How To Make Glitter Letters In Illustrator? Top 99 Best Answers

Each part of the drawing starts with a flat color. First we determine the location of the light source – in the example below, the light comes from the top right. Adding some basic shading gives the shape a three-dimensional quality, but it doesn’t look metallic, shiny, or reflective. To make something look metallic, first increase the contrast. Then add more light and dark transitions, creating some sort of pattern. You can see this in the third column of the graph below – a “light, medium, dark, medium, light” pattern. Some of the transitions from light to dark are gradual, as on the left side of the shape. Some transitions are more abrupt, as on the right side of the darkest spot. To make something look super shiny, you can make the shading transition less gradual and more abrupt and add more of those transitions, like in the last column of the graphic below. You can also add some specular highlights, which are super bright, clear white highlights that show a direct reflection of the light source (see Sphere).

This post was originally published in 2011. The tips and techniques explained may be out of date.

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to create a super cool retro chrome text effect in Illustrator. We’ll use a series of gradients to give the impression of bright highlights, then bring the text into Photoshop for the finishing touches.

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The chrome effect we are going to create is inspired by the popular effect from the 80’s and 90’s. Many gradients help build up the effect of highlights, while the reflection along the middle of the text is typical of this type of text effect.

Check out the Chrome text effect

Open Adobe Illustrator and add text in the font of your choice. Here I will use all blackletters with Goudy Text font. Press CMD+Shift+O or go to Type > Create Outlines to convert the text to solid shapes.

Give the text a gradient using alternating swatches between white and dark blue. Change the angle so that the gradient is horizontal.

Select the text and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter an offset of -0.75mm in the options box. When you’re done, right-click the text to ungroup it.

Swap the gradient fill of the new offset shape for a vertical blue gradient and give it a 0.75 pt Stroke using a medium blue from the gradients.

Reselect the outer shapes and add another offset path, this time enter 0.5pt in the offset settings.

Change the white swatches to black in the Gradient panel, then move the text down slightly for a more three-dimensional look.

Use the Pen Tool to draw a rough shape around the text. Pay attention to the line that intersects the middle of the text to make sure the curves are clean.

Copy a duplicate of the inner text shapes and paste it in front (CMD + F). Select them all and go to Object > Compound Path > Make.

Select the compound path along with the temporary shape and click the Intersect option in the Pathfinder window to crop the shape to size.

Adjust the inner shape’s gradient fill so that it flows from black to blue to white. Change the gradient handles towards the middle color.

The different gradients really help build a realistic array of highlights and reflections, all contributing to that chrome look.

Fine-tuning in Photoshop

The vector version of the text effect looks pretty cool, but we can finish off the design with a good old Photoshop polish. Import a texture, desaturate and invert to form a beautiful background.

Paste the text from Illustrator and then add a satin layer style effect. Change the Color to Black, the Blending Mode to Overlay, and the Stroke to Half Round, then play around with the Spacing and Size to adjust the degree of distortion of the gradients.

Using a soft brush, dab a few black dots onto a new layer, then CMD-click the text layer to load the selection. Invert the selection and then delete the excess. Change the layer style to Soft Light and adjust the Opacity to create some tonal changes to the text effect.

Repeat this step but this time with some white splotches to add some tonal highlights to the text.

These subtle changes help add a touch of realism, so the colors and gradients aren’t as consistent.

Finish off the text effect with some star brushes to create some highlights. Place a star shape on key areas like corners that would reflect the light.

Photoshop’s finishing touches really take the effect to the next level with tonal changes and highlights that just aren’t possible in Illustrator.

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Related course: Awesome Photo Adventures

Add a little sparkle and your photos will be magical. You can make snow glitter or add a starlight effect. A stick becomes a magic wand, stars dart across the sky, and fireflies fill the night. This article will show you step by step how to create a glitter effect in Photoshop.

We’re going to create a glitter brush. This gives you the greatest flexibility. We save it so you can just let your photos shine. You can sweep over your entire photo as an overlay, or add a magical touch to a small area. The glitter brush you make will be unique to you. Only you will have this touch of magic!

The steps are extremely simple. Let’s start by making the brush. Then we will apply the shine to a few photos.

Creating a Sparkle brush

Step 1: Open a new document in Photoshop

Open Adobe Photoshop and create a new document. Go to the File menu and choose File > New Document (Ctrl/Cmd+N). In the New Document window, set the Width and Height to 2500 pixels. Make sure the background content color is set to white.

Click Create.

Step 2: Enable Legacy Brushes

We will create our new brush using a combination of brushes available in Photoshop. Some of the best brushes you can use to create glitter are old brushes. These may be hidden in your version of Photoshop.

Here’s how to find these legacy brushes. (If you already see a folder named “Legacy Brushes” in the brush preset selector drop-down menu, you can skip this step.)

To view the old brushes, click the brush tool on the toolbar. In the options bar at the top of your workspace, click the folder icon next to the brush preset selector.

This will open the Brush Settings panel.

In the Brush Settings panel, select the Brush tab. Then click on the three line icon in the upper right corner. From the menu that appears, choose Legacy Brushes.

Photoshop will ask if you want to restore the old brushes in the brush preset list. click OK.

If you go to the brush preset selector in the options bar, you should now have a new set of brushes to choose from. Open the Legacy Brushes folder to see nearly 20 additional folders of brushes. We will be using brushes, which are mainly found in the “Standard Brushes” and “Miscellaneous Brushes” folders.

Step 3: Set the foreground color to black

Before you start creating your brush, set the foreground color to black. To do this quickly, click hotkey D. This will reset your foreground and background colors to their defaults. The default foreground color is black.

Or click the foreground color square at the bottom of the left toolbar. This opens the color picker window. Click on the lower right corner to select black.

click OK.

Step 4: Choose a star-shaped brush tool

Click on the brush tool in the toolbar. In the options bar at the top of the workspace, choose a star-shaped brush from the Brush Preset Chooser. For my Sparkle brush, I started with the Star 70 brush, located in the Default Brushes folder. Many more options are available in the Legacy Brushes folder. Here are some favorites:

star 70

hatch 1

hatching 4

Star – Small

Star – Large

Starburst – Small

Starburst – Large

texture 4

DP star

Round fan with texture

Hypno line

Feel free to experiment with other brushes. Shapes like diamonds and triangles also work well as part of the glitter brush. You can also use a soft round brush for a circular shape. However, use a low flow rate. A dense center will draw the eye.

You can also download other brushes from the internet. Some are free, others you have to buy.

Choose a large brush size. about 300px to start. Click on the white background layer and add three or four shapes. Place the shapes randomly on the canvas.

Step 5: Add different size brush strokes

Change the brush size and add a few more brush strokes.

You can change the brush size in the options bar or use the bracket keys. The left parenthesis key ( [ ) makes the brush smaller. The right parenthesis key ( ] ) enlarges the brush.

Don’t add too many brush strokes. In the next step you will add some variety to the shapes.

Step 6: Choose a second shape

Select a different shaped brush stroke. I used the Crosshatch 1 brush found in the Assorted Brushes folder. Choose a large brush size and add three or four shapes.

Try not to overlap with other shapes and leave plenty of white space between brush strokes.

Change the brush size and add a few more brush strokes.

Step 7: Choose a third shape

Select a third brush stroke shape. I used the “Starburst – Large” brush found in the “Assorted Brushes” folder. Choose a large brush size and add three or four shapes. Change the brush size and add a few more brush strokes.

You can use more than three shaped brushes. But be careful not to overdo it. You don’t need too many different shapes. Choose three or four different shapes. Choose two or three different sizes for each shape.

Keep the shapes within the white border of your background layer, leaving plenty of white space between the shapes. Experiment with different sizes and brush shapes to create unique glitter brushes.

Here is my final selection of brush strokes.

Step 8: Save the canvas as a brush preset

When you are happy with the shapes and their positions on the background layer, save them as a brush preset. That way, you can always access the brush whenever you want to add a glitter effect or an overlay. Go to the Edit menu. Choose Edit > Define Brush Preset.

Give your brush a name and click OK. Close the file you used to create the glitter brush. There is no need to save it. Your work is saved as a brush stroke that you can use at any time.

That’s it! You have your own personal glitter brush. You should see it at the bottom of the brushes list. So let’s use your new brush to add sparkle to a photo.

How to add a sparkly overlay to a photo

In Photoshop, open a photo that needs a little shine. The glitter brush you create is flexible. You can use it to add a sparkling overlay to the entire image. Or you can add shine to a selected area of ​​a photo. Let’s add a sparkly overlay to this photo.

Step 1: Open photo and create a new layer

Open your photo in Photoshop. Add a new layer by going to the Layer dropdown menu. Choose Layer > New > Layer (Shift+Ctrl/Cmd+N). Rename the top layer to “Sparkle”.

Step 2: Set the foreground color to white

Set the foreground color to white. To do this quickly, first click hotkey D. This will reset your foreground and background colors to their defaults. The default foreground color is black. Then click the X button. This inverts the foreground and background colors. Or you can click the foreground color square at the bottom of the toolbar. This opens the color picker window. Click on the upper left corner to select the color white.

click OK.

Step 3: Choose the glitter brush

Click on the brush tool in the toolbar. In the options bar at the top of the workspace, select the glitter brush you created in the Brush Preset Chooser. By default it is at the end of the list. But you can drag and move it up or in a folder.

Step 4: Randomize and Distribute the Brush Stroke to Paint

Once you’ve selected the glitter brush, you can start painting. You can resize the brush and click once on your image. sparkles appear!

But if you click and drag across your photo, the effect will be lost. You get a smear that doesn’t look very magical.

So you first want to spread out and randomize the shape of your brush. This will reduce obvious patterns and make the sparkle appear more natural as you drag the brush across your image.

Open the Brush Settings panel by clicking on the folder icon next to the brush preset selector. In the Settings panel, select the Brushes tab.

In the Brush Tip Shape panel, set the Spacing to 50%. This spreads out the sparkle.

Click Shape Dynamics. Click the label to open the panel (clicking the check box next to the label does not open the panel).

Set Size Jitter to 50%. Jitter defines how much randomness Photoshop adds to the brush stroke. You can also change Angle Jitter and Roundness Jitter. These also change the specified properties of the brush strokes.

Click Scatter. Set Scatter (randomness of number and placement of brushstrokes) to 100%.

The preview box at the bottom of the panel shows how the brush will look with each change. Experiment with spacing, jitter, and spread.

There are many other brush setting options to explore. You can save your favorite settings as a new brush by clicking the plus sign in the bottom right corner of the settings window.

Step 5: Paint an overlay on the Sparkle layer

Add lots of glitter to focus areas and you will get glitter effect.

Select the top level. Choose a large size for your glitter brush and paint over your photo. You can also click once on a section to add shine to a photo. If you like, change the brush size and paint over the image a second time.

You don’t need too many strokes to make your image sparkle. A few sparks will go a long way.

Step 6: Duplicate Sparkle Layer and Add Gaussian Blur

Duplicate the Sparkle layer by going to the Layer dropdown menu. Choose Layer > Duplicate Layer (Ctrl/Comad+J).

Add a Gaussian blur to the duplicated layer. Go to the Filter dropdown menu. Choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Choose a blur radius between 5 and 10 pixels. It will be difficult to see the blur in the preview window. But you can see the blur in your picture.

It’s okay to add a little more blur than you need. You can lower the opacity of the blur layer later.

Step 7Add a Colored Glow (Optional)

Add a colored glow to your sparkles by double clicking on the Sparkles layer. In the Layer Style panel, choose Outer Glow. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay or Soft Light and lower the Opacity between 30% and 50%.

Click on the colored square to set the color of the glow. Use the eyedropper tool to pick a color from your image. Or choose a color by clicking in a colored box.

Set the “Spread” to 5% and the “Size” to 5 pixels. Feel free to experiment with these settings to get a look you like.

click OK.

How to add a glitter effect to an object

You can add sparkles to an object or a specific area of ​​an image to create a fantasy effect. Let’s make the glass ball held by a costumed model at the Venice Carnival sparkle.

Follow the steps above for steps 1, 4, 6 and 7 below.

Step 1: Open the image in Photoshop

Step 2: Add a new layer

Step 3: Select an object

If you want to place the glitter in or on an object, use the Object Select tool. Select the background image and choose the Select Object tool from the toolbar. This tool is bundled with the Quick Selection tool.

Draw a square around the object you want to select. In this case I drew a square around the glass ball. When you let go, ants will march around your selection. Refine the selection with the Quick Selection tool.

Step 4: Set the foreground color to white

Step 5: Select the Sparkle Brush Tool

Select the top layer and activate the brush tool. Select the glitter brush you created from the brush preset chooser. Make the brush slightly smaller than the selected object.

Click the area multiple times. Your sparkle stays in the selected area.

When you’re done, turn off the area. Go to the Select dropdown menu. Choose Select > Deselect (Ctrl/Cmd+D).

You can experiment with different sized brush strokes. Place the sparkles randomly, trying not to overlap them too much. To refine the glitters, add a layer mask to the glitter layer. Then use a soft black brush to remove any extra sparkles.

You can make jewelry sparkle with your brush. Or you can use the lens flare filter. You can even add a catch light to the eye by clicking once over the eye to place sparkles and using a layer mask to remove the extra sparkles.

Step 6: Duplicate the layer and add a Gaussian Blur

Step 7Add Color with an Outer Glow Style Effect (Optional)

Conclusion

Photoshop makes it easy to add a little magic to your photos with a glitter brush. Creating a versatile glitter effect is surprisingly easy. Use the star-shaped legacy brushes installed in Photoshop. Paint different sizes and shapes on a white canvas. And save the canvas as a brush. Once you’ve created your own sparkle brush, you can add sparkle to a specific area of ​​a photo. Or you can brush the glitter all over the photo as a glitter overlay. Have fun adding your unique glitter effect in Photoshop!

Check out The Magical Photography Spellbook e-book for easy tips on creating mesmerizing images!