I'm constantly being asked how I produced the text at the top of the page. The previous tutorial gives some clues, but it seems worthwhile to dicuss textured text in general. Big, bold, strong text adds a lot of impact to a page, especially an uncluttered one, and the addition of some subtle texturing can add that "magazine" heading look that really makes it stand out. Luckily PSP makes it a snip to do as well - so on with the show.

This technique will work best with big, bold fonts, with plenty of surface area. I use fonts such as "Arial (Bold)", "Arial Black", "Impact", "Futurist, Extra Heavy" etc. You also need to use a fairly large size for your font too, probably 48 points or above.

Step 1: Choose a texture

You first need to select a texture with which to fill your text. Almost anything goes, although the following make the better choices, because they reduce the chance of the texture becoming confused with the text itself.

• not too contrasty (i.e. not too much variation in darkness/lightness).
• not too intricate a pattern. Larger patterns that don't repeat so often are better.
• not too sharp. A slightly blurred/indistinct pattern is less confusing.
• good colours to complement your page background.

Step 2: Create a Repeating Pattern

Next you need to choose a portion of the image to form a repeating pattern (see previous tutorial). Try to choose an area that's fairly large (e.g. 250 pixels wide or more), and of fairly even brightness (if there are obvious patches of light or dark, these will show up obviously in your repeated texture, and confuse the final text). In my case, i can choose a fairly central area: notice how it avoids the dark edges, since these would cause a "ripple" effect in the pattern, which is undesirable.

Select your area with the selection tool, and then choose image->special effects->create seamless pattern. Your image will be cut down to the size of the selection and should look something like that opposite (if you used my background!).

Step 3: Filling your text with the pattern

You are now ready to start filling text with your pattern. Create a new canvas (File->New), making sure it is big enough for some big text (e.g. 500 pixels wide). It doesn't matter what foreground colour is selected, choose text tool and enter your text using a big bold font and a large point size (e.g. 72 or more). Make sure you have the anti-alias option set (you need to be working in 16 million colours). Choose ok, and place the text on the page, but do not de-select it.

With your text still selected, choose the Fill Tool. Set the Fill Style to pattern, and click options. Then in the drop down list, choose the image you created in step 2. Then, apply the fill tool inside the text. Because the text is still selected, the fill should be applied across all the text, as shown. Keep the text selected.

Step 4: Finishing touches

Finally, to add a bit of zest to the image you can apply hot wax coating effect, to create a semi-3d glow effect. Again, keep the text selected, and choose a foreground colour of white. If you want a 'quick and dirty' effect, then choose image->special effects->hot wax coating. However, I've opted for a more subtle effect, by using masks. The steps are as follows.

• choose masks->new->empty, then masks->edit.
• choose the fill tool and set the fill type to solid.
• choose a foreground colour that is very dark grey (but not black).
• Click the fill tool inside the text to fill it with the dark colour.
• switch back to the main image with masks->edit.
• choose a forehround colour of white.
• apply image->special effects->hot wax coating 15 to 20 times.
• remove the mask using masks->delete.
• boost the colours/brightness by choosing colours->adjust->hue/saturation/luminance with a saturation of about 80% and luminance of about 15%.