Please don’t be confused by the image above. That certainly doesn’t look like a color split, right?!? Not to worry, that is not the kind of gradient I’m going to be using today!

So, last week’s post about “Bi-Color Titles” started to get a bit too long. To avoid yet another long post…I’ve carried the Gradient Method over to this week. And that’s where we are today.

I know, I know. You’re likely still questioning how a gradient will produce the clean line between the colors that you saw in last week’s post. Trust me…it’s a “trick” a lot of people don’t know about!

I hope you remember, last week I mentioned that no matter which color split method you choose, they all require perfect centering.

With that said, this time I will once again say DO NOT attempt this technique on an actual layout. It really is best to start with a separate 12×12 file (or whatever size will adequately accommodate the title). For me 12×12 is my “go to” size as it gives me plenty of room and I can make my title fairly large. I can always re-size things if it’s too large when I move it to my layout.

Gradient Split

I’ve saved the best color split method for last. At least in my opinion this is the best! I’ll let you decide for yourself 😉

Clearly this method is going to be considerably different from the two in last week’s post. But I’ll still use the same “Method Set Up”.

Just a quick reminder before I get started. I use Photoshop Elements (PSE) 2024. If you use a different version, some of my screen shots may not look the same as what you see on your screen.

Based on what I said earlier about working in a separate workspace, I’ve created a new 12×12 file with a white base (Layer 1) and the Guide lines just like last week. I ensure that my Foreground/Background color chips are set to the defaults (press D):

Note: I have my Guide color currently set to a deep aqua color (#1c7676). If you’re following along your Guide color may be different which is fine.

I’m going to be using the same font as last week, Futura Now Headline Extra Bold. I ensure the Color is set to black. I then set the Size to 220, the Leading to Auto, the Tracking to zero and I select Center Text. Then I type the word COLOR in all uppercase and center the word on the document using the Align Center and Align Middle icons in the Move Tool options:

Note: If you’re following along, you can use any similar bold, sans serif font.

Making The Split

The text layer should be the active layer at this point.

Now, I create a new blank layer above my text layer (Layer 2 for me) which is now the active layer. Then in the Draw tool section on the left side of the work area I select the Gradient Tool:

PSE then opens the Gradient tool options:

I click the down arrow next to the box under the word Gradient and PSE opens the Gradient Picker dialog box:

For me, PSE opens the Default Gradient options. I then select the third from the left option in the top row (Black, White). Then I just click again somewhere in the tool options area to get the Gradient Picker to close.

Note: If you’re following along and PSE didn’t open the Default Gradient option, just click the down arrow to the right of whatever gradient name is showing. PSE will open the list of available Gradients and you can then select the Default set.

Then I click the Edit button beneath the box under the word Gradient and PSE opens the Gradient Editor dialog box:

Now the “secret” trick!

You should be able to see the line of color below the window of presets. You should also be able to see that at each end of that strip there are boxes at the top and bottom of the strip I call these “color stops”.

The top box (at either end) allows me to change the Opacity and Location for that color stop. The bottom box allows me to change the Location and Color.

I click on the bottom left color stop and set the Color to a light blue (#88a5c5) and I set the Location to 50%.

Then I click on the bottom right color stop and set the Color to a medium dark brown (#663300) and I set the Location to 50%:

I click OK to confirm. Now I’m back to the Gradient Tool options:

I keep Mode set to Normal, Opacity set to 100%, Reverse unchecked, Transparency and Dither both checked and I select Linear for the direction option (left most box in the set of five).

After ensuring that my blank layer is still active, I position my cursor at the top of the vertical guide in my document. Then holding the Shift key, I click and drag a line straight down:

Then I just clip this “not so gradient” layer to my text:

Now, you may be able to see that the color split is not perfectly aligned with the horizontal guide. Trust me it’s way more noticeable at full-size! I don’t really have a good, clear-cut explanation for why this happens. But here’s what I know…

Science

The first time I tried this method I checked and re-checked what seemed like a thousand times to be sure I had centered my word properly on the document and my color stops were set correctly. Then I triple checked the placement of my guides. Everything seemed to check out perfectly!

You can probably just picture me sitting at my desk with my head in my hands. I eventually just stopped fussing with it (really tough for me because logically it made no sense). Ultimately, the thing that mattered was that the color was split. And without the horizontal guide line visible on the document I wouldn’t have known the difference. Shhhh…don’t tell anyone. It still bugged me!

Thanks to AI I recently stumbled across a pseudo-acceptable explanation; Visual vs. Mathematical Center. Right?!? Who knew?

The mathematical center is the exact geometric center of an object or area (the white layer). The visual center, also known as optical center, is the point where the human eye naturally perceives the center to be. This is often slightly above and to the right of the mathematical center.

A gradient set to split colors at 50% is based on the mathematical center. However, the gradient might appear shifted due to how visual weight and balance are perceived. Gotta admit I sort of said “Yeah, whatever!”

I guess I feel better 😉 But, when I use this method, I don’t use the horizontal guide anymore, only the vertical one. That one can still be helpful in ensuring a straight (vertically) gradient! But definitely not required!

I suppose I could have just shown you how to create the gradient the way I now know (minus the horizontal guide). Don’t get me wrong. It’s still necessary to perfectly center the word on the document. But you really don’t need the guides to do that.

The only reason I went into this somewhat painful exercise with you is so you would be aware of how “science” works when creating a centered gradient. Afterall, knowledge is power…even when being creative 😊

But I digressed…there are three other things I want to show you.

Alternate Split

For a fun twist I can do a gradual transition of color for my split. I’m going to rename the first gradient layer I created to Gradient 1 and hide that layer.

Then I create a new blank layer directly above my text (once again – Layer 2 for me). Then I open the Gradient tool and select the same gradient I just created. I click the Edit button to edit the settings.

When PSE opens the Gradient Editor, it looks like there’s only one color stop right in the middle like this:

Don’t panic. All I have to do is click on the brown (for me) color stop and this time set the Location to 52%. As soon as I do that the (blue) color stop appears and I set the Location for that color stop to 48%:

I click OK to confirm. Once again after ensuring that my blank layer is still active, I position my cursor at the top of the vertical guide in my document. Then holding the Shift key, I click and drag a line straight down:

This is a nice option if you don’t want such a “hardline” split in the colors.

Note: Whether you use the Vertical Guide line is totally up to you. As long as you hold the Shift key when dragging the line while creating the gradient, you will be fine. But please know that it is imperative that you create a straight-line gradient. If you don’t, you’ll end up with something that looks like this:

That’s not going to make a very pretty split on the word 😉

Saving The Gradient

This is totally optional but if you even remotely think you might use this color split method more than once, it’s worth it. If you don’t want to save it, that’s fine. You can skip this section and see the last fun option about adding a split outline to the word! And it will work regardless of which method you used to create your color split!

Open the Gradient Editor dialog box again:

See the box labeled Name? Right now, it says Custom. I’m going to change that to Color Split. Then I click the Add To Preset button.

Note: Depending on the version of PSE you’re using, this button may say New.

PSE then adds my Color Split gradient to the Default Preset:

I click OK to exit the editor.

Now, if you read my post about “Modern Gesso”, you already know how to save a custom brush and keep it safe in the event you have to re-install or upgrade your software. I can do the same with this gradient.

I go to the top tool bar and select Edit->Preset Manager. PSE opens the Preset Manger:

I select Gradients and PSE opens the Default Gradients and I select my Color Split gradient:

With only my gradient selected, I simply click the Save Set button. PSE opens a Save As Dialog box:

For me this dialog box is pointing to the “system” repository for gradients. Depending on your system, the “path” shown at the very top may look different than what you see on mine.

That location is fine for now but I will copy that gradient to a separate location on my hard drive that will keep it safe in the event of a system reinstall! If you want to read more details about saving presets, please refer back to my post about “Modern Gesso”. Even though that post was about saving brushes, the basic process is still the same.

Unless I change the Gradient “category” at this point, the one I just saved will still be in the Default category. If I change categories without appending that new gradient…I can just reload it again later!

Adding An Outline

Since my last Color Split example was created using the Gradient Method, I’m going to do that outline first.

Gradient Stroke

With my Foreground/Background color chips set to the defaults (press D) I create a new blank layer above my gradient layer. This new layer is Layer 3 for me and should now be the active layer. I then Ctrl-Click on the text layer to make a selection:

Ensuring that Layer 3 is still active, I go to the top tool bar and select Edit->Stroke-(Outline) Selection. PSE opens the Stroke settings dialog box:

I set the Width to 18px and the Location to Outside. I click OK to confirm and cancel the selection (Ctrl+D or Esc):

Now, with that stroke layer (Layer 3) active I create a new blank layer above that (Layer 4 for me) and it becomes the active layer. I then click on the Gradient tool again and I select my saved gradient:

Then just as with the gradient word, I ensure that the new blank layer is still active. But this time I position my cursor at the bottom of my document. Then holding the Shift key, I click and drag a line straight up. PSE creates a gradient layer (Layer 4 for me) that is the reverse of the first one. Then I clip that gradient layer to my stroke layer (Layer 3):

Now, you’re probably wondering why I just didn’t use the Reverse option in the Gradient tool. Trust me, I tried that and had the same head scratching, non-centered incident as I discussed earlier. It still comes down to the Visual vs. Mathematical Center.

For whatever reason, by “manually” reversing the direction of the gradient vs. using the Reverse option, the split centers the way it should. Makes perfect sense…Right?!?! Yeah…not so much! But at least I know how it all works now.

Note: You can use the “gradual” gradient on the stroke layer as well.

For either the Clipping or Layer Mask Method the process is different and easier!

Clipping Or Layer Mask Stroke

While the steps for these two methods are different from above, they are very similar to each other.

I’ll go back to the color split word for the Clipping Method and create my stroke the exact same way I did for the Gradient Method:

All I need to do is duplicate the pink rectangle, move the duplicate in the Layers Panel so that it is directly above the stroke layer and nudge the rectangle down until it covers the bottom half of the word and clip it to the stroke layer:

Then I can go back to the color split word for the Layer Mask Method and create my stroke the exact same way I did above:

When creating the stroke for this method I used the same royal blue that was used for the word itself (#1400ad).

Then I duplicate the solid fill layer, move the duplicate in the Layers Panel so that it is directly above the stroke layer, clip it to the stroke layer and nudge it downward so that the top of the masked area is perfectly aligned with the horizontal guide:

Final Task

Now, you have the same options for “cutting” clipped layers, saving the word as a PNG or moving the layers to a layout as I discussed last week. And again, be sure to link the gradient layers with the text and stroke layers. Remember, this is particularly important because of the color split.

More Tips

As with last week’s methods, this works best with heavier (wider) serif or sans serif fonts. Fonts that may fall into the “block type” category. And not very well with script fonts.

With the Clipping and Layer Mask Methods perfect centering is more critical than with the Gradient Method.

When using the Gradient Method, you do have the option to do a gradual transition of color by changing the color stop Locations I’d encourage you to experiment with different “splits” from the 48/52 I used. It’s fun to see varying gradations in the colors.

Remember to link the gradient layers to text and stroke layers!

Regardless of which color split method you use, the split outline is a fun option. It adds just one more level of interest to a title!

Clearly the methods from last week are quicker. But I truly hope you’ll at least try the Gradient Method.

Thanks for reading this week’s Tuesday Tip. Remember, if you have any suggestions or questions please don’t hesitate to “Message Me“. Check back next week for a different way to split your title. Click “Follow Me” to stay in touch. I hope you have a wonderful week!