Make a Liquid Chrome Text Billboard

Open Lopsy and create a 1500 × 500 document. Double-click Layer 1 in the Layers panel and rename it Night Sky.

Pick the Gradient tool and click Advanced…. In the Gradient Editor, click the bar to add stops, then set these colors from left to right:

1. #07061A at 0%
2. #2C2170 at 55%
3. #7A5CF0 at about 64%, the hot horizon
4. #1C1552 at 67%, where the floor starts
5. #04030C at 100%

Click Done. Hold Cmd and drag from the top edge of the canvas straight down to the bottom edge. Holding the key snaps the angle to vertical.

Click the top ruler above x = 80 and x = 1440 to drop two vertical guides, one for each margin. Click the left ruler at y = 60 and y = 330 for two horizontal guides. The 330 guide is the horizon, where the headline will stand.

Click Add Layer and name it Xenon Streaks. Pick the Brush and set Size 5, Hardness 90 and Opacity 100. Set the foreground to #EAF6FF.

To draw a straight streak, click its start point, then Shift-click its end point:

• (360, 150) to (1500, 150)
• (0, 300) to (1120, 300)
• (0, 250) to (640, 250)

Change the foreground to #9B5CFF, set Size to 6, and draw one violet streak from (860, 95) to (1500, 95).

Choose Filter → Motion Blur… and set Angle 0 and Distance 60, then click Apply. The ends taper off like passing headlights.

Open the layer's effects (the sparkle button on the Xenon Streaks row). Set Blend to Screen and turn on Outer Glow with color #3AA6FF, Size 18, Spread 0 and Opacity 90.

Pick the Text tool. Choose the Rubik Mono One font, set Size to 195 and the color to white. Click near the top left, type XENON, and click the check mark to commit.

Click the Xenon Streaks row before you set up the second line. If a text layer is active when you change the size, Lopsy restyles that layer. Set Size to 155, click an empty spot on the right, type DRIFT and commit.

Open the Text panel and set Letter spacing to 40.5. DRIFT now matches XENON's width, about 803 px. Switch to the Move tool, drag DRIFT under XENON, and use the arrow keys to line them up. Both left edges go on the x = 80 guide, XENON's letter tops at y = 70, and DRIFT's baseline on the 330 horizon guide.

Select the XENON layer and click Rasterize Layer in the Layers footer. Pick the Magic Wand, untick Contiguous, set Tolerance to 200, and click any letter. All five letters are selected, anti-aliased edges included.

With the Gradient tool, open Advanced… and build a classic chrome ramp:

1. #FFFFFF at 0%
2. #CFE8FF at 28%
3. #6A86C8 at 52%
4. #15183A at 55%, the dark horizon line
5. #2B2458 at 63%
6. #F3EAFF at 84%
7. #A898E0 at 100%

Hold Cmd and drag from the top of XENON (y = 70) to its baseline (y = 210). Repeat for DRIFT: rasterize it, Magic Wand one letter, and drag from y = 222 to y = 330, so it gets its own sweep. Press Cmd+D when you're done.

Select the DRIFT layer and choose Layer → Merge Down, then rename the result Chrome. Open Filter → Liquify…, keep Push Forward, and set Brush Size 30 and Pressure 100%.

Start about 30 px below a stem and drag straight up into the letter. Do this under each stem of DRIFT (x ≈ 112, 292, 470, 628 and 842), in three passes that each start a little lower. Then use a 20 px brush to add a few shorter drips. If the preview dents the letter instead of stretching it, drag the other way. Click Apply.

With the Move tool active, click Duplicate Layer. The copy is offset 10 px, so select it and press ← and ↑ ten times each to put it back. Rename the copy Chrome Face and the original Extrude.

Select Extrude and nudge it 6 px right and 6 px down. In its effects, turn on these three:

• Color Overlay #1A2380
• Stroke: Width 3, outside, color #8FE3FF
• Outer Glow #3A8BFF: Size 40, Spread 10, Opacity 75

Select Chrome Face. Turn on Inner Glow with color #FFFFFF, Size 5 and Opacity 70 for a bright rim. Then choose Filter → Chromatic Aberration… with Amount 2 and Direction 0, which splits the edges like a real lens.

With Chrome Face still selected and the Move tool active, duplicate it again. Nudge the copy back 10 px up and left, and rename it Chrome Face. Rename the original underneath Reflection and turn off its Inner Glow.

On Reflection, choose Filter → Motion Blur… with Angle 90 and Distance 24. Blur it now, while it's still inside the canvas. Then choose Image → Flip Vertical.

With the Move tool, drag the reflection straight down until its top edge meets the 330 horizon guide. Set the layer's opacity to 32% with the percentage button on its row. The drips now hang toward their own mirrored tips, which gives you a glossy floor.

Add a layer called Sphere Halo above Chrome Face. Drag an Elliptical Marquee from (1262, 62) to (1408, 208), set the foreground to #4FB4FF and choose Edit → Fill. Press Cmd+D, then give it an Outer Glow in #3A8BFF with Size 34 and Opacity 80.

Click New Group and name it Mercury. Click Add Layer to make a Sphere layer inside it. Draw a circle marquee from (1260, 60) to (1410, 210).

Build a gray gradient with these stops: #F2F2F2 at 0%, #9A9A9A at 42%, #0E0E0E at 53%, #3C3C3C at 62% and #E6E6E6 at 100%. Hold Cmd and drag from the top of the circle to the bottom.

Switch to the Brush and set Size 44, Hardness 0 and a white foreground. Click once at about (1300, 98) for the highlight. Press Cmd+D and run Filter → Gaussian Blur… at radius 2 to soften the edge.

Open the Mercury group's effects and choose Add Adjustment → Gradient Map. Set these stops:

1. #05060C at 0%
2. #1D2340 at 18%
3. #5F78B8 at 40%
4. #CFE3FF at 58%
5. #8AA0D0 at 72%
6. #FFFFFF at 86%
7. #FFFFFF at 100%

The group maps every gray inside it to this palette. Anything you paint in Mercury from now on comes out as chrome.

Select Sphere and open Filter → Liquify…. Set the mode to Twirl CW, Brush Size 110 and Pressure 35%. Draw one small circle over the middle of the sphere. The horizon band bends into a wave, like mercury wobbling. Click Apply.

Draw an elliptical marquee just around the sphere, then press Cmd+C and Cmd+V. The pasted layer lands inside Mercury. With the Move tool, drag the bottom-right corner handle toward the top left until the copy is about 38 px wide.

Press Cmd+D to bake the scale in before you move it. If you drag inside the box first, the scale is thrown away.

Name the layer Droplet. Draw a rectangular marquee around it, switch to the Move tool, and drag the rotation handle just outside the top-right corner around by about 40°. The wave on the droplet tilts, so it doesn't look like a stamped copy. Press Cmd+D.

Draw a marquee around the droplet and drag it to the end of DRIFT, so it sits on the baseline at about (902–940, 292–330). Press Cmd+D. It works as a full stop and echoes the big sphere.

Select Sphere Halo first, so no text layer is active while you change the settings. Create the three lines from the bottom up, so each click lands in empty space:

• XENONDRIFT.RUN: Michroma, 16, #B39BFF, letter spacing 6
• 11.07 / HARBOR LOOP / 22:00: Space Mono Bold, 24, #7FD3FF, letter spacing 0
• THE NIGHT CIRCUIT: Michroma, 25, #EEF6FF, letter spacing 2

Nudge all three lines by the same amount, so the widest one ends on the x = 1440 guide and the URL sits just above the bottom edge.

Select the top text layer and add a layer called Vignette. Set the Gradient type to Radial and open Advanced…. Make three stops, all #05040F: 0% and 60% with the opacity bar at 0, and 100% with the opacity bar at about 92%.

Drag from the center of the canvas (750, 250) out past the right edge to (1550, 250). The fade starts well inside the frame, so no hard ellipse edge shows. Set the layer's opacity to 65% so the event text stays readable.

Add a layer called Grain. Set the foreground to #808080 and choose Edit → Fill. Run Filter → Add Noise… with Amount 22, Mono and Gaussian. Set the layer's blend mode to Overlay and its opacity to 35%. The grain hides gradient banding and gives the chrome some bite.

Choose File → Quick Export PNG to save the billboard, and File → Save Project to keep every layer editable. To try other chrome, edit the Mercury Gradient Map: warm golds and browns turn the sphere into molten brass.