Click Here to Watch the "Layer Styles" Video Tutorial

Click the link above to watch a quick 4-minute long video on how to manipulate and use layer styles.

It's important that you watch this video because the steps in it apply to using the 2 layer style files below, PLUS the bonus styles at the bottom of this page.

DOWNLOAD THE BONUS STYLES BELOW:

Right click on each link and choose "SAVE TARGET AS" to save them to your "My Website" folder.

Download: 3macstyles.psd

Download: dashstyles.psd

 Step One: Discover What Layer Styles Can Do

One of the easiest ways to enhance your graphic header is through the use of LAYER STYLES, which are pre-set "effects" you can easily apply through the ARTWORK palette.

Step 1.1: To locate the ARTWORK palette just go to the MENU bar at the top of the window, click the WINDOW menu, then click on ARTWORK and EFFECTS from the drop down list:

Step 1.2: The ARTWORK and EFFECTS palette will open on the right side of the program and you'll see this:

Step 1.3: What you want to do is to go to this section, marked in red:

When you click that, it brings up the options for adding styles to your image and the section you'll be most interested in is the one marked "SHOW ALL", as you see below:

Step 1.4: When you have all the styles showing you need to scroll through them until you find one you want to apply.

Now what you do next depends on what type of style you're interested in applying.

Let's say that you've got 4 layers in your image.

  • Text Layer (This is the type I added to my image)
  • Custom Shape (This is a shape I drew on the image)
  • Regular Layer (Added my background color to this layer)
  • Background (Default white background that's locked)

What you need to do is decide which layer you want to apply the style to, then try a few and see which effect looks the best.

I've put together an example image below that is made up of the same 4 layers mentioned above and in this example, we will apply the LAYER STYLE to two of the items.

This example image was made using a custom shape and a TEXT LAYER with a LAYER STYLE added to them. To learn more about adding text to your images, see the Add Text icon here.

The shape and text have 2 different LAYER STYLES added to them, but since the styles are from the same "set", they really compliment each other.

Here's a close up that shows the details of the LAYER STYLE and other EFFECTS added to the image.

As you can see, the styles were added to two of the layers, so what I'll do now is show you how to add that to your image.

First we'll go through adding the style to the TEXT layer. Again, see the Add Text icon for more info on adding text to your image.

(We also used the WARP TEXT tool, but that's not relevant to this section and we'll cover that in the TEXT section.)

 Step Two: Add a Style To Your Text Layer

Step 2.1:

Once you've created your image and added some text, go to the LAYER PALETTE and make sure your TYPE layer is selected:

Step 2.2:

Open the ARTWORK palette just go to the MENU bar at the top of the window, then click on ARTWORK and EFFECTS from the drop down list then make sure it's set to SHOW ALL styles:

 Bonus "Point 'n Click" Layer Styles

Here are the point 'n click layer styles that you receive as a bonus.

The video you watched at the beginning of this section explains exactly how to use the styles. So if you skipped the video just scroll back up to watch it.

10 Layer Styles for White Backgrounds

RIGHT CLICK HERE TO SAVE THE WHITE BACKGROUND STYLES
AND CHOOSE "SAVE TARGET AS" TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE

Save the .psd file to your "My Web Site" folder and then open the .psd file in Adobe Elements by choosing "FILE> OPEN" and select the .psd file you want to use.

10 Layer Styles for Black Backgrounds

RIGHT CLICK HERE TO SAVE THE WHITE BACKGROUND STYLES
AND CHOOSE "SAVE TARGET AS" TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE

Save the .psd file to your "My Web Site" folder and then open the .psd file in Adobe Elements by choosing "FILE> OPEN" and select the .psd file you want to use.

Layer Style Tips

ITEM #1 - Not all styles can be added to a text layer

Not all styles can be applied to the TEXT LAYER without the program asking you if you want to SIMPLIFY the text.

SIMPLIFYING the text means that no matter what, you will NOT be able to edit the text after you're done applying the style. It basically flattens the text into a NON editable layer.

ITEM #2 -  UNDO THE STYLE BEFORE TRYING ANOTHER

When you add a style to the text and find that you don't like it, the next logical step is to click another style, but what happens if you do is the program will apply THAT style overtop the EXISTING ONE.

What you need to do BEFORE you can add another style to the image is to REMOVE the first style you tried out.

To remove/undo the style, you can do any of the following:

Option A: Go to the MENU BAR and choose EDIT > UNDO STYLE.

You need to do this after EVERY style you add!

Option B: Go to the MENU BAR and under WINDOW choose UNDO HISTORY and keep that palette open. When you need to UNDO a style, click the layer that's 2nd from the bottom, like this:

No matter what "action" you've done (typed, added a layer, added a gradient, or whatever you can do IN Elements), going to the UNDO HISTORY PALETTE can get you back to where you want to go, up to 20 steps backwards.

Option c:

This is the real time saver....

To UNDO the action you just took, hold down the CONTROL KEY (CTRL) on your keyboard and hit the letter Z. (CTRL + Z = UNDO LAST STEP!)

ITEM #3: watch your styles!

When you apply a layer style, then apply another, Elements will "stack" them up on top of the other.

This makes for a rather horrible look, so always UNDO the last style before trying another.

There are some exceptions of course. You can add an outer glow and then add a drop shadow, then add an inner glow. That looks fine. It's the "full blown" styles that I'm referring to that you don't want to start applying over top each other.