Creating Neon Sign Lettering in Photoshop: Movie Poster Look

By Gabor Richter Last updated on November 15, 2026 Shown in: Adobe Photoshop CC 2018

A good photo quickly looks like a still from a series as soon as the right typeface is added. This is exactly where Gabor starts in this tutorial. You will learn how to turn a portrait into a motif in the style of a series or movie poster using an eye-catching typeface, layer styles, and a few settings. The effect you create resembles a neon sign, and you don't need complicated masks or brushes for it, just the text tools and the layer style options.

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Key Takeaways

• A typeface must fit the theme and the mood of the image. For a high school series, a sporty, angular typeface like Allstar feels much more fitting than a standard typeface.
• With decorative typefaces, tracking and font size help more than simply enlarging the text. If you increase the tracking, the text stays legible even if it is heavily stylized.
• The glow effect is created via the layer style. A white interior and a colored outer glow are the most important building blocks.
• You should take the colors from the motif. With the eyedropper in the color picker, you can find tones that already appear in the image, and the typeface looks more harmonious as a result.
• It is worth taking a look at the placement. The typeface should not overlap the rest of the image and should complement the composition.

Step 1: Create a group for the text

Before you even enter any text, create a new group and give it a meaningful name, for example "Font". That sounds like a small thing, but later, with several text layers, you will have a clear overview. Then select the text tool and drag a text frame in the image that is generous enough for your lettering. Gabor deliberately drags a large selection here because the size can be adjusted later anyway.

Step 2: Enter the lettering and adjust the size

Next, you type in the text. Gabor chooses the name "Laketown" instead of "Riverdale" because he came across cool town names in America on Google Maps and the name sounds good. To begin with, choose a normal typeface and the color white so that you can first place the text cleanly. The font size is initially still too large and has to be reduced until the lettering looks proportional to the motif. A look at the overall impression quickly shows you whether it fits.

Step 3: Choose a suitable typeface

The series Riverdale uses its own typeface, which shapes the style of the series. Gabor therefore looks specifically for an alternative that fits the theme of high school and sports. On dafont.com he finds the typeface Allstar, which looks sporty and angular. You should proceed in the same way when searching: think about what mood your series should convey, and then search specifically for typefaces that support that mood. Once you have installed the typeface, you select it in the Character panel.

Step 4: Improve legibility with tracking and position

With the new typeface, the lettering looks interesting, but a legibility problem quickly arises on the image. For this, Gabor opens the character options and increases the tracking, that is, the spacing between the individual letters. In addition, he reduces the font size slightly. This makes the typeface look airier and cleaner. Make sure that the distance to the edge of the image is similar everywhere. In the video, Gabor moves the text into the lower area of the image until the distances to the bottom and to the side are roughly equal.

Step 5: Open the layer style

The actual glow effect is created in the layer style. You get there by double-clicking the text layer in the Layers panel. A comprehensive dialog window opens with many options for formatting text. To begin with, you only need to concentrate on two areas: the color overlay and the outer glow. With these two tools, you create the foundation for the neon sign look.

Step 6: Color the interior white

For the inner area of the lettering, you use the color white in the color overlay. Gabor expressly recommends not using black, red, or blue here, because otherwise the effect doesn't look like a light. Real neon signs have a white core surrounded by colored light. You adopt exactly this principle here. The inner area thus stays bright and luminous, while the outer glow provides the color later.

Step 7: Add the outer glow

In the next step, you activate the "Outer Glow" option. The lettering immediately looks more luminous, and you notice that the effect already works well. However, a new problem arises: white on white is hard to read in the image. It therefore makes sense to subsequently choose a color for the glow that sets the lettering apart from the background. You can adjust the brightness and size of the glow at any time until you are happy with the effect.

Step 8: Take the color from the image

Gabor first tests red, which makes the lettering much more legible. He then chooses a color that already appears in the image, namely a magenta from the background. To do this, click on the color swatch, and you get an eyedropper with which you can pick colors directly from the image. Gabor finally takes the tone from the model's jacket. This way the lettering doesn't look like a foreign element, but like a part of the image. Confirm your selection with OK.

Step 9: Adjust size and fill

Now you enlarge the lettering until it strongly shapes the image. Gabor deliberately fills the area more and thereby achieves a dense, bold effect that is typical of movie posters. It is important that you keep an eye on the preview in the dialog window, because it shows you in real time what the glow effect looks like. As soon as the effect is right, you confirm with OK and look at the overall image from a bit of a distance.

Step 10: Add the model's name

A movie poster often carries several text elements. Gabor therefore adds the name of his model, Kitty. To do this, he duplicates the existing text layer and moves the new layer up so that it is recognizable as a separate element. He then renames the layer so that you don't lose track later. The name will be styled in the next step.

Step 11: Choose a more playful font for the name

The copy initially has the same font and therefore quickly looks too bulky and boring. Gabor therefore looks for a curved, handwritten font that is reminiscent of advertising signs. He also finds this one on dafont.com. This font suits the character of the name well, but still needs to be adjusted. First set the tracking to zero, because otherwise the font looks too spread out. Then you enlarge it significantly and move it up a little so that it doesn't overlap with the title.

Step 12: Design the glow for the name in blue

The layer style was copied along when duplicating, which is why the color overlay can be kept. The inner area should stay white, only the outer glow is changed. So open the "Outer Glow" option and choose a cyan tone. Gabor notes that you can adjust the intensity with the slider and can also pick a suitable blue tone several times with the eyedropper in the image. The blue tone works very well in this combination and sets the name apart from the rest of the lettering.

Step 13: Why the white core is crucial

At this point, Gabor compares different variants to show why the white core is so important. With a red inner area, the effect looks dirty, and even a slight blue tint takes the power away from the light. Black can also be used, but white makes the lettering glow most intensely. With the glow around it, the impression arises that the text is truly lit from within. Feel free to try this comparison yourself, because it sharpens your sense of light and contrast.

Step 14: Fine-Tuning, Image Crop, and Scaling

Finally, you check the overall image. Gabor suggests changing the image crop once more and testing whether the composition works better. To do this, briefly hide the text, then merge the layers and scale the image. You might scale incorrectly in the process. Then you will see, for example, that the upper part of the text gets cut off. Correct this with Undo before you continue. The image can also be rotated, but then you should rotate the text along with it so that both elements fit together.

Step 15: Finding the Right Position on the Poster

Gabor tests different positions. Placing it higher up would make it harder to read, and the upper area is already filled with text anyway. The lower area of the image, on the other hand, feels calmer and is therefore well suited for the lettering. You should take this insight with you: The text doesn't have to go everywhere, but rather where it complements the subject and guides the eye in a meaningful way.

Summary ??? Creating Neon Sign Lettering in Photoshop: Movie Poster Look

With a suitable font, a white inner area, and a colored glow via the layer style, you can quickly create a neon sign effect in Photoshop. Pay attention to legibility through tracking and size, pick up colors from the image, and try out different positions. With these steps, you transform a simple portrait into a poster design that looks like a series or movie.

Trainer About Gabor Richter Gabor Richter is an image retoucher and digital artist. He specializes in digital image editing for agencies and photographers in the fields of people, fashion, weddings and advertising. All courses by Gabor Richter →