Creating "Lightning Text" In Photoshop
For this tutorial, I will show how to add a lightning effect to 2D text. There are several ways to do this though I believe this is the quicker method.
Here are two examples we will aim for:
1. Open a blank document sized 500 by 300 px.
2. Select “black” as the background color.
3. Type the words ‘Lightning Strikes’ using the text tool. I chose a size of 50px and the Gill Sans font for a smooth text shape.
4. To create the effect of the lightning text, we will create the lightning as a separate layer and overlay it onto the text.
5. Open another blank document of the same size and with a black background.
6. Add a new layer.
7. Select the brush tool. Select white as the color. Using the drop down “brush” menu at the top of the screen, select a master pixel diameter of 6 pixels.
8. Draw a few jagged lines with the brush tool. These lines will eventually be the main branches of your lightning. Once you have drawn the principal branches, select a master pixel diameter of 4 pixels. Draw smaller branches off your principal branches. No need to be a Picasso with the jagged lines.
9. Duplicate this layer.
10. Go to “Filter” from the top menu. Select “Blur” and then “Gaussian Blur.”
11. Duplicate this layer approximately 3 to 5 times, depending on the desired brightness.
12. When the lightning is the appropriate brightness, delete the black background layer.
13. From the “Layer” menu, select “Merge Visible.”
14. From the “Layer” menu, select “Duplicate Layer.” When asked where you want to duplicate this layer, choose the document with your text in it.
15. The lightning layer will now be over your text layer. You can manipulate the size of the lightning by choosing “Free Transform” from the “Edit” menu. Here the text was transformed to fill out the document width.
16. Additionally, you may alter the jaggedness of the lightning by choosing “Ripple” from the “Filter” menu option under “Distort.” Then right click the lightning layer, select blending options, and then change the blend mode to overlay.
17. That’s one nice lightning effect.
18. To change the brightness of the lighting, you can dim the “opacity” or the “fill” options.
19. To alter the color of your lightning, select from the “Image” option on the toolbar “Adjustments” and then “Color Balance.”
20. Try duplicating the lightning layer before the overlay and adding a different tint from blending options using color overlay; reduce the opacity.
21. A slight variation on the effect offering some more color tints.
22. Another and final variation is to duplicate the lightning before the color overlay. Reduce it to the same width and height as the text. Carefully create a jagged edge with the eraser tool. Then using the blur tool, soften the lightning image. Now you have two lightning layers , one inside the text, one outside.
23. You could also remove the overlay effect.
Using the tools above, experiment with the various colors and filters until the lightning effect has reached your desired style and required aesthetics.
