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A while ago someone asked me if I knew how to make some neon-like letters to put on the outside of a building.
I went to try a couple different things, and this tutorial is what I found works quite well.
What you'll need:
- Adobe Photoshop CS or higher
- a suitable font
- an image of a building or wall
Let's start by making a new document using the settings in the screenshot below.
Now invert the background layer's color by pressing Ctrl + I to make it black.
Yes, you could've also just set the "Background Contents" to Black in the New Document dialog,
but I prefer to make these changes after the fact.
Your document should look like the one below.
Next, use the Type Tool  (T) and type your text.
I'm using the text "Digital Neon".
By default your text will show up black. That's no good, so select all the text (Ctrl + A) and change the
color to white using the Color field in the
Properties Bar as shown below.
My text settings are as in the following image.
When you're chosing your font, keep in mind that neon lettes generally don't have hard corners, and the
letters must be thick enough to contain an inner glow.
My document now looks like the image below.
We're not quite there yet, but before we can go on, we must first pick our neon letters' color.
Click once on the Foreground Color swatch in the toolbar (see image blow) to bring up the color picker dialog.
Choose a bright color, I'm going for pink.
Now, make sure your text layer is selected, and let's add some Layer Styles by clicking the "Add a
layer style" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette
( )
to bring up the Layer Styles menu.
From the menu, choose "Inner Glow".
In the dialog that comes up next, set the Blend Mode to "Normal" and first increase the Opacity to 100%.
Click once on the color swatch to bring up the color picker dialog, and sample the desired color from the
Foreground Color swatch in the toolbar.
Now adjust the Choke (keep it small) and Size to get the inner glow you like. Then slightly lower the Opacity
back to about 85% and introduce 1% noise for a slightly gritty effect.
When you've made these changes, click on the Outer Glow option on the left-hand side of the Layer Style dialog.
Again, set the Blend Mode to "Normal" and increase the Opacity to 100%.
Click on the color swatch and sample the desired color as before, but this time drag the circle in the color
picker dialog to make the color lighter (2nd image below).
Now we can adjust the Size (over-all size of the glow), Spread(higher values = harder edge), and lower the
Opacity and introduce a little noise.
When you've made these changes, click on the Drop Shadow option on the left-hand side of the Layer Style dialog.
Yet again, set the Blend Mode to "Normal" and increase the Opacity to 100%.
Click on the color swatch and sample the desired color as before, but this time drag the circle in the color
picker dialog to make the color lighter, lighter even than the color set for the Outer Glow (2nd image below).
Now we can adjust the Size (over-all size of the shadow), Spread (higher values = harder edge), Distance and
lower the Opacity and introduce a little noise.
If all went as planned, your image now only needs a background image of a wall for the "sign" to
rest on (Layer 1 in the image below)
Your resulting image should look like the one below, which incidentally is also used at the top of this page :)
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