How to Make a Shadow Overlapping Text Effect in Photoshop

Photoshop Text Effects

There are many different effects that you can use on your titles to bring user's attention, but one that is being very popular at the moment is an overlapping shadow effect, where each letter casts a shadow on the next one. Unfortunately there is no automatic or easy way to make it (yet) in Photoshop without having to write each letter on its own layer (if we later want to change the text), but we can save some time with the shadow effect by using layer styles and having a proper shadow effect with the same letter shape instead of using complicated layer masks with individual letter shapes.

Today, I will show you an alternative way to make this effect while keeping your text fully editable and without using complicated layer masks to get a very nice effect.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and make a new file at any size you want. In this case, I will setup mine at 1800 x 1200 px with a black background.

Step 2

Select the Type Tool (T) and write the first letter of your word in a new layer. In this case i will only write the "S" for the "shadow" text with the color set to #bfc6cd.

Step 3

Now, write the second letter (in this case "H") also on his own layer and be sure to overlap it a bit over the first letter.

Step 4

Press Ctrl+J on your keyboard to duplicate the second letter layer.

Step 5

Write the third letter of your text (in this case "A") on a new layer and duplicate it (remember to overlap it a bit over the previous letter).

Step 6

Keep adding letters until your choosen word is written following the Steps 3 and 4 of this tutorial (Write a letter on a new layer > Duplicate it).

Step 7

Select the bottom layer of the second letter and go to Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow. Apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 8

With the layer still selected, go to Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer Style.

Step 9

Now, while holding the Ctrl key on your keyboard, select each of the remaining bottom layers of each letter.

Step 10

With the layers selected, go to Layer > Layer Style > Paste Layer Style.

Step 11

Now, select the first layer that we applied the Drop Shadow effect and go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask.

Step 12

Lastly, repeat the step 11 for each of the layers that have the layer style applied.

Some Final Tips

To change the text color, font or size, simply select all text layers and make any changes you wish as you normally do in Photoshop and the effect will remain intact. If you want to change the shadow intensity, simply select all the layers that have the layer style applied and reduce the layer opacity.