Create a Funky Pouring Liquid Text Effect

Everybody loves a new text effect, and text effect tutorials are a dime a dozen.

And for good reason! Learning how to manipulate and transform text in Photoshop is a great way to learn key skills and concepts. In this tutorial we'll cover use of filters and masks to create this stunning overflowing liquid text effect.

First, go to File>New and create a new canvas with 3000px width and 1800px height.

I like to start with large canvas sizes, it's a good idea if you ever want to get your creations printed.

Firstly press CTRL/CMD + R to show Rulers and click and drag a vertical ruler to the halfway point (make it easier for us to center the image later).Next we'll create a New Layer and name it background, then fill it with a radial gradient with colors #1d6adc and #5eb7fd. Click and drag the gradient from the center of the image to the far edge.

Next we'll put some blank text on the screen, essentially you can use any word and font you like. Just make sure the font is thick and the text is centered. We used Poplar Std font, 564 pt size and vertically scaled it by 130%. Then simply drag the text towards the center ruler and it should snap into place.

Create a new layer below your text layer, name it 'ground'. Get the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and make a selection across the bottom of the canvas similar to the image below. Fill it with the same gradient as earlier, but this time select linear gradient instead of radial.

Once that's done just set the 'ground' layer blending mode to 'Multiply'. Next go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and apply an 8 pixel blur. Then click Filter>Noise>Add Noise and make the settings 1%, Gaussian and make sure Monochromatic is checked.

Now we're going to use alpha channels to create a displacement map which will allow us to create the 'glass' that the milk will be poured into. Firstly, hide your text layer by clicking on the little 'eye' to the left of the layer. Then CRTL/CMD + Click on your text layer, which will make a selection out of the text.

Open up the channels palette (Window>Channels) and click on the Create new channel icon (Right at the bottom, next to the trash can icon.) Here, fill your selection with white. Now click on the upper right-hand corner of the channels palette and click 'Duplicate Channel'.

Now in the window that pops up under 'destination' click 'New' from the drop down menu and name it 'glass'

In your glass.psd file select the 'background' layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and add an 8 pixel blur.

Now save your 'glass.psd' and go back to your main image.

Create a new layer above the 'ground' layer and name it 'glass'. With the 'glass' layer selected, go to Image>Apply Image and press Enter. This will place a flattened copy of the canvas onto the layer. Now go to Filter>Distort>Glass. Now click on the dropdown menu beside the Texture parameter and select 'Load Texture'. Navigate to your Glass.psd and hit Ok. Now use the settings below and hit OK.

Now we have something thats looking alright. Set the glass layers blending mode to Screen. Now CTRL/CMD Click the text layer to make a selection again.

Click on the 'glass' layer and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. This will hide all the unwanted parts from the 'glass layer'.
Now set the layers Blending Mode to Screen and Right Click on the 'glass' layer and go to Blending options, apply the blending options below:

Add a layer above the glass, name it Milk. CTRL/CMD Click the Text layer to bring up a selection and then go to Select>Modify>Smooth 20px, Select>Modify>Contract 15px and Select>Modify>Feather 1px. Fill the selection with white. Don't deselect it yet. Nudge the selection up 6-10 times, press Shift + CTRL/CMD I to invert the selection and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection. This will hide out the bottom part of the milk, giving an effect that the glass is thicker at the base of the letters.

Now apply the following Blending options to the 'milk' layer.

We're almost done with the milk inside the text, we'll just add a shadow, create a New Layer below the glass and name it 'shadow', make a rectangular selection across the text and fill it with black.

With the 'shadow' layer selected go to Filter>Blur> Gaussian Blur and apply a 10px blur. Next go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur and create a motion blur with an Angle of 0 and a Distance of 400px. Set the shadows Blend Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 70%.

Now place the milk layer BELOW the glass layer and you'll see we've got some fairly convincing milk!

All that's left to do now is apply some of the cool milk splashes and overflow effects, a good place to start looking for images is Google Images and Flickr. To save you the trouble, here are the images that I've used:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_kittos/4078182713/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_kittos/4110781134/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geert1969/4034412583/sizes/l/

Download the images and open them up in photoshop.

Now to cut these Image out we could spend a lot of time using the pen tool/eraser tool or countless other methods. But since these images are on fairly plain backgrounds we can use the Color Range tool to cut them out. Go to one of the Images and go to Select>Color Range. Now you'll have to play around with the sliders, and use the + and - pipettes to select the colors you want. In the below example I used the + pipette on the white of the milk and the reds of the strawberry. Doing this also selected the black background so I used the - pipette on parts of the black background to deselect. Once you have something resembling the image below, click Ok, CTRL/CMD + X to cut the image out, and CTRL/CMD+V to paste it into your original canvas.

Once you paste the milk parts into your canvas, they'll probably look a little like this:

But that can be easily fixed with the dodge tool. Select the dodge tool, choose a large soft brush, set the exposure to 40% and the Range to Midtones. Brushover the milk layers until you get a result similar to the one below.

Now place the splash layer in between the glass and the milk layers. Press CTRL/CMD + T to transform the layer and resize it to fit inside one of your letters.

Now this is looking a bit awkward. So go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All to create a mask on your splash layer. Now make sure the mask is selected, get a small soft brush, make the color black, and begin painting over the parts that you no longer want to appear on the splash.

Now we can also touch up our splash layers by placing additional layers ontop of them, sampling colors using the pipette tool and using a soft brush to paint over some areas that we can't fix with the masks.

Now repeat the above steps for all the other splash images, resizing and rotating them in to make them fit in and around the letters.

You can add as many different splash effects that you wish, once you've got the first one done, the rest will be easy.

Now download the pouring .png that I've provided:

HERE

And place it behind the glass layer.

Now create a new layer ontop of all the others, name it reflection. Go to Image>Apply Image and hit Enter. Press CTRL/CMD + T and hold down Shift while you rotate the image 180 degrees, press Enter. Then go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. Now position the 'reflection layer like the image below.

Set the 'reflection' layers Opacity to 15%. Go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Now get a black to white linear gradient and apply it to the 'reflection' layers mask. You should get the effect below

Now we're nearly done! Simply go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels and move the middle slider down to 0.59

That's it! you're done! If you got lost at any point during these steps, or simply want the .psd from this tutorial, you can download it below.

Final image (click to enlarge)

Also I'd love to see the variations you guys can come up with! Post them in the comments! If you like my tutorials don't forget to subsribe to my RSS/Twitter so that you don't miss any of my articles.

Source :designtutr.com