Angled Text Tutorial

Hi. It's Tiff here, and I have a fun text tutorial for you. This is a technique that I do every once in a while when I want something special with my text. It is really easy! I will be working in Photoshop CS4.

In a nut shell here are the steps, so you can get a feel for what is coming:

1. Create a shape (technically called a Path, I believe) with the Pen Tool.
2. Rotate it so that the desired edge of the angled text is horizontal.
3. Fill in your text (just typing a few characters is enough, and you can edit it later).
4. Rotate it back.

I am starting with a template from Recyclables 46. I chose this template because it has some angled paper pieces, and I want my text to line up against them. The template has a stamp, and I have squished that up a little so that it doesn't overlap my text, which I will place toward the bottom right corner area. Here is the starting template:

I am going to use my Pen Tool to roughly sketch out the irregular text box:

Next, I will use the Direct Selection Tool to clean that shape up a little.

I click on each anchor point and drag it a little bit so that the lines are just how I want them. I also deleted an extra anchor point that I didn't need in the lower left corner of the shape. Here is the cleaned up shape:

If I switched over the the Type Tool now, and tried to add text inside the shape, it would fill in horizontal, starting at the highest point. I need to rotate the shape first. To do that I use the Path Selection Tool:

When the Path Selection Tool is selected, I click on one edge of the shape to activate it. Then I go up to the Menu bar and select Edit -> Free Transform Path (or Ctrl-T).

Then I can grab a corner and rotate the shape. I used the template's photo box as a visual reference guide to get the edge that was along the green paper to be as exactly horizontal as I could. Now before you finish that, note the angle that you rotated, because later you want to undo that. Mine was 34.9 degrees.

Now the shape is ready for the text. Switch to your Horizontal Type Tool:

Move your cursor to the inside of the shape. The Type Tool should change slightly so that instead of a square box, it has a circle. That means when you click, it will fill text inside the shape, horizontally along the new top. Here is mine:

Now you just have to un-rotate the text box. If you look in your Layers palette, you will see your text box there. Just transform it like any shape by switching to the Move Tool and grabbing a corner and rotating. If you noted the angle from before, you can type that number in with a negative sign to perfectly un-rotate the shape.

There you have a custom shaped text box, with text at an angle. If the two rotations caused your text box to be translated to the side, you can just reposition it with the Move Tool.

Here are some pages I've used this technique:

Recyclables 40 by Scrapping with Liz; Cardstock Essentials 3 by Karla Dudley; Summer's End Titles by Just Jaimee
One for the Album by One Little Bird; Sprinkles 26 by Valorie Wibbens; Straight Line stitches by Anna Aspnes

Triangle Inspired Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Duly Noted Vol. 2 by Allison Pennington; Today by
Valorie Wibbens; A Wonderful Day by Sahlin Studio; Reflecting by Laurie Ann

And here is a really old one. It might have been the first time I used a custom angled text box.

Fun with Chevron Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Composition and Innovative by One Little Bird
Epic by One Little Bird, Paislee Press and Biographiti; Trademark by One Little Bird and Lauren Reid

Have fun angling your text!