Overlapping Letters (Photoshop Elements)

Big titles can make a big impact, but sometimes I like to use big letters in a more subtle way. Today’s tip will show you how to achieve such a look!

The title I’ve chosen for the top of this page is “whole hearted SPLASH.” I’d like the word SPLASH to spread clear across the top of the page, with “whole hearted” as a smaller accent, but I don’t want SPLASH to be too overpowering. To create a more subtle look, I’m going to reduce the opacity of the letters and overlap them slightly. This type of styling is particularly suited for “water” pages.

Step 1) Type the Letters

• Start by getting the Horizontal Type Tool, and choose a large, thick font. The font I’ve chosen is Gill Sans Ultra Bold, sized at 200 pt.
• Click on the Foreground Color Chip and choose your font color, remembering that the finished product will be lighter than the shade you select. Click OK.
• Click once on your document and type just one letter. I typed an “S.”
• In the Options Bar above, click on the check mark.
• Click again on your document, somewhere different than the first letter, type your second letter, and click the check mark. This should put your second letter on a different layer in the Layers Panel than the first letter.

• Repeat, creating the letters on different layers until all are done.

Step 2) Change the Opacity of the Letters

• Get the Move Tool.
• Click on one of the letters. (I’ve clicked on the first “S.”)
• Press the number 5 to change the Opacity to 50%. If that keyboard shortcut doesn’t work, just click on the Opacity slider at the top of the Layers Panel and move the slider to around 50%.

• Click on the next layer, and use the same method to reduce the Opacity to 50%.
• Repeat for all of the letters.

Step 3) Rotate and Move Letters Into Place

• Using the Move tool, click and drag the letters into place.
• Slightly rotate some of the letters by pressing Ctrl T (Mac: Cmd T), move your mouse outside the bounding box until you see the double headed curved arrow, then click and drag to rotate. You don’t have to do every letter, and the rotation doesn’t have to be much. Double click inside the bounding box to accept the transformation.

Helpful tips:

• Adding a slight drop shadow will help your letters “pop” a little, but don’t get carried away with it.
• Depending on the background behind the letters and the color you chose for the letters, you may want to work with a different opacity.
• You also may want to change the size of the letters to make them fit better on your page. Since we are working with multiple layers, you may want to accomplish this by using the transform command rather than changing each individual type layer. To do this you would:
  • Click on the top letter layer in the Layers Panel, then Shift click on the bottom letter layer, making all of the letter layers active.

  

  • Press Ctrl T (Mac: Cmd T) and resize using a corner handle.
  • Double click inside the bounding box to accept the transformation.

Here I’ve added the rest of my title and my embellishments. I have a title that is bold, but doesn’t stand out too much. Give it a try, and have a great week!

Credits: Tutorial and photos by Jenny Binder, www.HeirloomScrapbooks.com. Papers, sequins, and swirl from Swim Like a Fish kit by Julie Billingsly. Sun, ribbon, rick rack, and palm tree from Kowabunga kit by Heather Roselli. Fonts are Gill Sans Ultra Bold (SPLASH) and Century Gothic.

Download a PDF version of this “Overlapping Letters” tutorial.

Windows: Right click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or a similar command.
Mac: Click on the link to download the file.

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