Create Leafy Text Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps used to create this leafy text effect in Photoshop. We will explore the use of tree bark texture to form the basis of the text, then applying leaf texture over the text. We will utilise the chalk brush, various selection tools, image adjustments and basic dodge/burn effect.

This is a beginner to intermediate level tutorial.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in Photoshop CC – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version. Some brushes are exclusive to Photoshop CS6.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1280px * 700px with white background. Use the Gradient Fill tool to fill the background layer as shown below:

Use any abstract brush set you like, paint some random patterns over the background as shown below:

Step 2

We will work on the text in this step. Load the tree bark texture in Photoshop and select a small piece from the texture as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection over to our document, re-size your new layer as shown below:

Repeat the above process to grab more tree barks, and form a letter H as shown below:

Continue and form the rest of the letters as shown below: (make sure you vary your selection so each letter looks different)

Go back to the tree bark texture and select a rounded portion, copy and paste the selection back to our document:

Make a smaller selection inside the circle – the selection doesn’t need to be centred:

Clear the selection and you will have a letter O as shown below:

Step 3

We will make the edge of the text a little rough. Grab the eraser tool and set its tip with the chalk brush as shown below:

Use this eraser and work through the edge as shown below in red: (you will need to rasterize the text layer first)

and here is the effect so far:

Duplicate this text layer twice and adjust the position of the duplicated layers slightly to make the text look bolder:

Step 4

We will add some leaves over our text. Load the leaf texture into Photoshop and select the following portion (you can use Quick Selection tool to achieve this)

Copy and paste the selection over to our document and cover the text:

Use the chalk brush eraser as in step 3, remove parts off the leaves and reveal the letters below:

Add some more leaves to the left and right side of the text:

You can also add a bulk of the leaves on the top right corner of the canvas:

Step 5

We’re almost done! We can flatten the image and duplicate the background layer, use the Unsharp Mask filter to sharpen the text a bit:

Add the following image adjustment layers on top:

Selective Color

Layer mask on the selective color adjustment layer:

Curves

We can also add some particles in the image with a particle brush:

Also paint some shadow with a soft brush under the text as shown below

and this is my final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy going through it and find it useful. Drop me a comment below if you have any question.

Till next time, have a great day!