How to create colored text in Photoshop

Document setup

To save time, I did Creates a new Photoshop document with a white background, and you've added some text on a write layer above it. The font I'm using is Avenir Next Heavy but any font will work. And the text color doesn't matter because we'll replace the color with our own gradient:

Step 1: Add a Gradient Overlay effect to the text

To add a gradient to the text, we'll use the Gradient Overlay layer effect.

In the Layers panel, make sure it is selected write layer . Then click an icon fx At the bottom:

And choose Gradient Overlay From the list:

Step 2: Choose the Black and White Gradient

The Layer Style dialog box opens to the Gradient Overlay options. We'll start by choosing the standard black-to-white gradient in Photoshop, then we'll edit the colors to create our custom gradient:

to choose the gradient Chromatic , Click color swatch current gradient. Make sure to click on the same color swatch, and not the small arrow to the right of the swatch:

Then in the gradient editor choose the gradient black and white from the Presets section at the top. As of Photoshop CC 2020, gradient presets are grouped into folders and black and white gradient presets are found in the Basics folder:

Step 3: Edit the colors of the gradient

Displays Existing gradient preview bar In the lower half of the screen are the current gradient colors. With the black and white gradient selected, the left side of the preview bar appears black and the right side appears white. But we can edit the colors using color stops.

To change the color black to something else, double-click Black stop Below the left side of the preview bar:

Then choose a new color from the Color Picker in Photoshop. You can use any colors you like. I would choose muted pink by appointment R value (red) to 146 , And G value (green) to 116 و B value (blue) to 137 . Click OK to close the Color Picker when you're done:

Then to change the white color to something else, double click White stop Below the right side of the preview bar:

And choose a new color from the Color Picker. This time, I'm going for a light reddish pink by adjusting R on 237 و G To 214 و B To 222 . Click OK when done:

After editing both colors, we now have a new custom gradient:

Step 4: Set the position of each color to 50%

At the moment, the colors in the gradient are gradually moving from one to the other. To create a solid gradient that splits the two colors down the middle, simply change the Location value of each color stop.

First, tap Left color stop to select it. Don't double click this time, just click once:

Then change the value Location  from 0% to 50% . The color stop will move below the center of the gradient:

Then click Correct color stop To select it:

and change the value Location  also to 50% . The two color stops now overlap in the center and each half of the gradient is filled with a solid color:

How to switch the order of colors

Depending on the order in which you set the color stops, the colors in the gradient may have switched sides. To switch it back, just click on any color that appears below the center of the preview bar:

Step 5: Save the gradient as a new preset

If you want to apply the gradient not only to your text but also to the border or background (which we'll do in a bit), before closing the Gradient Editor, save the gradient as a new preset.

But first, if you are using Photoshop CC 2020 or later, So he closed Folder The basics in the Presets area. Leaving the folder open will add the new preset to the folder, which is not what we want:

Give your preset a name. I will call it "division colors". Then click the button new" to save it:

The new preset appears as a thumbnail below the other gradients. At this point we're done with the Gradient Editor, so click OK to close it. But leave the Layer Style dialog open:

This is my split color script so far. The upper half is filled with the lighter color of the two colors and the lower half is filled with the darker color:

How to invert colors

To switch the position of the colors, select an option Reverse In the Layer Style dialog box:

Now the darker color is on top and the lighter color is on the bottom. Uncheck the Reverse option to replace it again:

How to apply a split color stroke around text

If you're satisfied with the effect at this point, you can close the Layer Style dialog and you're done. But here's how you can enhance the effect by applying a stroke around the text using the same split gradient.

Step 1: Add a Stroke layer effect

Still in the Layer Style dialog box, click Word Stroke In the list of effects on the left:

Step 2: Select the split gradient

change Limit fill type from color to color gamut :

Then click the small arrow next to the gradient swatch:

And double-click the split gradient thumbnail to select it:

Step 3: Select the reverse option

To see the border around the text, we need the gradient colors to be in reverse order from the way they appear in the text itself. Even if not be Selection reverse option for the Gradient Overlay effect, then select Inverse in the Stroke options. or if you are it did Select Reverse for Gradient Overlay, and leave Reverse Stroke untouched.

In other words, whatever you do with the Reverse option for the Gradient Overlay, do the opposite for the border:

The stroke should now appear as a thin outline around the letters, and the colors in the stroke should be in the opposite order of the text. The darker half of the stroke should appear around the lighter half of the text, and the lighter half of the line should be around the darker half of the text:

Step 4: Set the mode to outside

Stroke change in Occupation To Out So it looks around the edges outside the letters:

Step 5: Increase the stroke size

Then use a slider Size To increase the border width. I'll set mine to 16px:

And this is the result. We now have a border around the text using the same color split effect (but inverted):

Step 6: Close the Layer Style dialog box

Next, I'll show you how to fill the background with a pixelated gradient. But at this point we're done with the Layer Style dialog, so click OK to close it:

How to fill the background with a pixelated gradient

Instead of adding a border around the text, what if you wanted to fill the background behind the text with a pixelated gradient, so that the colors in the background and text reflect each other? Heres how to do it.

Step 1: Turn off the Stroke effect

First, if you added a stroke from the previous section, then in the Layers panel, turn off the stroke by clicking vision icon Below the write layer:

Step 2: Select the background layer

Still in the Layers panel, click background layer To select it:

Step 3: Add a gradient fill layer

Then click icon New Fill or Adjustment Layer At the bottom:

and choose a fill layer gradual From the list:

A gradient fill layer appears between the type layer and the background layer:

Step 4: Choose the split gradient

In the Gradient Fill dialog box, click existing arrow To the right of the gradient swatch:

Then double-click the split gradient thumbnail to select it:

Step 5: Invert the colors of the gradient

Just like with the border, the background colors must be in the reverse order of the text, otherwise the text will disappear from view.

So if not Get up by selecting the option Reverse For the text (Gradient Overlay effect), select Reverse in the Gradient Fill dialog box. If did not Select the reverse text, then leave the reverse in the Gradient Fill dialog box unchecked:

Click OK to close the Gradient Fill dialog box, and the split gradient will appear behind the text in reverse order of how it appears inside the letters.

The only problem, at least in my case, is that the gradient in the text doesn't line up with the gradient in the background. So I'll fix that next:

Step 6: Move the text into position

To move the text to a position so that the two gradients line up, select First write layer In the Layers panel:

then in Toolbar , Locate move tool :

And before moving the text, go to the list عرض in the menu bar and select 100% . This zooms the document into 100% view mode which allows you to nudge the text one pixel at a time:

With the Move tool selected and your width at 100%, use Up or Down arrow key on the keyboard to push the text into place. In my case, I'd push the text down one pixel at a time until the horizontal split points of the gradient in the text and the gradient in the background align: