How do I make natural looking text?

[Christina Brown]

Hey guys! Just wondering if any of you might know how to apply text in photoshop that looks more hand-drawn? I know how to put basic text, but I don't like the "cut and paste" look of it. Would any of you know how to make text that looks more natural, or hand-made? I don't have a cintiq, so all of my digital work is from a tablet. I also work traditionally and do my edits in PS.

These are the two that I have to apply text to.
Any tips would be helpful! Thanks!

[Christina Brown]

And what I mean my text, is that I need to add words onto all the labels. Sorry, should have specified that!

[Dan Tavis]

I don't know the answer because I am a Photoshop noob but I just wanted to say these are two beautiful pieces! Really well done Christina!

[Samalah]

Hi Christina,

I'm not 100% sure what you meant by words on the labels, but whether it's part of the illustration, or words that form part of the story, I reckon that a "handmade" type of font would probably help.

If you really needed the font to blend in with the illustration better, I would then consider giving the text layer a different blending mode. Another trick would be to not use 100% black as the colour, but try something maybe dark grey, dark brown?

Here's a little illustration of mine, which uses a handwriting style of font - is this the type of thing you mean?

[Lydia M]

You want to put words onto the ingredient labels? I wanted hand-painted looking text on something so I found a font I liked and lowered the opacity and then painted over it with a textured brush. I don't have a cintiq either. It's an old Wacom tablet. I hope that helped...?

[Christina Brown]

@Dan-Tavis Thanks so much! They're to accompany an online article about creating your own "cloud" storage. I hope I got the idea across!

[Christina Brown]

@Samalah @gimmehummus Yes! I would like something more handwriting -like. Thanks for the tips!
And yes, I need to add words to the ingredient labels. Where did you both find your text? Do you have a good download site?

[Samalah]

Hope you don't mind - I just had a very quick play around in Photoshop, and found that you can get some sort of realistic integration by choosing a painty style font, applying an oil paint filter to the text layer (or one of the other filters, if your version of PS doesn't have oil paint) and then applying a mask and maybe roughening up some of the sharper edges with a textured brush to make it look as if it's part of the original artwork. Not perfect, but a step in the right direction...

As to where I get my fonts, alas I am a font geek and have been collecting / purchasing them for a very long time! If you are willing to spend a little money, then you can definitely get a higher grade of font with more alternative characters and variability. I would have a look at Creative Market https://creativemarket.com/fonts/display

Some fonts like Veneer already have a wear / stamped sort of pattern built in, with lots of versions for each letter: https://creativemarket.com/YellowDesignStudio/8013-Veneer-Font-Family

Hope that helps!

[CatDePillar]

Hey there! Just to add my two cents to the "where do I get different looking fonts from" question.
I use dafont.com and it works beautifully with photoshop. Just download the fonts (for FREE, donation optional) and instal them to instantly have access to them in photoshop.

I hope this helps! Cat x

[carlossketches]

@gimmehummus great technique!! I'll use this in the future