I’ve had a number of requests to show how the Star Wars logo was
created. Don’t feel bad if you don’t happen to work for LucasArts
— you can use this same technique for just about any large-
sized text, not just the Star Wars logo.
Gradient Tips
To switch to Photoshop's Gradient tools, press the letter
"g".
To bring up the Gradient Editor, switch to the Gradient
tool, and in the Options Bar up top, click once on the gradient
sample.
To add a new Color Stop to your gradient, click anywhere
below the Gradient Editor bar.
To remove a Color Stop, click-and-drag downward.
To edit the color of any Color Stop, double-click directly on
the Color Stop itself.
To change the opacity setting for the Gradient tool, press
the 1 9 num-ber keys on your key-board (2= 20% , 3= 30% , etc.)
while the Gradient tool is selected.
To step through the blend modes in the Gradient s palette,
press Shift-+.
To delete a gradient, hold the Control key (PC: Right-click)
and click-and-hold on the gradient you want to delete, then
choose Delete Gradient from the pop-up list.
STEP ONE: Create a new blank document in RGB mode. Create
your type. In this case, I used the typeface Futura Extra Bold
and drew some extra black squares where the letters bleed
together. It s pretty crude, but you get the idea. (The official
Star Wars typeface is available on the Web. Search for Star Wars
Font and you ll find dozens of sites that have it available for
free download). Rasterize your type by going under the Layer
menu, under Rasterize, and choosing Type.
STEP TWO: Hold the Command key (PC: Control key) , and in the
Layers palette, click once on the Star Wars layer to put a
selection around the type. Go under the Select menu, under
Modify, and choose Expand. Enter 4 for the value and click OK.
Next, create a new layer by clicking on the New Layer icon at the
bottom of the Layers palette. Then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-
Backspace) to fill this selection with black. Press Command-D
(PC: Control-D) to deselect.
STEP THREE: We need to create two custom gradients for this
effect. Click on the Gradient tool, and in the Options Bar up
top, click once on the gradient sample to bring up the Gradient
Editor. Double-click on the far left Color Stop (under the
gradient bar) , to bring up the Color Picker. Click the Custom
button at the top right of the box to bring up the Pantone Color
Picker. Type the number 455 and click OK to assign Pantone 455 (a
dark brown color) to the left side of your gradient.
STEP FOUR: Now, double-click once on the right gradient Color
Stop and click the Custom button again when the Color Picker
appears. Type in 4525 to assign Pantone 4525 (a lighter brown) to
the Color Stop on the right side of the gradient. In the Name
field, name this gradient StarWars 1, then click the New button.
This completes your first gradient, but don t click OK yet,
because we have to build another gradient.
STEP FIVE: While still in the Gradient Editor, drag the right
Color Stop (light brown) to the left until it s about 1 4 " from
the left stop. You ll notice that the name of the gradient
changes to Custom. Next, hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) ,
click on the left stop (dark brown) , and drag it to the right,
passing over the light brown stop by about 1 8 " (this creates a
copy of the stop). Keep holding the Option key (PC: Alt key) and
drag out light brown and dark brown Color Stops until your
gradient looks approximately like the one shown above. Name this
gradient StarWars 2 and click New. Click OK to exit the Gradient
Editor.
