Making Text in Sand in Paint

[captainron19]

Any tips on the best way I can create writing in the center of this heart in the sand?

http://storksnmore.net/temp/heart2.jpg

Trying to get the words Ocean City in 2 lines and have it look as close as possible to look like it was written in the sand (without me having to drive an hour to the beach and make one myself and photograph it) although it is tempting to do!

Found a few tutorials online that helped me but just cant get it

[LeviFiction]

One way to do it would be to create the text as a vector and then shape and distort it into place. Then create a selection from the vector.

I can then use cutout and bevel to create a sort of fake indent in the sand. But the big problem there is that the sand is gritty so I'm not sure what the best way would be to roughen that up a bit.

I could then use the clone brush to add clods of dirt at the end points of each of the letters of the two words similar to what you would see had someone run their fingers through the sand.

Mix in some blend modes, erase portions with an eraser set to 0 hardness for maximum blending.

http://www.levifiction.com/Image1.png

The biggest problem here is that it's all too smooth. So keeping the grittiness is something to look into.

[trueblue]

You could try adding noise which will give the sand a rough appearance.