How to Create a Bubble-Wrap Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

This tutorial will show you how to create an easy bubble-wrap text effect, using a simple pattern and a couple of layer styles. Let's get started!

This text effect was inspired by the many Layer Styles available on Envato Market.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

• Palamecia Titling font
• Sorensen Leather - Savanne-royal-30307 by SorensenLeather
• Free Pack 6000 photoshop gradients by Supertuts007 (Load the CHROMES.grd file)
• Texture Pattern (Created using the Crysta Filter Forge filter by Vladimir Golovin)

1. Load the Default Patterns

You'll need to load two default Photoshop pattern sets. To do so, go to Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, and choose Patterns from the Preset Type drop-down menu. Then, click the little arrow to the right of the Preset Type drop-down menu, and you'll need to add the Patterns and the Nature Patterns sets. When the dialog box appears after adding each of them, just click Append.

2. Create the Pattern

Step 1

Start by creating a new 70 x 41 px document, setting the Resolution to 240 Pixels/Inch and the Background Contents to Transparent.

Then pick the Elliptical Marquee Tool, and create a 32 x 32 px circle in the center of the document.

Step 2

Fill the selection with Black and go to Select > Deselect.

Step 3

Next, pick the Move Tool, and drag the black circle so that its center is over the bottom edge of the document.

Create three more copies of the circle, and spread them around the remaining edges of the document, making sure that their centers fall exactly on top of each edge.

Step 4

Go to Edit > Define Pattern, type in Pattern for the Name, and click OK.

3. Create the Background

Step 1

Create a new 1204 x 870 px document, and set the Resolution to 72 Pixels/Inch.

Place the Sorensen Leather - Savanne-royal-30307 texture on top of the Background layer, resize it as needed depending on how much detail you want to have, and rename its layer to Background Texture.

Step 2

Double-click the Background Texture layer to apply the following layer style:

Add a Color Overlay with these settings:

• Color: #e8e8e8
• Blend Mode: Color Burn
• Opacity: 50%

Step 3

Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

• Check the Dither box
• Blend Mode: Multiply
• Style: Radial
• Scale: 150%
• Click the Gradient box to create the gradient using the colors #d8d8d7 to the left and #ffffff to the right.

Step 4

Add another Gradient Overlay with these settings:

• Check the Dither box
• Blend Mode: Overlay
• Opacity: 50%
• Style: Reflected
• Angle: 30
• Scale: 150%
• Choose the Chrome Circle gradient fill

Step 5

This will style the leather texture and add some lighting.

Duplicate the Background Texture layer, and then right-click the copy and choose Convert to Smart Object.

Step 6

Go to Filter > Other > High Pass, and set the Radius to 10.

Step 7

Change the Background Texture copy layer's Blend Mode to Overlay. This will sharpen the details a bit.

4. Create the Text and Stroke Layers

Step 1

Create the text in White using the font Palamecia Titling and the Size 250 pt.

If you're creating more than one line, set the Leading value to something around 220 pt.

Step 2

Duplicate the text layer twice, renaming the first copy Bubbles and the second Stroke.

Step 3

Change the Bubbles layer's Fill value to 0.

Step 4

Right-click the Stroke layer and choose Convert to Smart Object, and then change its Fill value to 0 as well.

5. Style the Text Layer

Double-click the original text layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 7
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Shadow Mode - Opacity: 0%

Step 2

Add a Texture with these settings:

• Pattern: Laid-horizontal
• Depth: 90%

Step 3

Add an Outer Glow with these settings:

• Opacity: 67%
• Noise: 41%
• Color: #ffffff
• Size: 3

Step 4

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Opacity: 75%
• Distance: 10
• Size: 10

Step 5

Once the text is styled, lower its layer's Opacity value to 35%, and its Fill value to 10%.

You might need to change those values if you're using a different background.

6. Create the Bubbles

Step 1

Double-click the Bubbles layer to apply a Pattern Overlay effect with these settings:

• Pattern: Pattern
• Scale: 50%

Step 2

Convert the Bubbles layer into a Smart Object and change its Fill value to 0.

Step 3

Duplicate the Bubbles layer to create a copy.

7. Style the First Bubbles Layer

Double-click the Bubbles layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 2
• Highlight Mode - Opacity: 100%
• Shadow Mode - Color: #6f6f6f

Step 2

Add a Texture with these settings:

• Pattern: Texture Pattern
• Depth: 167%

Step 3

Add a Color Overlay with these settings:

• Color: #ffffff
• Opacity: 5%

Step 4

Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

• Opacity: 15%
• Distance: 1
• Size: 3

This will style the first layer of bubbles.

8. Style the Second Bubbles Layer

Double-click the Bubbles copy layer to apply a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 4
• Uncheck the Use Global Light box
• Angle: 45
• Altitude: 74
• Shadow Mode - Opacity: 20%

That's it for this layer. This just adds more texture and details to the previous one.

9. Style the Stroke Layer

Double-click the Stroke layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Style: Stroke Emboss
• Size: 10
• Uncheck the Use Global Light box
• Angle: -117
• Altitude: 42
• Gloss Contour: Cone
• Check the Anti-aliased box
• Shadow Mode - Opacity: 0%

Step 2

Add a Texture with these settings:

• Pattern: Cells
• Depth: 1000%

Step 3

Add a Stroke with these settings:

• Size: 5
• Position: Center
• Opacity: 30%
• Color: #828282

This will style the edges of the text.

10. Create the Inner Part

Step 1

Command-click the original text layer's thumbnail to create a selection.

Step 2

Go to Select > Modify > Contract, and type in 5.

Step 3

Go to Select > Modify > Feather, and type in 10.

Step 4

Create a new layer on top of the Bubbles copy layer, call it Inner Details, and fill the selection with White.

Step 5

Command-click the text layer's thumbnail to select the text again.

Step 6

Go to Select > Inverse, hit the Delete key to get rid of any extra parts outside the text, and then go to Select > Deselect.

11. Style the Inner Part

Double-click the Inner Details layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1

Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

• Size: 0
• Highlight Mode - Opacity: 100%

Step 2

Add a Texture with these settings:

• Pattern: Leaves
• Depth: 99%

Step 3

Change the Inner Details layer's Fill value to 0.

This will add a bit more texturing to the text.

12. Apply Some Filters

Step 1

Select the Stroke layer, and go to Filter > Distort > Ripple.

Change the Amount to 150 and the Size to Small.

Step 2

Go to Select > All, then Edit > Copy Merged, and Edit > Paste.

Place the pasted layer on top of all layers, rename it to Lighting, and convert it into a Smart Object.

Step 3

Go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects, choose a Spot Light, and modify its settings as below:

• Color: (250, 250, 248)
• Intensity: 20
• Hotspot: 60
• Colorize: (245, 248, 248)
• Exposure: 2
• Gloss: 0
• Metallic: 100
• Ambience: 20
• Texture: Green
• Highlight: 1

Step 4

Move the light around until you get a result similar to the one below.

Step 5

Finally, lower the Lighting layer's Opacity to 50%. This will adjust the lighting and enhance the details.

Congratulations! You're Done

In this tutorial, we created a simple pattern for the bubbles part of the effect and defined it so that we can use it with our layer styles. Then we styled a leather texture for the background and sharpened it a little bit.

After that, we created the text, bubble, and stroke layers, and styled each one of them to achieve the bubble-wrap look. Finally, we used a couple of filters to finish off the effect and adjust the lighting.

Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.