Mit
Smash Ace
SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL FONT/TEXT DESIGN
Figured I'd post this here and link to it from my thread. This is a tutorial on a way of imitating the Smash Bros. Brawl logo for your own text.
Just so you know, for this tutorial (and my current project) I'm working with Photoshop 7 in a 500x500 space, with the font size averaging around 80pt. Some of these settings may have to be tweaked to compensate for size changes.
**Also, if you're interested in finding the original font used, read the bottom of this post.
1. Start off writing whatever your desired text is, and then apply these warp and text settings to it (for this tutorial I used The Legend of Zelda, the current album art I was creating
):
(I changed the font size of the smaller text above Zelda, but the ZELDA text is in 80pt.) The closest default font you likely have available, and what is used in this tutorial, is Times New Roman. The exact font appears to be Matisse UltraBold, but this is a Japanese retail font that you must pay for, and I have not been able to find it anywhere. Make sure you don't miss that there is NO letter spacing.
2. Next, apply the following layer style settings to the text:
If you have a better pattern to apply for texture, go for it. I didn't feel like finding a new one so I went with the best default Photoshop pattern I could find.
3. Now it gets a little more tricky. Duplicate your text layer and move the duplicate below the original on your Layers panel. This is going to be your layer for the background of the text. Disable the Outer Glow settings on the original, and disable the Stroke settings on the duplicate. Now, add a New Layer below the duplicate, and Merge the duplicate down into the new layer (Ctrl+E with the duplicate layer selected). This merges all of the layer style properties together, so we can apply more properties on top of them.
4. Apply these layer style settings to the duplicate layer:
The pattern under Texture is the fourth PS7 default pattern (it's kind of a woodgrain). Again, if you have a better, more metallic pattern for this, go for it.
5. You might have noticed those holes in your duplicate layer between the letters. Well, now that the layer has been rasterized and has a Color Overlay, grab a Pencil/Brush/whatever and fill in those holes with whatever color you like. The color you choose will be overwritten by the Color Overlay. Your result should look something like this:
If you're satisfied with this, huzzah! You're finished. However, for us perfectionists, you may have noticed the lack of shading to match the Smash Bros. Brawl logo, if you'd like to do that, keep reading.
6. For the shading I used two layers, an Overlay, and a Saturation layer. We'll start with Overlay. Make a new layer on top of everything and set its Blending Style to Overlay (top left of the layers panel). Now, Ctrl+click your duplicate layer (the text background layer) in the Layers panel. This will give us a perfect selection around your text/logo.
Now, back on your Overlay layer, take a laaaarge airbrush (I used a 400px airbrush), set its Color to black and its Opacity around 40%, and brush diagonally around the left and right edges of your text/logo. Use the edge of the brush so you don't go too dark right away. Try and look at the original Smash Bros. Brawl logo for reference on how dark to make the edges. Once satisfied, take a much smaller brush (I used a 125px airbrush), set its Color to white and its Opacity between 10-15%, and brush diagonally across the middle of your text/logo (or wherever you want it to shine). Keep doing this until you achieve a brightness resembling that of the original Smash Bros. Brawl logo. When you're done, you're result should look something like this:
7. Now you may notice that the logo looks a little oversaturated on the edges, and undersaturated in the middle. This is what the saturation layer is for. Make a new layer on top of everything again, and this time set it's Blending Style to Saturation. Now take that same smaller airbrush you were using, and set it's Color to pure Red. Now, on the saturation layer, brush along the middle of your image where you drew the highlights. Keep saturating it until it resembles the Smash Bros. Brawl logo. Now, set the brush color to black (or white), and brush along your dark edges until they resemble the Smash Bros. Brawl logo. Your result should look something like this:
Congratulations! You're finished! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Here's my final picture:
It's an album cover for my Zelda album from my Brawl soundtrack. Thanks for reading!
**I received a PM from "The Font Man" letting me know what font was used by Nintendo. I'll copy the PM here:
As you can see, it's a pay font so I'm not going to provide a link to download it or anything like that here, but you know what the font is if you want to hunt it down. The only method I know for getting it at the moment is what Font Man stated: ripping it from the PM and creating a font out of it yourself. Thanks a lot for the info, Font Man!The Font Man said:
