Layering for Texture

One of the primary techniques used by interface designers and text manipulators to achieve the 'WOW' effect is to use Layers to generate the illusion of depth. To take a word and fill it with a color or gradient is fairly easy... and looks it. To create illusory 3D effects is also fairly simple, but does not look it. For some reason we carry the notion into our Photoshop work that, since it appears complex, it must be complex.

Let's get right to it! In Photoshop, open a new image. For this lesson I'm using my standard size of 7 in x 5 in at 72 dpi, transparent. I never work on my background, so create a new layer and select it.

Time to build the foundation! With the type mask tool, enter some text with a thick font, at least 200 points in size. We will be doing some contracting later, so the thicker the font the better. Go ahead and fill the text with black, and create a new layer leaving the selection active.

Something that adds to the illusion of depth, believe it or not, is the gradient tool. Select a couple colors that are fairly close in tone, one darker than the other (in the background). Fill the new layer with the radial gradient, drawing from the upper left to the lower right.

I'm on a stone kick today, so let' make some marble! I started with a light tan in my foreground and a dark brown/red in the back for my gradient. Run the Difference Clouds (Filter>Render>Difference Clouds) about 8 times on the gradient layer. Mine came out a tad dark, so I adjusted the Hue/Saturation a bit and came up with the following:

Now we want to cut a chunk from the center. Contract your selection by 8-10, cut and paste into a new layer. Reselect, Contract by 5, select inverse (on the pasted Layer), and cut or delete.

You should have something similar to this:

Let's play with the background for a bit. Go back to your layer with the black text and, with the magic wand tool, select outside the text, then select inverse. Your text should be active again. Create a new layer just above that layer. Use your gradient again and fill with your original gradient colors. Add Noise... not too much, but just enough to give it some graininess. While we are at it, let's outline our creation. Swap the foreground and background colors, create a new layer, and Stroke to 4 pixels or so on the outside. If you like, go ahead and deselect and give the stroked layer an inner bevel. You can now do the same with the 'marbled' layers... play around with the depth of the bevel! This will effect the sharpness of the chisel effect. After tweaking the bevels and adding a faint drop shadow to the first marble layer, this is what I came up with:

VARIATIONS:
You can continue playing with your layers, adding plastic wrap for a glossy effect, using a dark brush to create a rust or dirt spatter on the image, etc. Liven things up! If you are using a dark background, apply an inner and outer glow. For a white background, duplicate the gradient layers, twirl and blur. And ALWAYS drop shadow... well, that is a personal rule, but for pulling the text off the page a drop shadow, however bold or subtle, always helps.