Graffiti Tutorial in Adobe Photoshop

Step 1

Start with an appropriate font. Here I used Tag Extreme. Download it here

Right click on the name on the layers pallett and select "rasterize type"

Step 2

Create a new custom blend similar to this.

Step 3

Ctrl/Cmd click on the layer to select it.

With the gradient tool set to linear draw the blend by dragging the gradient tool from top to bottom.

Step 4

Don't deselect.

Create a new layer

Edit>stroke

Add a 2 pixel gray stroke to the "outside"

Step 5

Filters>blur>gaussian blur

Add a .08 gassian blur to the new layer with the outline on it.

Step 6

Merge the outline area with the graffiti layer by clicking Ctrl/Cmd+E or select "merge down"

Step 7

Select the layer again. Cmd/Ctrl+Click on the layer thumbnail.

Add another stroke, this time make it black and put it right on the graffiti layer

Step 8

Looking good! Now for the shadow.
Duplicate the layer by dragging it to the new layer icon on the layers pallette.

Select the new layer and Fill with black.

Step 9

Drag the black layer behind the graffiti layer and move down and to the left a little bit.

Step 10

Here I added a background and changed the layer blending mode of the graffiti to Hard light. See how it blends nicely to the background like it was painted on.