Create Stunning Retro Striped Text Effect in Photoshop

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Creating a New Document in Photoshop
3. Setting up the Color Palette
4. Laying out the Text
5. Using Photoshop's Layer Styles
6. The Limitations of Layer Styles
7. The Step and Repeat Trick
8. Creating the Striped Effect
9. Adding a Gradient Overlay
10. Fixing the Jagged Lines
11. Applying Textures
12. Using the Knockout Technique
13. Preserving Editable Text
14. Conclusion

Article

Introduction

Hello everyone, this is Chris from Spoon Graphics, back with another tutorial for Adobe Photoshop. Over the years, I've shared several tutorials showing how to create retro text effects, mostly using Adobe Illustrator. So today, I thought I'd mix things up and show some techniques for creating a retro striped text effect with a 70s vibe using tools in Photoshop.

Creating a New Document in Photoshop

To create retro text effects in Adobe Photoshop, first open Photoshop and create a new document. I'm using dimensions of 2000 by 1500 pixels. It's helpful to set up your color palette so all the hues are easily accessible. There are probably some fancy ways to set up swatches, but I like to simply fill little squares on a new layer. The colors I'm using to construct my retro text effect are a green of 7EC8B5, a light beige color of F3E2C9, a blue of 384261, a red of D6533A, and an orange of E5BB7D. That first green color I'll use as a background, so with the background layer selected, set up the color by sampling the little square with the eyedropper tool, then fill the canvas with the Alt + Backspace shortcut.

Setting up the Color Palette

Use the Type tool to lay out the wording of your design in your chosen font. I'm using a cool script font named Seikana. Now you might think Photoshop's layer styles could quickly create this kind of text effect. You can set up a drop shadow with minimum size but maximum spread, so it has a defined edge. Then set the angle and alter the distance to extend it from the text. You can even layer up additional drop shadow effects to create the striped appearance. The only problem is, you don't get a nice straight line between them. It's all a bit gappy. The alternative technique is a little more long-winded, but it's all worth it in the end.

Laying out the Text

Double-click the text layer and add a color overlay. Sample the dark blue color from the palette. Add a stroke next and configure the settings to outside and 20 pixels. Then sample the same dark blue color. I'll show you how to preserve the editable text later on, but to keep things simple and to be kind to your computer's CPU, right-click the type layer and choose Rasterize type.

Using Photoshop's Layer Styles

Next, we'll use the step and repeat trick to create a better drop shadow effect. Use the Command + T shortcut (or Ctrl + T on Windows) for Transform. Measure the layer left and up by one pixel, then hit Enter. This is the step portion of the step and repeat technique. Then press the shortcut Command + Alt + Shift + T to repeat the transformation while also placing the result on a new layer. Keep pressing the same shortcut to extend the effects further and further. Since we're adding multiple colored stripes to this text, we're going to need a lot of copies. Keep going until you get to 150 layers.

The Limitations of Layer Styles

Photoshop might be bogging down a little by this point, but don't worry, we'll sort that in a second. First, double-click the top layer to change its layer styles. Change the color overlay fill to the beige from the color palette. Select layer 149, then shift and click to layer 100. Right-click and choose Merge layers. Rename the single layer "Blue". Select layers 99-50 and merge them too, renaming the layer to "Red". Select and merge the remaining layers using the right-click menu or the Command + E shortcut, renaming it to "Orange". The simpler layer structure will definitely help ease the CPU load. The blue layer is already blue, so double-click each of the remaining layers and add a color overlay, sampling the appropriate hue from the color palette.

The Step and Repeat Trick

The step and repeat trick is a much better way to create this alternating striped effect. You could even create several more stripes if more layers were added to the stack. Let's add a cool striped effect to the text face too. Double-click the top layer and add a gradient overlay. To see it, we'll need to turn off the color overlay. Edit the gradient and sample the orange color as the first part of the gradient, then add a handle a little further along, also with the orange fill. Give this handle a specific location of 40. Add another gradient handle and sample the red color, altering its location to 40 as well so it butts right up to the previous color, creating a hard line rather than a gradual change of hue. Add another red at 45, then add a handle with a green fill, altering its position to 45.2 so it creates another hard edge. Set the next green color at 50 percent, then the light beige color at 50 as well. The Seikana script has a little bit of an upwards rise to it, but the stripes are perfectly straight.

Fixing the Jagged Lines

Edit the gradient overlay and alter the angle by about five degrees. A problem arises as a result - those crisp lines are now all jaggedy. If you edit the gradient and change the position of the first gradient chord to 39, it blurs the line too much, but 40 is too hard. However, there's a weird fix for this. Instead, click and drag the gradient handle slightly, even though the location is exactly the same at 40. The line is now much smoother. Repeat the process of adjusting each color in the gradient to smooth out the lines.

Applying Textures

This retro surf-themed text effect would make a great t-shirt design, so this is the perfect opportunity to make use of my Washed and Worn Textures Pack from Spoon Graphics. These textures make your designs look like vintage t-shirts. They were made by coating, scrunching, and distressing real fabric with real inks, so they capture the authentic cracked surfaces of old t-shirts where the printed graphic has flaked away from being washed and worn over many years. I also have a free Washed and Worn Textures Pack download on Spoon Graphics. I'm using the Deluxe version, which is bigger and better with double the number of textures at twice the size. Both sets are linked down in the description. I'll let you into a little secret - subscribers to my mailing list are offered Washed and Worn Deluxe at half price. Use the code "new subscriber" if you fancy picking it up at 50% off, making it ten dollars rather than twenty.

Open one of the PNG Washed and Worn textures into Photoshop, then copy and paste it to the top of the layer stack. Use the Command + T shortcut to scale and position the texture to find the best flaky bits. My favorite method of applying textures is using the knockout technique. Double-click the layer and change the knockout method to "shallow". Reduce the fill value of the layer to zero to see the texture punches out every layer to allow the background to show through.

Preserving Editable Text

The Washed and Worn Deluxe set also contains a couple of handy seamless t-shirt textures. Paste one above the background layer and repeat it to cover the canvas. Merge any duplicates onto one layer. Set the blending mode to multiply to allow the texture to interact with the background color, then reduce the fill to tone down its prominence. That flaky ink texture is also affecting this background t-shirt texture. To fix it, just make a group of all the layers the Washed and Worn texture should be applied to. The only downside to this method is the result is no longer live text, so you can't edit the wording. It's much less CPU-intensive this way, but if you really do need to preserve the editable text, let me show you how it's done.

Conclusion

Let's go way back to the start before the layer was rasterized. Instead, convert it to a smart object. Continue adding the color overlay and stroke as we did before. The next problem arises when we try to use the step and repeat technique. For some reason, the repeat part of the process totally glitches out. I shared a tip on how to fix this back in my video titled "Retro Text Effect - Adobe Photoshop Tutorial" from back in 2017. It's nice to see that five years later, the bug still hasn't been fixed. To make the step and repeat trick work right with smart objects, first duplicate the layer and rasterize it to convert it back into a normal layer. Apply the step by pressing Command + T and nudging it up and left. Then apply the repeat stage just once with the shortcut Command + Alt + Shift + T. Delete these two rasterized layers, then continue applying the Command + Alt + Shift + T repetition to the smart object. For some reason, it works just fine now. Continue creating your 150+ layers and hope your computer doesn't crash halfway through. The top layer can be adjusted with the usual layer styles in order to create the striped effect. Rather than merge the layers, create groups instead to preserve all the smart objects inside. Each group can then be given its own color overlay layer style. Don't forget to make use of that Washed and Worn Deluxe texture pack you just purchased a few moments ago too. This smart object technique will result in a much larger file size, but the advantage is you can edit the text from within the smart object by double-clicking the layer thumbnail. When you save and close the PSB, every single one of those 150+ copies will be automatically updated too.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned some new tips and tricks. A thumbs up on the video would be really appreciated! Stick around for more of my content by subscribing to the channel and be sure to join my mailing list at Spoon Graphics to download all my free design resources. As always, thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.

Highlights

• Learn how to create a retro striped text effect in Adobe Photoshop
• Make use of Photoshop's layer styles and the step and repeat trick
• Fix jagged lines in the striped effect and apply textures for a vintage look
• Preserve editable text using smart objects
• Access the Washed and Worn Deluxe textures pack for authentic t-shirt designs
• Subscribe to Spoon Graphics for design resources and more tutorials

FAQ

Q: Can I apply the retro striped text effect to different fonts?
A: Yes, you can apply the effect to any font of your choice.

Q: How can I adjust the colors of the stripes?
A: Simply edit the color overlay layer styles to change the hues.

Q: Can I use the step and repeat trick for other design elements?
A: Yes, you can use the technique for creating repeating patterns or textures.

Q: Can I edit the text after applying the Washed and Worn textures?
A: No, once the textures are applied, the text becomes rasterized and cannot be edited.