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Participant
September 20, 2026
Question

How to get text over face effect

How to get this "$220B" on a characters face and as realistic as this. Getting big, small, curvy

 

    4 replies

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 23, 2026

    And please use Smart Objects/Smart Filters – that enables editing the contents and/or the effect later on without degrading the quality. 

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    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 22, 2026

    With a »big« surface like the forehead Warp might also be an option. 

    The Blend Mode Multiply and a Blend if-setting might also help incorporate the element better. 

     

     

     

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    CORCTON34033231
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 22, 2026

    Use the Displace filter — that's the standard way to wrap text realistically onto a face so it follows the big, small and curvy contours:

     

    1. Place your text layer over the face and roughly position/scale it.

    2. Create a displacement map: copy the face area into a new document, desaturate it (grayscale works best), and save it as a PSD.

    3. Select the text layer, go to Filter > Distort > Displace, choose your saved map, and enter moderate Horizontal/Vertical Scale values — the text will conform to the face's contours.

    4. Finish by setting a suitable blend mode and masking the text to the face area.

     

    The Displace filter is documented in the official Filter effects reference: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/filter-effects-reference.html

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    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 23, 2026

    2. Create a displacement map: copy the face area into a new document, desaturate it (grayscale works best), and save it as a PSD.

    I would like to voice a slight disagreement. 

    RGB images as Displacement Maps provide advantages compared to grayscale images (even though only the R and G channels are utilised). 

    That way one can handle the horizontal and vertical displacement separately – of course this is not always necessary. 

     

     

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