How to Create a Frosted Glass Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

This Photoshop tutorial will explain how to create a beautiful frosted-rolled glass inspired text effect, using Photoshop Filters and Layer Styles.


Final Image Preview

Frosted Glass Text Effect

Resources


Step 1

Create a new document, 1152×864 pixels, set the Foreground color to #006d68, and the Background color to #004e49, then, go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 1

Place the “fire texture 02” on top of the Background layer, and change its layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply, and its Opacity to 50%.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 2

Place the “Weathered Texture” on top of both layers and change its layer’s Blend Mode to Soft Light.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 3

Step 2

Create the text using the color #7b7b7b. The font used is “Atrox”, and the Size is 330 pt.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 4

Duplicate the text layer, and change the copy’s Fill value to 0%.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 5

Step 3

Double click the original text layer to apply the following Layer Style.

– Drop Shadow: Just change the color to #686868.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 6

– Inner Shadow: Change the color to #737373, the Distance to 0 and the Size to 10.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 7

– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Depth to 150, the Size to 27, and the Soften value to 5. Un-check the Use Global Light box, then, change the Angle to 90, the Altitude to 30, the Gloss Contour to Gaussian, and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Overlay, its color to #ded96c, and the Shadow Mode’s color to #7b7b7b.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 8

This is what you should get after applying the style above:

Frosted Glass Text Effect 9

Step 4

Press the Ctrl/Cmd key, and click a text layer’s thumbnail (icon) to create a selection.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 10

Create a new layer between the two text layers and call it “Texture”. Fill the selection with the color #005954. Then go to Select -> Deselect (or press Ctrl/Cmd + D) to get rid of the selection.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 11

Set the Foreground color to #006d68 and the Background color to #004e49.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 12

Step 5

It’s time to apply the Filters to create the texture, so change the values as shown in the images below for each filter. Start by going to Filter- > Texture -> Mosaic Tiles:

Frosted Glass Text Effect 13
Frosted Glass Text Effect 14

Next, go to Filter -> Artistic -> Dry Brush:

Frosted Glass Text Effect 15
Frosted Glass Text Effect 16

Now, change the “Texture” layer’s Blend Mode to Hard Light.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 17

Step 6

Double click the copy (top) text layer to apply the following Layer Style.

– Outer Glow: change the Blend Mode to Overlay, and the color to #00a49d.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 18

– Inner Glow: Change the Blend Mode to Overlay, the Opacity to 50%, the Noise to 50% as well, the color to 8df4f2, the Technique to Precise, the Source to Center, and the Size to 20.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 19

– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Depth to 150, and the Size to 10. Un-check the Use Global Light box, then, change the Angle to 110, the Altitude to 15, the Gloss Contour to Cove – Deep, and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and the Shadow Mode’s color to #7b7b7b.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 20

– Contour: Choose the Rolling Slope – Descending contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 21

– Texture: choose the Metallic Snakeskin Pattern, and change the Depth to 20.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 22

This will add a nice glossy effect to the text.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 23

Step 7

Right-click a text layer and choose Create Work Path.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 24

Create a new layer right below the original text layer and call it “Stroke”, then choose a hard round 7 px brush.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 25

Set the Foreground color to #159282. Then, pick the Direct Selection Tool, right click the path you’ve just created, and choose Stroke Path.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 26

Choose Brush from the Tool drop down menu, and make sure that the Simulate Pressure box is unchecked.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 27

Hit Enter/Return to get rid of the path.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 28

Step 8

Double click the “Stroke” layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Drop Shadow: Just change the Size to 2.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 29

– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Gloss Contour to Cone – Inverted and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and the Shadow Mode’s color to #009d9e.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 30

– Contour: Choose the Cone – Inverted contour and check the Anti-aliased box as well.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 31

– Texture: Just choose the Clouds Pattern.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 32

This is what you should get.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 33

Step 9

Ctrl/Cmd + Click a text layer’s thumbnail once again to create a selection, then press Delete to get rid of the inner part of the stroke. .

Frosted Glass Text Effect 34

With the text selection still active, create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Soft Brush”, then change its Blend Mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 50%. Set the Foreground color to #90eadc, and use a soft round brush, with a quite big size (around 100 px) to add some bright dots over some parts of the text. Try not to add too much dots as this will ruin the original effect.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 35

Create another new layer on top of all layers and call it “Color Brush”, then change its Blend Mode to Hue and its Opacity to 20%. Set the Foreground color to #eaddd6, and use a little bit bigger soft round brush (around 150 px) to add some color dots. The color is very subtle, but it adds nice depth to the effect. Try not to overdo it as well.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Step 10

Next, we are going to apply the same effect using different colors to a star shape. So pick the Polygon Tool, and make sure that the “Shape Layers” icon in the Options bar is clicked, then enter 5 in the “Sides” box.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Also in the Options bar, under the Polygon Options, check the Star box and set the “Indent Sides By:” value to 50%. Then, set the Foreground color to #7b7b7b.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Create the star shape wherever you want to, then duplicate the shape layer and set the copy’s Fill value to 0%.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Step 11

Double click the original shape layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Drop Shadow: Change the color to #686868, the Distance to 3, and the Size to 3 as well.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Inner Shadow: Change the color to #737373, the Distance to 0 and the Size to 5.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Depth to 150, the Size to 14, and the Soften value to 3. Un-check the Use Global Light box, then, change the Angle to 90, the Altitude to 30, the Gloss Contour to Gaussian, and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Overlay, its color to #ded96c, and the Shadow Mode’s color to #7b7b7b.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

This is almost the same Layer Style applied to the original text layer, but using different size values to suit the shape used. So you can modify the values depending on the shape you created and its size compared to the text.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Step 12

Now double click the copy shape layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Outer Glow: Change the Blend Mode to Overlay, the color to #a46000, and the Size to 3.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Inner Glow: Change the Blend Mode to Overlay, the Opacity to 50%, the Noise to 50% as well, the color to #cfad7b, the Technique to Precise, the Source to Center, and the Size to 10.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, and the Depth to 150. Un-check the Use Global Light box, then, change the Angle to 110, the Altitude to 15, the Gloss Contour to Cove – Deep, and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and the Shadow Mode’s color to #7b7b7b.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Contour: Choose the Rolling Slope – Descending contour, and check the Anti-aliased box.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Texture: Choose the Metallic Snakeskin Pattern, then change the Scale to 50% and the Depth to 20.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Once again, this is similar to the copy text layer’s Layer Styles, but with different size and color values.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Step 13

Create a new layer on top of the original shape layer, call it “Star Texture”, and change its Blend Mode to Hard Light. Then Ctrl/Cmd + Click the shape’s vector mask thumbnail to create a selection.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Fill the selection with the color #8f7708, then press Ctrl/Cmd + D to get rid of the selection.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Set the Foreground color to #4e4400 and the Background color to #8f7708. It’s time to apply the Filters to create the texture (like we did in Step 5), so change the values as shown in the images below for each filter. Start by going to Filter- > Texture -> Mosaic Tiles:

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Next, go to Filter -> Artistic -> Dry Brush:

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36
Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Step 14

Creating the path to add the stroke is a little bit different as this is a shape. You’ll need to pick the Direct Selection Tool, click the star shape itself, then click and drag around the star shape to select its anchor points. After that, go to Edit -> Copy to copy the path

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Create a new layer below the original shape layer and call it “Star Stroke”, then go to Edit -> Paste to paste the path to the new layer.

Set the Foreground color to #958938 and choose a hard round 7 px brush.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Pick the Direct Selection Tool again, then stroke the path just like you did before. Right-click the path you’ve just created, and choose Stroke Path. Choose Brush from the Tool drop down menu, and make sure that the Simulate Pressure box is unchecked. Hit Enter/Return to get rid of the path.

After that, Ctrl/Cmd + Click the shape layer’s vector mask thumbnail and press Delete to get rid of the inner parts of the Stroke, and press Ctrl/Cmd + D to get rid of the selection.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Step 15

Double click the “Star Stroke” layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Drop Shadow: Just change the Size to 2.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Bevel and Emboss: Change the Gloss Contour to Cone – Inverted and check the Anti-aliased box. Also, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light, and the Shadow Mode’s color to #9e8e00.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Contour: Choose the Cone – Inverted contour and check the Anti-aliased box as well.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

– Texture: Just choose the Clouds Pattern.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

This is what you should get.

Frosted Glass Text Effect 36

Final Image

And that’s it! You can use other color shades as well if you like, and the effect will look awesome in all colors.

Frosted Glass Text Effect

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it useful.