Create a Paint Peeling Off Text Effect in Photoshop
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The paint peeling text effect in Photoshop wraps a photo of real peeling paint around your letters with the Pattern Overlay layer style.
You build it from four identical text layers, and each one carries a single job: the shadow, the color, a fake 3D extrusion, and the texture.
Nothing here needs a plugin or a 3D engine. It is text, layer styles, and one pattern you make yourself from a photo.
By the end you will have a grungy headline that looks like paint flaking off a weathered wooden fence.
The video was recorded in Photoshop CS6 or the latest version, and every step still works.
If you want texture on letters without a defined pattern, the fur text effect uses a different method. That one reaches its texture with masks and blending modes, so the two tutorials read as a pair rather than as the same lesson twice.
Key Takeaways
- Fill Opacity hides the pixels on a layer and leaves its layer styles visible. Opacity fades both, which is why the shadow disappears when you use the wrong slider.
- Four identical text layers do four different jobs here. Stacking them is what lets one word carry a shadow, a color, an extrusion, and a texture at once.
- A Pattern Overlay only reads as peeling paint when the pattern has gaps in it. Solid textures cover the letter and kill the effect.
- Photoshop tiles a Pattern Overlay, so the tile has to be seamless. An untreated photo shows a grid of seams across the letters.
- The fake 3D comes from scaling one text layer from its center. No 3D tools are involved.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Step 1: Set Up the Text Layers for the Paint Effect
- Step 2: Why Fill Opacity Drives the Paint Text Effect
- Step 3: Style the Drop Shadow Layer
- Step 4: Color the Text Under the Peeling Paint
- Step 5: Fake 3D With the Extrusion Layer
- Step 6: Cut the Peeling Paint From the Fence Photo
- Step 7: Make the Paint Texture Seamless
- Step 8: Define the Peeling Paint Pattern in Photoshop
- Step 9: Add the Peeling Paint Pattern to the Text
- Step 10: Build the Fence Background
- Step 11: Finish the Composition
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Your Paint Peeling Text Effect in Photoshop
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to stack four text layers and give each one a single layer style job
- How Fill Opacity differs from Opacity, and why this effect needs it
- How to pull peeling paint off a fence photo with a channel selection
- How to turn that paint into a seamless, tileable pattern
- How to apply the pattern with a Pattern Overlay and scale it to fit
- How to build the fence background with adjustment layers and a vignette
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop CS6 or the latest version
- A close-up photo of peeling paint, or any texture with gaps in it
- A background photo, such as a wooden fence
- A thick, rounded font. The video uses Arial Rounded at 395 points.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate the layer | Ctrl J | Command J |
| Free Transform | Ctrl T | Command T |
| Fill with the foreground color | Alt Backspace | Option Backspace |
| Show and hide guides | Ctrl H | Command H |
| New layer via cut | Ctrl Shift J | Command Shift J |
| Merge the selected layers | Ctrl E | Command E |
| Load a layer or channel as a selection | Ctrl Click the thumbnail | Command Click the thumbnail |
| Invert | Ctrl I | Command I |
| Deselect | Ctrl D | Command D |
| Fit the image on screen | Ctrl 0 | Command 0 |
| Step backward | Ctrl Alt Z | Command Option Z |
| Move Tool | V | V |
| Brush Tool | B | B |
| Zoom Tool | Z | Z |
Step 1: Set Up the Text Layers for the Paint Effect
Create a new document. The video works on a canvas 1080 pixels wide by 780 pixels tall.
Pick the Type Tool, set the font to Arial Rounded and the Font Size to 395 points, then click on the canvas and type your word. The video types PTC.
Switch to the Move Tool with V (Windows) or V (macOS) and center the text.
You need four identical copies of that text layer. Select the text layer and press CtrlJ (Windows) or CommandJ (macOS) three times.
Rename them from the top down: texture, color, extrusion, and drop shadow. Each name is the job that layer does.
Tip: Keep the letters thick. A thin font leaves almost no surface for the paint texture to show on.
Step 2: Why Fill Opacity Drives the Paint Text Effect
This is the one idea that makes the whole effect work, so it is worth a minute before you style anything.
Fill Opacity affects only the actual pixels on a layer. It leaves the Layer Styles alone.
Opacity affects both. Drop it to 0% and the layer styles fade out with the pixels.
So when you set Fill Opacity to 0%, the letters themselves turn transparent and everything you added in Layer Styles stays visible.
That is how one layer can carry nothing but a shadow, and another can carry nothing but a texture. Both sliders live in the Blending Options section of the Layer Style dialog box.
Note: If your drop shadow vanishes when you try to hide the letters, you pulled the wrong slider. Set Opacity back to 100% and take Fill Opacity to 0% instead.
Step 3: Style the Drop Shadow Layer
Turn off the visibility of every text layer except drop shadow, the one at the bottom of the stack.
Double-click that layer to open the Layer Style dialog box, then click Drop Shadow.
Set the Opacity to 90%, the Distance to 15 pixels, and the Size to 15 pixels. Then set the Noise to about 4%.
Drag the Noise slider to 100% once to see what it does. It breaks the shadow into speckles. At 4% you barely see it, and that tiny bit of grit is what keeps the shadow from looking computer clean.
Now click Blending Options and take Fill Opacity down to 0%. The letters disappear and the shadow stays.
Click OK. To judge the effect against something other than white, double-click the foreground color, set the Brightness to about 40%, and press OK. Select the Background layer and press AltBackspace (Windows) or OptionBackspace (macOS) to fill it.
Step 4: Color the Text Under the Peeling Paint
Turn on the color layer and double-click it to open its Layer Style dialog box. This layer holds the base color and most of the depth.
Work down the list in this order.
| Layer Style | Settings |
|---|---|
| Gradient Overlay | Two browns. A dark brown into a lighter orange brown. |
| Bevel and Emboss | Shadow Opacity 0%, Highlight Opacity 35%, Size 3 pixels |
| Inner Shadow | Black, Opacity 55%, Distance 0, Size 20 pixels |
| Inner Glow | White instead of the default yellow, Opacity 15%, Noise 30%, Size 210, Range about 80% |
| Satin | Opacity about 5%, Distance 15, Size 35, Contour set to a straight line |
| Drop Shadow | Opacity 70%, Distance 10 pixels, Size 18 pixels, Noise 5% |
Leave the Inner Shadow blend mode on its default darkening setting. You are after a soft dark rim just inside the letters, so judge it by eye rather than by the number.
The Noise inside the Inner Glow is the detail most people skip. It sprinkles grain across the face of the letters, which is what stops the color from looking like flat vector art.
Click OK when the six styles are in place.
Tip: Click the arrow next to the effects list in the Layers panel to collapse it. With four styled layers, the panel gets long fast.
Step 5: Fake 3D With the Extrusion Layer
Select the extrusion layer and press CtrlT (Windows) or CommandT (macOS) for Free Transform.
Hold ShiftAlt (Windows) or ShiftOption (macOS) and drag a corner handle inward a small amount. Press Enter.
Because this layer sits behind the color layer and is slightly smaller, its edges peek out along the sides of every letter. That sliver is the whole trick. It reads as thickness.
Note: Free Transform changed after CS6. Current versions of Photoshop keep the proportions locked by default, so you only need Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) to scale from the center.
Double-click the extrusion layer and add these styles.
| Layer Style | Settings |
|---|---|
| Color Overlay | A dark brown |
| Bevel and Emboss | Depth 75%, Highlight Mode 40%, Shadow Mode 20% |
| Inner Shadow | Global Light off, angle about 153 degrees, Distance 1 pixel, Choke 10%, Size 8 pixels, Noise 10% |
| Inner Glow | Black, Blend Mode set to Normal, Size 3 pixels |
Turning off Global Light matters here. It lets this one layer take its own light angle without dragging every other shadow in the document with it.
Step 6: Cut the Peeling Paint From the Fence Photo
Open your texture photo. The video uses a close-up of red paint flaking off a fence. You want to keep the paint and throw away the wood.
Run a Levels adjustment first. Pull the black and white input sliders inward to add contrast between the paint and the wood.
Open the Channels panel and click through Red, Green, and Blue. Pick the one with the biggest difference between lights and darks. In this photo it is the green channel.
Duplicate that channel, then go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and push the darks and lights as far as they will go without losing the paint edges.
Loading a channel selects the white pixels, and here the paint is dark. Press CtrlI (Windows) or CommandI (macOS) to invert the channel so the paint turns white.
Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) and click the green copy thumbnail to load it as a selection.
Go back to the Layers panel. Double-click the locked Background layer and press OK to unlock it, then click the Add Layer Mask button. Only the peeling paint remains.
This is the same approach used for hair and other messy edges. There is a full walkthrough in the channel masking tutorial if you want more practice with it.
Step 7: Make the Paint Texture Seamless
Photoshop repeats a Pattern Overlay across the layer. If the tile is not seamless, you get a visible grid of seams running through your letters.
Apply the layer mask so the paint is baked into the pixels.
Go to View > New Guide and add a vertical guide at 50%, then repeat for a horizontal guide at 50%.
Grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool, select the left half, and go to Layer > New > Layer via Cut. Move the left half to the right and the right half to the left. The outer edges now match, because they used to be the same edge.
Tip: Layer via Cut has a shortcut the video never says out loud. It is CtrlShiftJ (Windows) or CommandShiftJ (macOS).
Press CtrlH (Windows) or CommandH (macOS) to hide the guides so you can see the seam down the middle.
Add a layer mask to the top piece, pick a grunge brush, set the foreground color to black, and paint along the seam. The only rule is no straight lines. A ragged break disappears, a clean one does not.
Apply that mask, then select both halves and press CtrlE (Windows) or CommandE (macOS) to merge them.
Now do the whole thing again for the top and bottom halves. Bring the guides back, cut, swap, hide the guides, mask the seam, and merge.
Finish by holding Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) and clicking the layer thumbnail, then go to Image > Crop to trim the extra space. Press CtrlD (Windows) or CommandD (macOS) to deselect.
Note: This is the slowest part of the tutorial, and Photoshop has faster ways to do it now. If you would rather not cut and swap halves by hand, use one of the methods in Seamless Photoshop Patterns. Come back and define the pattern in the next step. To undo a test as you go, press CtrlAltZ (Windows) or CommandOptionZ (macOS) to step backward.
Step 8: Define the Peeling Paint Pattern in Photoshop
Double-click the merged texture layer and add a Stroke. Set the Size to 1, leave the Position on Outside, and take the Opacity down to about 45%.
It behaves more like a shadow than an outline at that opacity. It gives each flake of paint a thin edge so it lifts off whatever sits underneath it.
Before you commit, add a layer below and fill it with white. That shows you how the paint will look sitting on a light surface.
Delete the test layer, then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Name it peeling paint and press OK.
That pattern now lives in your Photoshop presets and can be used on any document, in any project, until you reset your presets.
Step 9: Add the Peeling Paint Pattern to the Text
Switch back to your text document and turn on the texture layer, the one at the top of the stack.
Double-click it, open Blending Options, and set Fill Opacity to 0%. The same rule from Step 2 applies. You want the styles, not the letters.
Click Pattern Overlay and choose your new pattern. It is the last one in the list.
Set the Scale to 50%. Then click and drag directly on the canvas to slide the pattern around until an interesting section of paint lands on your letters.
Add a Bevel and Emboss to this layer as well. Set the Size to 1 pixel and change the blend mode to Overlay, then lower the two opacity sliders to roughly 32% and 45%. This gives the paint its own edge, which the texture would otherwise cut off.
The extrusion layer needs the same pattern so the sides of the letters match the faces. Add a Pattern Overlay to it, pick the same pattern, and drop its Color Overlay opacity to about 50% so the texture shows through.
Tip: Go back to the color layer and change its Gradient Overlay to recolor the whole effect. The texture is a separate layer, so it does not change at all. You can swap the gradient for a flat Color Overlay too.
Note: If you want the texture without the color, use the Texture section inside Bevel and Emboss instead of a Pattern Overlay. It embosses the same pattern into the letters and gives you a Depth slider to control how deep it bites.
Step 10: Build the Fence Background
Open your fence photo. Right-click its layer, choose Duplicate Layer, and set the destination to your working document. Press OK, then close the fence photo.
Drag the fence layer to the bottom of the stack, directly above the Background layer.
Press CtrlT (Windows) or CommandT (macOS), then right-click inside the box. Choose Rotate 90 Degrees Counter Clockwise so the planks run across the frame instead of up and down.
Press Ctrl0 (Windows) or Command0 (macOS) to fit everything on screen. You need to see the transform handles before you can scale.
Type 50 into the scale field in the Options bar, then position the fence so the planks sit where you want them behind the text.
If a gap shows along an edge, fix it with the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Select a narrow strip of wood beside the gap, press CtrlT (Windows) or CommandT (macOS), and stretch it across. Press Enter, then CtrlD (Windows) or CommandD (macOS) to deselect.
Step 11: Finish the Composition
Add a Curves adjustment layer above the fence and draw a gentle S curve for contrast.
Tip: Use an adjustment layer, not Image > Adjustments. An adjustment layer stays editable, and you will want to soften this curve later once the vignette is in.
Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and nudge the Hue slider to the right. The fence starts out reddish, and a small shift makes it browner and less loud than the paint on the letters.
Duplicate the fence layer, set the copy to the Overlay blend mode, then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and desaturate it. This one runs on the pixels on purpose.
The result is strong at full strength. Lower that layer until the wood grain reads without taking over, somewhere around 45%.
Create a new layer at the top of the stack and name it vignette. Press B (Windows) or B (macOS) for the Brush Tool and pick a soft round brush around 320 pixels. Set the foreground color to black and paint around the outside of the frame.
It does not need to be neat. Lower the vignette layer Opacity to somewhere between 70% and 80%, and the darker corners push the eye straight to the text.
One last pass. Open the color layer styles again and turn Use Global Light on. Drag the Drop Shadow a little further right so it falls across the extrusion instead of floating beside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stack four identical text layers and give each one a job: a drop shadow, the color, a fake 3D extrusion, and the texture. Set Fill Opacity to 0% on the layers that should show only their Layer Styles. Then define a seamless photo of peeling paint as a pattern and apply it with a Pattern Overlay.
Fill Opacity changes only the pixels on the layer and leaves the Layer Styles at full strength. Opacity fades the pixels and the layer styles together. Both sliders sit at the top of the Layers panel and inside Blending Options.
The pattern has no transparent areas in it. A Pattern Overlay fills every pixel of the layer it sits on, so a solid photo hides the color underneath. Cut the background away from your texture first so the pattern has real gaps.
Add guides at 50% both ways, then use Layer > New > Layer via Cut to split the image and swap the halves. The old outside edges now meet in the middle, so you only have to blend one seam. Paint that seam out on a layer mask with a grunge brush, merge, and use Edit > Define Pattern.
The video uses Arial Rounded at 395 points. Any thick, rounded font works. Thin letters leave too little surface for the paint texture to show on.
Yes. Rust, cracked mud, torn paper, and moss all work with the same steps. The only requirement is that the texture has gaps in it after you cut the background away, so part of the letter stays uncovered.
You need one layer per effect that has to sit at its own depth. A single layer can hold all the same Layer Styles, but they would all stack in a fixed order at the same position. Four layers let the extrusion sit behind the color and the texture sit in front of it.
Yes. Every tool used here is still in Photoshop, including Layer Styles, Define Pattern, and channel selections. The one change is Free Transform, which now keeps proportions locked by default, so you no longer hold Shift while scaling.
Your Paint Peeling Text Effect in Photoshop
A paint peeling text effect in Photoshop is really three small skills stacked together: layer styles, a seamless pattern, and a background that sells the scene.
Once the pattern is defined, you can drop it onto any text in any document. Swap the gradient, swap the photo, and the same setup gives you rust, moss, or cracked plaster.
Watch the full tutorial above to see every slider move in real time, and comment on the video if you get stuck on a step.
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Cool tutorial!
Thanks!
thats vry nice tutorial…..can u provide me shadow tutorial?
I was having fun with the colors. Great site. Although I hate the “Captcha”.
skoville.com/images/peeling_paint_letters.png
Nice! Thanks for sharing it! Feel free to share it on my Facebook page and Google + page if you like.
And sorry about the Captcha, but I used to get hundreds of spam comments a day until I added it. Maybe I will look for a different solution.
Thanks for all the comments by the way!
Oh no, keep the Captcha. I’ve got a site I use for storage and just experimenting and I had to stopped comments etc. for the same reason. I’ll put the Space Walk on your Facebook.
It nice to do tuts that click! This is really fun.