lower of the two new layers with the grey colour. This is so we can see the light coloured text when we create it.
 

 
2/ With the Text tool type a word of your choice. The size used here is 300px, and the spacing has been changed slightly using the Spacing Up/Down arrows (highlighted in green), so the letters are closer together.
 


3/ Duplicate the text layer three times using the icon highlighted in red, bottom right. 
 
Hide the grey filled layer by clicking on the eye icon next to it.
 
Move the transparent layer so its just below the top most text layer. This transparent layer should be the active layer.

With the Rectangle Select tool drag a shape so it fills a large part of the canvas window.
 

 
4/ Fill the rectangle selection with the grey from the palette. We're going to use this to create the dots that will fill the text.
 
 

5/ Select the top text layer and using the slider highlighted in red reduce its opacity so the grey layer is visible beneath it. This is so we will be able to see how the dots fill the text.

Now make the grey layer beneath the text the active layer.
 

 
6/ Select Filters > Distorts > Newsprint.
 


7/ This window will appear.
 


8/ In the Channels drop down menu (highlighted in red), select White on Black.

 

In the Pattern drop down menu (highlighted in green), select Circle.


The Period slider will adjust the spacing and size of the dots. Trying to balance the dots' size with their spacing can be a little limiting but this will be fixed this later.
 
In the Angle slider, 45 degrees has been selected to give the pattern an even appearance. Double click on the numbers here to type in a precise angle.
 
Whilst making adjustments to these settings, keep an eye on how the dots appear through the text, and use your judgement to make sure they look well distributed. When you're ready click OK.
 
 


9/ Hit Select > None, to deselect the rectangle. 
 
 

 10/ Select Color > Invert. The dots need to be black so we can make a selection from them. 



11/  Although a selection could be made using white dots, inverting the colour so the dots are black makes it easier to see what we're doing.
 
Also, we could have created black dots on a white background using the Newsprint effect, but the resulting dots would have been square, so we had to work around this.
 

Removing The Background Of The Dots

 

 1/ The dots need to be on a transparent background so the white needs to be removed. To do this select Colors > Color to Alpha.
 


 2/ This window will open. Hit OK.
 


3/ The background has now been removed. The white seen is here is from the default background layer. Hide this layer to see the trsnparency of the dots layer.
 

Enlarging The Dots


 
1/ Because the Newsprint effect makes it difficult to balance the size of the dots with the right spacing, the next step is to make a selection from the dots layer then increase their size.

To do this, right click on the dots layer and select Alpha to Selection.

 
 
 
 2/  Make the top text layer visible and add a transparent layer above it. Make sure this transparent layer is the active layer.

Now hit Select > Grow.

 
 
3/ In this example the selection has been increased by 1 pixel. When you're ready hit OK.
 


4/ The size of the dots in the selection will now be 1 pixel larger.
 

 
5/ Click the white colour from the palette to make it the active foreground colour. Making sure the topmost transparent layer is active, use the Paint tool to colour the dots that appear over the text.
 
 
 
6/  Hit Select > None.
 

 
7/ This has created the pattern of dots needed to fill the text.
 

Cropping The Dots To The Text


 
1/ With the top text layer active, right click on it in the Layers panel, and from the drop down menu select Alpha to Selection.



2/  Hide the text layer and make the white dots layer the active layer.
 


3/ Hit Select > Invert.
 

 
4/ Hit Delete on the keyboard, to remove all dots outside of the selection.
 

Creating An Outline From The Text



1/ Make the top text layer the active layer, then hit Select > Invert again, so the selection returns to the text, rather than everything outside of it.
 

 
2/ To create an outline of the text go to Select > Shrink.
 

 
3/  Here 8 pixels has been entered. Now hit OK.


 
4/ The selection has now shrunk by 8 pixels.
 
 
 
5/ Hit Delete on the keyboard again and only an outline of the text will remain.
 

 
6/ With the white dots layer active right click and from the drop down menu select Merge Down, so it becomes one layer with the text outline.
 
 

 7/ To make this layer easier to work with go to Layer > Crop to Content.
 

Adding Perspective To The Text Layer


 
To make the text look a little more dynamic we'll give it some perspective. It doesn't need to be especially accurate, just so long as it doesn't look completely wrong.

1/ Select the Unified Transform tool from the Tools panel to the left, (highlighted in red, above).

 


 2/ The text will now be boxed in a rectangle with diamond shaped handles on each boundary edge. There will also be a small window.

 

 

3/ Grab the right vertical handle and drag it upwards, until you're happy with the appearance of the text.



4/ Now grab the top horizontal handle and drag it to the right. When you're ready hit the Transform button in the small Unified Transform window.



5/ The text now has some perspective of sorts, and will look more natural when its given some 3d depth later in part 2.
 

Thats pretty much the trickiest part of creating this pop art typography design completed. In part 2 of this turorial we'll create the other text elements, give them some 3d depth, add some shadow and create a background. There's just a few techniques needed to do all these things.

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