Kiki's Word Art Challenge

This week we’ll be using a pattern or texture fill - a fun way to create vibrant word art – to design an Easter greeting.  It makes a statement within a graphic, or it can hold its own as a text header, greeting or tag.  This week, you choose whether you want this to be part of a graphic, stationery or a stand-alone element.  (If it’s a single element, please consider saving it as a transparent PNG and attaching it to share!)  For those of you who haven’t done this fill-method of text, here’s how I go about it (there are likely many ways of doing it, this just works for me)...

Select the patterns/textures you want to use in your text and open them as images within your workspace.  (I drag & drop from the file folder, down to the task bar, hover over PSP and when it pops up, drop them into PSP.)

Create a new image approximately the size you want your text to be.  For this challenge, this will be a rather large dimension.  Even if it’s going into a graphic, having the text in its own image gives you the chance to fiddle without risking the rest of a graphic or having to mess with layers right off the bat. If your word art is going into a graphic, you’ll want a transparent background.  If it’s going to be an email greeting/letter you can leave it transparent or match the background of your mail.  If it’s going to be an attachment or a Facebook post, you probably want a white background for crisp, easy viewing.

Select the text tool, choose “create as vector”, set your fill & stroke to any color, and choose a wide/big/fat font.  Keep in mind that too much decoration within the font itself will detract from the fill.

Type your text, then highlight the characters you want to decorate.  With your text window still open, click on the fill preview, set it to pattern, click the pattern options, select one of the patterns/textures you have waiting on your workspace.  You may have to play a bit with angle and scale to get the best display.  Click OK.  Your text should now be showing up with a pattern in part of it.

With your text window still open and your characters still highlighted, click on the stroke preview.  Move the cursor over the text.  As it moves you’ll see the cursor become a dropper.  Select an outline/stroke color from the pattern.  Click OK.  With the text window still open, and these particular characters still highlighted, adjust the stroke width text properties until you get the desired result.  Keep in mind that you can type in fractions.  Using the arrows gives you only whole number options, and the slider often creates huge jumps.  Depending on your font and the fill you chose, you’ll typically choose .5 or .6 – 2.0 or 3.0 for the stroke/outline.

Repeat this process for each set of characters that requires a unique fill.  It can be fun to mix & match different, complimentary patterns & colors, or pair a pattern with a solid color fill.  If the word art is going into a graphic, however, you may need to tone it down some so it doesn’t overwhelm the rest of your work.  Once you’re happy with it, you can copy & paste it into your creation.  Leave it in vector format so if it needs tweaking once you see it with the rest of your work, you can easily do so.

As with any word art, your font choice can have a huge impact on the success of the whole graphic.  For instance, in a sweet Easter creation you don’t want a campy, cartoony font – even if it’s wide enough to showcase the pattern you want to use.  If you’re doing an individual greeting, the font style is less crucial, but you do want something that will be legible once it’s filled.

If you need some additional wide/big/fat fonts, drop me a line, I’m happy to pass some along.  Ditto Easter background tiles – most of which are seamless.  As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Here’s another example of mixing and matching in a stand-alone image.  Feel free to snag if you want to.