How to make curved, gradient text with a shadow

Make a curved, gradient headline in seven steps

1. 1

   Open the photo

   Go to lilcactus.app and choose File› then Open… (Ctrl+O or ⌘O), or drag the photo onto the window. To follow along exactly, open the sample photo from this page.

2. 2

   Draw a gentle arch

   Right-click the pen button in the toolbar and choose Curvature Pen. Click three points: near the left edge about two thirds of the way down, in the middle a little above the middle of the picture, and near the right edge level with the first. The line bends through them in a smooth arch.

   To end the curve without closing it, click the More path commands button (…) on the options bar and choose Finish Open Path.

   

   

3. 3

   Type on the curve

   Press D and then X, so white is the foreground color, and press T for the Text tool. On the options bar, choose Impact in the Font list, type 150 for Size and click the center alignment button (Align center). Click on the top of the arch, type GOLDEN HOUR and press Ctrl+Enter or ⌘↩.

   The letters stand on the curve, centered on the point you clicked. If the letters come out thin (Impact isn’t installed on every computer), choose Arial and click the B (Bold) button on the options bar.

   

   

4. 4

   Fill the letters with a gradient

   With the text layer selected, click Layer style (fx) at the bottom of the Layers panel and click Gradient Overlay in the list. Open Edit gradient stops. With Color stop on 1, click the color swatch, type FFF1B8 (pale gold) in the # field and click OK; choose stop 2 and do the same with FF8A1E (orange). The words now run from orange at the top to pale gold at the bottom. Don’t click OK in the Layer Style dialog yet.

   

5. 5

   Add a soft shadow, then click OK

   Click Drop Shadow in the same list. Type 60 for Opacity, 6 for Distance and 12 for Size, pressing Tab after each, and click OK. The shadow separates the light letters from the bright clouds behind them.

   

6. 6

   Retype the words

   With the Text tool, click the words, press Ctrl+A or ⌘A to select them all, type BLUE HOUR and press Ctrl+Enter or ⌘↩. The new words sit on the same arch, centered, with the same gradient and shadow.

   

7. 7

   Save, or export the picture

   To keep the text, its curve and its style editable, choose File› then Save As› then Lil Cactus Project… (Ctrl+Shift+S or ⇧⌘S) or File› then Save As› then Photoshop (.psd)… After that, File› then Save updates that file.

   To share the picture, choose File› then Export› then JPEG… and click Export: a new, flat image without the curve’s guide line. Until you save a project or PSD, File› then Save writes a flat picture back into the JPEG you opened; the first Save of a JPEG, including the sample, opens the Save Image dialog.

Adjust text on a path

• While the text is selected with the Text tool, the options bar shows Start, which slides the words along the curve; Reverse, which puts them on the other side of the curve (readable on a bowl-shaped curve or the bottom of a circle, upside down on an arch); and Detach, which makes it ordinary straight text again.
• To change the curve itself, choose Direct Selection from the pen tools’ menu and drag its points; the words follow.
• Text that is longer than the curve doesn’t fit: Lil Cactus says so on the options bar. Make the size smaller, shorten the words, or draw a longer curve.
• To put existing text on a curve, select the curve in the Paths panel, select the text layer, choose the Text tool and click Attach to Path on the options bar. The words start at the beginning of the curve, and centered text starts half off it: raise Start until they sit where you want them.

More text effects

• Outline letters: a Stroke effect with the layer’s Fill at 0%. See layer styles.
• A photo inside the letters: clip a photo layer to the text. See how to put a photo inside text.
• Bend text without a path: Window› then Character has a Warp list (Arc, Bulge, Flag, Wave, Rise, Shell) with Bend, Horizontal and Vertical. Arc with a negative Bend lifts the middle of the line only slightly, so for an arch use text on a path as above. Detach path text before warping it.
• Reuse the look: Layer› then Layer Style› then Copy Layer Style and Paste Layer Style copy the effects; Window› then Text Styles saves the font, size and spacing as a named style with its New style button (+), to apply to other text.

Fix common problems

The text didn’t follow the curve

The curve wasn’t selected when you clicked, or you clicked away from it. Undo, click the curve’s row in the Paths panel and click exactly on the line with the Text tool.

Gaps open between the letters on a tight arch

On a tight curve the tops of the letters fan apart. Make the arch flatter by dragging its middle point down with Direct Selection.

The gradient runs the wrong way

Tick Reverse on the Gradient Overlay page, or change its Angle.

Coming from another editor

Photoshop

Type on a path drawn with the Pen tool, Warp Text on the options bar, and Layer › Layer Style.

GIMP

Text along Path in the text layer’s right-click menu.

Text effects: questions and answers