How to Make Dripping Text in Photoshop

Hello! Today I'm going to show you how to make dripping text in Photoshop using a few simple techniques. Also, we'll create different styles of bleeding letters. Let's go!

Tutorial Assets

Before we start learning how to make text drip in Photoshop, I want to show you which assets were used during the production of the tutorial:

• Grasp Typeface
• Water Drops Photo
• Free Brushes, Texture and Pattern

What You'll Learn in This Drip Effect Photoshop Tutorial

• How to add a dripping paint effect in Photoshop using a displacement map
• How to make dripping letters using the Liquify Tool
• How to make dripping text in Photoshop using brushes
• How to create bleeding letters in Photoshop

Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ Youtube Channel:

1. How to Make Dripping Letters With a Displacement Map

Step 1

Open the stock image in Adobe Photoshop and Hit Shift-Control-X to open the Liquify Tool.

Step 2

Use a big brush with a size of about 900 px and 100% Pressure to create a dripping texture like the one in the screenshot below:

Here's a close-up look at the displacement texture:

Step 3

Now we need to save this texture as a PSD file (It's important to save it as PSD, because JPEG or any other file format will not work as a displacement map). Go to File > Save As and save it as Map.psd

Step 4

Now let's create a New Document by pressing Control-N, and add any text you want to use.

Step 5

After that, create a copy of your text layer by pressing Control-J, and then select the first text layer in the Layers panel.

Step 6

Go to Filter > Distort > Displacement Map and set the Horizontal Scale to 0 and the Vertical Scale to 50. Then hit OK and select the map we created in the previous steps.

This is how our text should look now:

Step 7

Now, we need to make our text look smoother. Go to Filter > Noise > Median and set the Radius to 12.

Step 8

After that, just move this layer down a bit, and voila!

Step 9

And finally, to make it look 3D, let's Group the layers and add a Bevel and Emboss style to this group with the following settings:

• Style: Inner Bevel
• Technique: Smooth
• Depth: 230%
• Size: 50
• Angle and Attitude: 59
• Highlights Mode: Vivid Light with White Color and Opacity set to 75%
• Shadows Mode: Multiply with Black Color and Opacity set to 25%

This is what our final image will look like:

2. How to Make Dripping Letters Using the Liquify Tool

Step 1

As you might have noticed, the previous method is pretty rough. If you want to create a more precise dripping effect, you can use the Liquify Tool.

Create a new text layer and press Shift-Control-X. 

Step 2

Set the Size to about 70 px and Pressure to 100%. Start creating drip elements using the Forward Warp Tool (W). Just stretch the parts of your words down.

Step 3

Make the bottom elements of your dripping larger and the middle elements thinner to make it look like a drop.

Step 4

Apply more drops using the same method. Feel free to experiment and create different types of dripping elements.

Step 5

Make the lines of your letters less straight using the same Forward Warp Tool.

Add the same effects to all the remaining letters:

3. How to Make Dripping Text in Photoshop Using Brushes

Step 1

Let's apply some more dripping elements using our free brushes. Create a new layer with Shift-Control-N and add a brush stroke with the same color as our text.

Step 2

Add more brush strokes until you get the result you like.

4. How to Create Bleeding Letters in Photoshop

Step 1

Now I would like to show you how to add a realistic blood effect to your dripping text. Let's add a Bevel and Emboss layer style with the following settings:

• Style: Inner Bevel
• Technique: Smooth
• Depth: 150%
• Size: 75
• Soften: 0
• Angle: 120; Attitude: 65
• Highlight Mode: Linear Dodge (Add); Color: White; Opacity: 35%
• Shadow Mode: Multiply; Color: #220000; Opacity: 75%

Step 2

Put a tick on Contour and then add a Pattern from our assets and set the Scale to 150% and Depth to -2%.

Step 3

Add an Inner Shadow layer style with the following settings:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Color: #de0101
• Angle: -90
• Distance and Size: 25

Step 4

After that, use the following Inner Glow layer style:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Opacity: 75%
• Noise: 30%
• Color: Black
• Choke: 15%
• Size: 35 px

Step 5

And finally, let's add Gradient Overlay and use the following settings:

• Blend Mode: Normal
• Gradient: from #7a0000 to #d60404
• Style: Linear
• Angle: 90
• Scale: 100%

Step 6

Let's go to File > Place and put a background from the tutorial assets below our dripping text.

Step 7

And finally, if you would like to make the entire effect a bit smoother, you can Right Click > Convert to Smart Object on the group of layers and then add a Median Filter with the Radius set to 6 px.

This is what our dripping text effect will look like with this filter applied:

Awesome Work, You're Now Done!

Today, you've learned how to make text drip in Photoshop using a few simple techniques. Feel free to experiment and combine them to get the perfect result.

Let's take a look at some of the best drip effect Photoshop products available at Envato Elements:

Wet Paint Photoshop Action (ATN, ABR)

This product will not only help you to create dripping text, but it will also add an amazing painting effect to any image! Every time you hit play, the action will make an unique, fully customizable result, so the variations of the end look are almost endless. Give this one a try!

Dripping Gold Photoshop Action (ATN, ABR)

Wondering how to make dripping letters with gold textures applied to them? Check this amazing action, which will convert any image or text layer into a beautiful golden artwork. A video tutorial and text instructions will help you to use this product with no effort. Turn your image into gold like King Midas!

Paint Drip Text Effect (PSD)

Are you looking for a simple drip effect Photoshop template? This easy-to-use PSD lets you create a dripping text effect in a few simple clicks. You can use any font and change the final look to fit your needs—just follow the TXT guide with instructions!

Bloody Mary: Bloody Thriller Typeface

In case you need a blood dripping font, we have this amazing product with all letters, numbers, and punctuation. This blood dripping font can be really useful if you need to create a Halloween poster, horror movie title, or anything else with a similar style.

Inky Goodness (AI, ABR, TIFF)

If you want to create a dripping text effect, you will also need a drip brush Photoshop pack like this one. It's a massive collection of different drops, drips, rollers, and brush strokes, with a total of 61 unique and high-quality brushes. This drip brush Photoshop package will be a great addition to your tools for creating amazing artworks.

Do you want to learn how to add a dripping paint effect in Photoshop or something similar? Check out these amazing tutorials:

• 
  Photoshop Actions
  How to Create a Dripping Paint Photoshop Effect Action
  Marko Kožokar
• 
  Photo Effects
  How to Create a Melting Portrait Photo Effect Manipulation in Photoshop
  Jenny Le
• 
  Adobe Illustrator
  How to Make a Splatter Brush in Illustrator
  Andrei Marius
• 
  Photoshop Actions
  How to Create a Photoshop Painting Effect
  Ivan Gromov