Written by Steve Patterson. In this Photoshop text effects tutorial, we're going to learn how to use Layer Styles to easily create a gel text effect. The great thing is that you can have lots of fun playing around with the Layer Style settings to create your own custom gel text effect, or if you prefer, you can use the settings I'm using in the tutorial. When we're done creating the effect, we're going to save it as a preset style which we can then apply to other text instantly, and at the end, we'll see how to change the color of the effect, which may not be quite as straightforward as you think.

Here's the gel text effect we're going for:

Let's get started!

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Step 1: Open A New Photoshop Document

Go up to the File menu at the top of the screen and choose New... to bring up Photoshop's New Document dialog box and enter a width and height for your document. I'm going to use a preset size of 640x480 pixels. Click OK to create your new document:

Step 2: Choose A Color For Your Text

Select the Type tool from the Tools palette:

You can also press T on your keyboard to quickly select it. Then, with the Type tool selected, go up to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and click on the text color swatch:

This will bring up Photoshop's Color Picker. Choose a color for the text. I'm going to choose a light blue for mine:

Click OK once you've chosen a color to exit out of the Color Picker.

Step 3: Enter Your Text

Choose a font from the Options Bar. I'm using "Bauhaus 93". Then click inside your Document Window and enter your text. I'm going to type the word "photo":

Step 4: Use "Free Transform" To Resize The Text If Needed

I'm going to enlarge my text a little using Photoshop's Free Transform command. With my text layer selected in the Layers palette, I'm going to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform box and handles around my text. Then I'm going to hold down Shift+Alt (Win) / Shift+Option (Mac) and drag out one of the corner handles to enlarge my text. Holding Shift constrains the text proportions, and holding Alt/Option forces the text to resize from the center:

Step 5: Select The "Drop Shadow" Layer Style

We're going to head into the wacky world of Layer Styles at this point, and the first Layer Style we're going to add to the text is a drop shadow.

Before we continue, I just want to say again that you should feel free to experiment with the different settings we're using for this effect. You don't have to use the specific settings I'll be using. There's lots of wiggle room to play around with in creating this gel text effect.

Now let's add our drop shadow. Click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Select Drop Shadow from the list:

This brings up Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Drop Shadow options in the middle column:

Step 6: Choose A Color For The Drop Shadow And Apply It

Click on the Drop Shadow color swatch:

This will bring up the Color Picker. Rather than choosing a color in the Color Picker, hover your mouse over the text, which will turn your mouse cursor into the Eyedropper, and click on the text to sample its color:

Then go to the Color Picker and select a darker shade of that color to use for the drop shadow:

Click OK to exit out of the Color Picker, and your drop shadow will appear in the color you selected:

Don't click OK in the Layer Style dialog box yet. We've only just begun.

Step 7: Apply An "Inner Shadow" Layer Style

Click directly on the words Inner Shadow in the Layer Style menu on the left of the Layer Style dialog box, directly below "Drop Shadow":

The first thing we're going to do here is select a color to use for the Inner Shadow, just as we did for the Drop Shadow. Click on the Inner Shadow color swatch:

This will bring up Photoshop's Color Picker. Just as we did with the Drop Shadow, rather than selecting a color directly in the Color Picker, move your mouse over the text and click on it to sample the text color:

Then select a darker shade of the color in the Color Picker to use for the Inner Shadow:

Click OK to exit out of the Color Picker once again. The inner shadow will appear in the color you selected:

I'm going to increase the size of my Inner Shadow effect by clicking on the Size slider and dragging it to the right. I'll increase mine to about 16 pixels:

Here's the result after increasing the Inner Shadow size: