Usually, text runs in a straight line across the page but there are occasions when you might want a more decorative effect and have your text perhaps in a circle, on a diagonal line or waving its way across the page. Whichever effect you want, the principle is the same so for the purpose of this tutorial I am going to help you produce a nice undulating line of text.

First of all you need to open a new image the size you want your finished text to occupy : this demo will be on a backgound 100 x 400 pixels. Flood-fill this background either with a plain background colour or a background gif - I have used the same backgound as this page. To do this, open your new image with a white backgound for the time being. Then open your chosen backgound gif. Go back to your new image and flood fill it : click on the "pouring paint pot" icon, hit O to open the Tool Options palette, select Fill Style "Pattern," click on the "grid" patterned tab and then from New Pattern Source select the background gif you want before filling the backgound of your image.

Hit L on your keyboard to open a new layer and double-click to rename it "line." Choose the "Draw" icon on the left-hand toolbar (the one that looks like a pencil with a line coming from it) and from the "Tool Options" palette choose Freehand Line / Stroked / width 3 / Create as Vector. Draw a wavy line across the bottom third of your backgound in a colour which shows up (it won't be visible in the final graphic.)

Open another layer and name it "text" and click on the text tool on the left-hand tool bar (a capital A.) Place the cross-hairs of the cursor on the line you drew previously and it will look like diagram 2 :

Diagram 2

Click and the Text Entry box will appear. Type in your text as with ordinary text, but set the Kerning value to 5 (to take into account the curves of the line) and align to the left - my example uses Kristen ITC, colour #C00000, font size 16 and after clicking "OK" I left it highlighted and went to "Image / effects / Inner bevel / presets - metallic" before "OK" then adjusting sideways and right-clicking to fix in place.

Just two more little steps to get rid of the line : look at the Layer Palette. One of the layers is different : it has a "+" sign next to it. Click on the PLUS sign (not the layer name this time) and a hidden layer will appear, called "Freehand." Switch off this layer by clicking on the "spectacles" next to it - the line should now have disappeared. Switch off the layer ABOVE the "Freehand" layer and you should be left with just a line of nice wavy script.

All that remains to be done is save your text. You can add any sort of decoration you like - open new layers so you can slide them around a bit to get the best effect - then click F12, "Save As" and away you go!

If you want to put your text on a diagonal line , circle, ellipse etc., the principle is exactly the same : just remember to create your guide line as a vector graphic on a new layer.

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