• TUTORIALSHow to create Stars Text Effect

 

Make a new document in Adobe Illustrator and type your word, in my case STARS. The font I have used is Helvetica Heavy Extended (font-size: 150px, letter spacing: 75px). Than duplicate the word and Create Outlines (mouse/right click). Leave a copy for a short time we will use it later.
Now we have to make a new brush. Create a star using the star tool with Radius 1: 20px, Radius 2: 50px and 5 points.


After that open the Brushes window (Window>Brushes or F5) and choose a new brush. In New Brush window select New Scatter Brush.


Then in Scatter Brush Options window edit the next parameters: Size: 10% Fixed, Spacing: 10% Fixed, Scatter: 0% Fixed, Rotation: 90% Fixed. Choose Path in the Rotation relative drop down menu.
Select the path stars what we have done in Step 1 and apply the Brush, after that set the Stroke 0,5pt.
Duplicate the stars path several times (I have copied 7 times)
Select the second path and open the Options of Selected Object in the BRUSHES window.


Set the next parameters: Size: 30% to 10% Random, Spacing 28% Fixed. Other parameters we are leaving the same.
Again, select the next path and open the Options of Selected Object in the BRUSHES window. Set the next parameters: Spacing 10% Fixed, Scatter -55% to 2% Random.
Repeat this operation with the rest of paths, slightly changing the parameters in the Options of Selected Object in the BRUSHES window. Finally we have seven absolutely different looking paths.
Now open Adobe Photoshop and make new file. After that, copy (Ctrl + C) all paths separately in Illustrator and past (Ctrl + C) to Photoshop as a Smart Objects.
Select all Layers (Vector Smart Objects) and align them.
Select one of the Vector Smart Object layers and double click the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box. Select Drop Shadow and Color as shown below. Drop Shadow color is #a6a614 Color Overlay is #ffff33. Apply the same style to the rest of stars Vector Smart Objects except top one.
Now, select the top layer and double click the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box. Select Drop Shadow the same as above and Gradient Overlay as shown below.
Now, change the background to black #000000. Our Stars look nice so far.
Back to Illustrator; copy the Stars Path and past to Photoshop as Pixels.
Now, choose the Select Tool (M) and make rectangular as you can see below. After that, rotate the selection by 20-25 degrees.
So now, we need to move and delete the selection area as you can see below.


After this operation, we should have the next result.
Now, select this layer using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) or (Ctrl + A) and apply the vertical Gradient. Top color #f9a859 and bottom color #cf550f.


Now, set the blending mode for the layer - Linear Light.
Open the Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set 5.5px.
Wow, the cool stars text effect is complete. Do not hesitate to experiment. You can easy transform stars text effect to everything what you want.
It is not difficult to change the document size because all layers are in vectors, so there are no quality defects. The final tutorial image is below.