Typography doesn’t have to be boring. In this Valentine’s Day inspired tutorial we take a look at how to creatively combine text with clipping masks to tell that special someone that we love them!

Step 1 - New Document

Create a New Pixelmator document and fill the background layer with black (cmd alt F).

Step 2 - Background Text

In order for this effect to work we need a large body of text to work with. I have chosen the words “I love you”. Using a text editor repeatedly copy and paste it so that we have enough to fill our background layer.

In Pixelmator select the Text Tool (T) and draw a bounding box so that it is larger than our background layer.

Copy and paste the text.

Set the font to Arial, 11pt and #191919.

Slightly reduce the line height so that the lines of text sit closer together.

Step 3 - Text Clipping Mask

With the Text Tool active (T), click Add Text. Set the font to Arial Black, 200pt, Center and White.

Add your chosen text and using the Move Tool (V), vertically align it.

If you are adding text on multiple lines you may have to adjust the line height so that fits within our document. In this case I have set it to 0.7.

Now add a Clipping Mask by right clicking the text layer and selecting Create Clipping Mask.

Text complete! Let’s create our love heart.

Step 4 - Heart Vector

We will create our heart vector in a separate Pixelmator document. Create a New document now (cmd N) with the dimensions: 800 by 600.

With the Rulers active (cmd R), drag out a few guides as I have below:

Select the Ellipse Shape and add our shape so that it slightly overlaps the center guide. I have also add a fill color of red (#ff0000).

Duplicate the shape and position it so that it aligns with the right guide (alt click and drag to duplicate the shape).

Create a new Ellipse, ensuring the shift key is held for a perfect circle.

Right click the newly created shape and select Make Editable.

Double click the bottom point to convert it to a sharp point.

Select the top point and move it vertically down, as shown:

Move the larger shape into position using the up/down keys so that the overall heart shape has a perfectly smooth curve.

Heart shape complete!

Step 5 - Heart Clipping Mask

Drag our heart shape into our original Pixelmator document by dragging the shape layer from the Layers Window into the destination window.

Using the Transform Tool (cmd F) resize the heart and position it within the space available. Use the shift key to constrain the proportions.

The final step is to add a Clipping Mask to our heart shape as we did earlier.

Conclusion

Tutorial complete! I hope we’ve given you a few ideas on how to creatively work with typography and the versatility of the clipping mask. This effect isn’t limited to just combining text, try experimenting with different textures and clipping masks to see what you come up with.

Thanks for reading and Happy Valentine's Day!