Text Box: No handles when you are trying to move or transform? Be sure to check the “Show Transform Controls” button on the control bar. Another time saver…if you do not want to have to click the layer to reach an object, simple check Auto-Select on the control bar and it will switch layers automatically!

Text: Some quick text effects

1 OPEN: brick.jpg

1.       Using the Text tool, click and draw to drag a box.

2.       Set font to 150 pt, select a color, and type.

3.       Switch to the move tool to position the text.

4.       Click Edit> Transform> Skew and drag corners so the text box tilts upward in the outlined brick area. Double click to accept.

5.       Right click the text layer and Rasterize text.

6.       Click Edit> Transform> Perspective and drag left side to refine the perspective of the tilt. Double click to accept.

7.       Add a Drop Shadow layer style—Layer> Layer Style> Drop Shadow with settings as follows:

8.       Now, to graffiti the brick. Draw a text box and pick a really fat, chunky font.  

9.       Add an Outer Glow layer style to give it that spray paint effect.

10.   Text Box: If you are using the Type tool, you can click this little toggle icon to bring up the Character and Paragraph palette where you can adjust tracking, leading, scale, etc. Now, to age this text, we need to use an eraser and erase parts irregularly. One problem, though. If you have a layer style and you erase something, it will not affect the style. So, if I erased my red lettering, the yellow would still show through. NOT GOOD. The solution? Separate the text from the effect. Right click the word Effect on the layer and select Create Layer. They will separate!

11.   Now, +Click to select both of those layers, right click, and Merge Layers. Now, they will become one rasterized layer with no attached effects.

12.   Now, erase some of the text to age it. You can load custom brushes (.abr files) of cracks, spatters, grunge, etc. To do that, select the eraser tool and at the options bar at the top, click the little flyout menu arrow and select Load Brushes. You will find some brushes in the Brushes folder provided. Select Spazzsplatter. They will appear at the bottom of your brushes list. Just pick one and use it to erase a little bit.

13.   Once you’ve touched it up, change the layer blending mode from Normal to Overlay and lower the Opacity a little bit. This should make the letters a little more transparent so you can see the bricks through them.

14.   If you desire, use Transform controls (Edit> Transform) to change the shape (try Warp…pretty cool).

15.   < SAVE AS: BrickEdited.psd