Practical Task: Neon Sign Typography

Using my research from my film noir typography deconstruction, I decided to make a neon sign style title. I am using the text "Rouge Films" as a placeholder to test these effects. I am using Paint.NET, a free image editor that I am familiar with through years of experience. I started by finding a striped font that resembled the tubes of a neon sign, and was free to use. I ended up using Mexcellent, a font I found on 1001fonts.com.

I used a dark background, so I could better see any glow effects I might apply to imitate a neon sign. Common colours for neon lights are red, yellow, orange, white and blue. I decided red would be most appropriate as it is a key colour in film noir movies that are not in monochrome.

I also changed the background to a brick texture, then reduced the saturation to near zero for the monochrome effect. Before I began adding various glow effects, I wanted to create the frame that the neon sign would be mounted on, which I did using the line tool on a high thickness.

 I then added a red-grey gradient to imitate how the frame would look when lit by the sign.

I also added a shadow to make it appear more realistically mounted on the wall. This was done by copying the layer, reducing brightness until it was black, blurring it, then shifting it downwards slightly.

I copied the text layer, blurred it, and then changed the layer mode to "glow". This created the glowing neon effect I wanted. I did the same thing to the frame to make it match the sign more, but it made it difficult to read, so reduced its saturation. Finally, I added a radial gradient, which I stretched to better suit the sign, to be the general light produced by the sign and its effect on the wall.

I added a light coloured stripe down each letter to resemble the tubing in the signs, and added some more glow to the frame. This is the end result.

Overall I am very happy with how it turned out, but the frame doesn't look very realistic, so I should probably try and find a photo to use for it next time. I could have also added the wires that connect to the sign. I think the glow on the sign looks very effective.