Friends.Forever | Bezsteri
This tutorial shows you how to apply drop shadows to transparent elements and offers a fun effect you can apply to Acrylic AlphaNumberSet No. 1 courtesy of AnnaTeamer, Ezster Baranyi.
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1. Create a New Layout at 12 x 12 inches 300dpi and open a paper. Open an Acrylic Alpha or Number from Acrylic AlphaNumberSet No. 1 and drag onto the canvas using the Move tool from the Tools palette.
2. Apply a drop shadow layer style. I recommend AnnaStyle Shadows No. 1. Notice that the letter is too dark with the drop shadow style.
3. Layer styles can be converted to separate image layers. Right click on the Effects of the letter’s layer and select Create Layers from the fly-out menu, or choose Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer.
Notice that a second layer appears beneath the element layer and is named OriginalLayerName’s Drop Shadow.
4. Select the letter’s layer and choose the Magic Wand Tool (W) from the Tools palette. Click on the area on your layout outside of the letter element
5. Select the drop shadow layer in the Layers palette and add layer mask to it. This deletes the shadow behind the element and makes it only visible on the outside edges.
6. Create a New Layer beneath the shadow layer (Layer 1). Select the letter’s layer in the Layers palette and choose the Magic Wand Tool in the Tools palette. Click on the area on your layout outside of the letter element. Go to Select > Inverse (Ctrl+Shift+I). Select Layer 1 on the Layers palette, choose the Paint Bucket Tool (G) from the Tools palette and click on the selected area to fill with color.
7. Apply the Sprayed Stencil (type) effect from the Text Effects palette.
After applying the action you will see the following:
8. Apply the Gaussian Blur filter to this layer. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Tip. Check the Preview box in the Gaussian Blur dialogue box to view the results on the fly or as you work. You can also play with the layer’s opacity and blending mode if desired.
9. Finally add a Gradient Overlay layer style to the acrylic alpha layer.
First set foreground color on the Tools palette then set up the Gradient Overlay layer style to complete the effect.
