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hi. this is marty from blue lightning tv.i'm going to show you how to create a custom, intertwined, monogram logocentered on a simple, but powerful background. if the middle initial of the monogram is larger than the other two, the middle initial is the surname or last name. the first initial is the first name and the last initial is the middle name. however, if all the initials are the same size, the order of the initials represents the first,

middle and last name. i provided a link to a website that explains the general rules pertaining to monograms. the link is located in the video description. create a new document by pressing ctrl + n on windows or cmd + n on a mac. make the width: 1200 pixels, the height: 900 pixels and the resolution: 300 pixels per inch. make the color mode: rgb at 8 bits per channel. then click ok. let's begin by making the background first. open your gradient tool and make surethe linear gradient icon is highlighted.

click the gradient bar and click the "black, white" preset. click the lower, right stop and the color box. type in 80, three times. this gives us 50% gray. then, click ok on the color picker and the gradient editor. go to the bottom of the document and hold down shift as you drag up the gradient line to the top. go to filter and filter gallery. open the texture folder

and click "texturizer". the texture is sandstone, the scaling is 100%, the relief is 2 and the light is from the top. then, click ok. double-click on the lock. this unlocks the background and opens the layer style window. click stroke. make the size: 100 pixels and the position is inside. click inner glow. click the color box, pick black and click ok.

change the blend mode to color burn and the opacity to 15%. the technique is softer, the source is edge, the choke is 100% and the size is 100 pixels. then, click ok. click the custom shape tool and open the thumbnails. click to gear icon to open your list of shape presets. click shapes and click ok to see the new set in the thumbnail window. click the diamond shape,

which is between the outline crescent and the outline diamond. make sure it's not the wider diamond,since that shape has slightly, rounded corners. tick "unconstrained" and check "from center". choose "path" if you're working on cs5 or earlier, the path tool mode is here. we want to make guidelines that crisscross the center of the document. to do this, go to view and click "new guide". with the horizontal orientation ticked, type in 50%. click ok or press enter or return. if you don't see the guideline,

press ctrl or cmd + h. go back to view, new guide and tick "vertical". as before, type in 50%. then, click ok. go to the center of the guidelines and drag out a diamond shape to the edges of the top, bottom and sides. open the paths panel. if you don't see it, go to window and paths. click the icon at the upper, right corner and click "make selection". keep the feather radius at 0.5 pixels, which is the default amount

and click ok. the path is now a selection. open back up the layers panel. we'll cutthe diamond-shaped selection from the background and copy it to its own layer. to do this, press ctrl or cmd + j. click off the eyeball of the stroke to hide it and double-click on "effects" to open the layer style window. click bevel & emboss. the style is inner bevel, the technique is chisel hard and the depth is 100%. the direction is down

and the size is 14 pixels. then click ok. press ctrl or cmd + h to hide the guidelines. we're ready to set our text. open your horizontal type tool and pick a font. i'm using trajan pro regular, which you can download from the link i provided. the link is located in the video description or project files. make the size 125 points, smooth, and center alignment. the color is irrelevant, since we're going to give the text

a gradient and color overlay. type the upper case letter of your first name. to move it, open your move tool and drag it to the center. click the "fx" icon and click bevel & emboss. the style is inner bevel and the technique is smooth. drag the depth all the way to the right. the direction is up and the size is 7 pixels. click gradient overlay. click the gradient bar and click the lower, left stop. click the color box

and type in six "c"s. this gives us 80% gray. click ok and click on the lower, right stop. click the color box and this time, type in 4d, three times. this gives us 30% gray. click ok on both windows. click color overlay and the color box. pick an overall color that you'd like for your monogram. you can always change it later. i'll type in

1 f a 7 e d. click ok or press enter or return. change the blend mode to color. click inner glow. change the blend mode to hard mix and click the color box. pick a lighter, brighter version of the color you picked earlier. i'll type in 0 0 f f f 6. click ok or press enter or return. notice the color you picked is now in the color box. make the choke 22%

and the size 15 pixels. click stroke make the signs 14 pixels and the position is outside then clickok because this monogram has three initialswill make two copies of it first go to view and it snapped ischecked just click on it to turn it off to maketwo copies of the letter press control command j twice hold down shift as you drag a letter tothe right holding shift keeps it aligned click onthe other copy

to make it acted and again hold downshift as he dragged a letter to the left thisletter will be your first initial up the monogram typing a letter of your first name make a copy above it active and doubleclick it to highlight the letter now typing the first letter of yourmiddle name scroll down to the bottom and doubleclick on a large t up the original letter type the firstinitial of your last name double-click the large tea again tohighlight the letter

will increase the size 280 points hoping your move till and drag it down approximately halfway between the topand bottom of the other initials because it's larger than the others willincrease the inner glow effect to compensate for its size to do this double click on it in a glow effect toopen it in the lair style window change the shokh 20 and the size 230pixels then click ok to save space in the layers panel willclick the small triangles on each of the

initials to collapse the list affects let's placed into a folder to do thisshift click on the top initial to highlight the malland press control command she let's name it original text it's alwaysa good idea to save your original text or objects make a copy of it and hide the originalfolder open the folder copy will convert eachinitial into a smart object so we can ultimatelyat fixed drop shadows

on each of them as well as heneighboring us to change or modify the letters if we want to at some point cook the topinitial to make it active and quickly icon at the top right corner click convert to smart object you knowwhat a smart object when it has this icon on the thumbnail repeat the stepsfor the other initials make your top initial active and holddown shift as you drag it to the left in thiscase i'd like to position a letter so it justtouches the other

when it's close i'll use my left orright arrow keys on my keyboard to move it 1 pixel at a time make the initial below it active andagain hold down shift as you drag it to theright control-click or command click on thefun a lot the letter to make a selection of shape and click the layer mask icon to make alayer mask the selection next to the initial repeat this for thetop letter control-click or command click on alarge letter at the bottom

to make a selection up it shaped presscontrol or command h twice to hide the selection and the guidelines clicky fx icon and click drop shadow the blend mode ismultiply the opacity is 35 percent distance is 30 pixels and the size is 10 pixels go to drop shadow hold down alt or option and track a copy of the dropshadow of fact to the layer below it

repeat this for the bottom letter next will interweave them let's quicklyreview the layout water in the layers panel the top initial represents your middlename the initial below it is your first nameand the large bottom initial is your last name hoping your penciltool and shoes and medium-sized hit for thisexample argues a forty pixel size make sure theharkness is a hundred percent in this example

at like 2 overlap each ask over the chi so i'll make sure the layer mask a pg isacted remember the selection up the largeinitial of your last name is active but hidden our pressure over anarea of the letter g to hide it i'm actually brushing over its lair maskwhich hides the latter the selection upbeat ass is confining mybrush to the inside at the s shaped if i want to overlap be askover the are i'll make a layer mask the areactive and brush over the are

since i like the are overlapping the s apress control a command see to undo the last steploans using these techniques you can create acustom monogram logo for anyone i'm this is marty from bluelightning td thanks for watching in

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