How to remove everything except the custom font text from a photo (or extract "logo" text)

[Life Of Spice]

I'm appologize if this has been asked, but I searched and may be using the wrong terms as I couldn't find an answer. I'm new to Affinity and only semi-accomplished on Photoshop.

I'm trying to make a 2-color logo for my HOA. I have this photo of our sign. At first, I wanted to try to make a silk-screen-looking/vector-like image from the whole thing and started erasing grassy areas from the top but quickly realized this would be too complicated. So, I thought the least I could do is just extract the text by itself and then fill it with a color.

Does anyone have a good suggestion on how best to do this? I'm more comfy with the Photo version of these softwares than the Design versions. I can Google techniques if you give me them (or send me a link to a nice video).

Thank you for any help you can give to teach me the best way to approach this!

Edited August 14, 2024 by Life Of Spice

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[firstdefence]

Whoever made that sign will likely know what font typeface that is and from there you can create a cleaner look. I did do a quick search and found a few fonts that were similar but not exact, such as: https://www.myfonts.com/products/stong-josef-k-paneuropean-324296 

Another path to take is to isolate the text as @lacerto has done and then run it through a vectoriser, then clean up the shapes by deleting nodes so you have a smoother look although because of the pixelation, removing and smoothing the shapes might be a longwinded effort.

The third way is to trace the text with the pen tool. Personally I would use this method barring finding the actual font typeface used by the sign maker.

Have fun, lettering is red to show it better in screenshot.

vectored lettering using pen and node tool.afphoto

[lacerto]

Obsolete.

[thomaso]

5 hours ago, Life Of Spice said:

At first, I wanted to try to make a silk-screen-looking/vector-like image from the whole thing and started erasing grassy areas from the top

It's not clear to me if you want to keep the wooden poles – or just one rectangle as background / 2nd colour. A simple "silk-screen-looking/vector-like image" could use a Posterize or a Thresholed Adjustment (both with no options for the single colours). Drawing the poles as vector rectangles gives more flexibility and a more clear look. (If you additionally vectorize the text you can achieve a pure vector result.)

[Life Of Spice]

OMG, you guys are amazing!!!

Thank you lacerto for starting this effort. I was not familiar with Inpainting, I'll have to educate myself on that. And CorelDraw...I think I used that as a child in the last century. 🙂 I didn't even know it was still around.

firstdefense, I was afraid the Pen Tool had something to do with this because it has always intimidated me in Photoshop. 🙂  And about the font...haha...this housing complex was built in 1972 and that's when the sign was built (I assume). The builder has long since left this planet. The wood is rotting away and the letters have recently been repainted...again.

thomaso, this is exactly what I was hoping for but even better!!
Originally I wanted to keep the wooden poles, but thought it would be too hard. So I then decided to just isolate the lettering by itself. I absolutely love the first beige and white one (and in kind, last lime green one and the B&W one for one-color use).
I'm not sure how to do this myself, so I hope you are OK with me using yours as my baseline. I don't think I need a higher res, as it's mostly for email/Word communications and web presence.
I had a feeling Posterize and Threashhold Adjustment had something to do with it. I had not used these features before (in Photoshop or Affinity) and did watch some tutorials. But when I played with my image, I just seemed to make a mess of it. 

I have a lot to learn! I dabbled in Photoshop for years and just retired from CU July 1 so I lost my Adobe license. I was so happy to have found Affinity as I'd been looking for an Adobe alternative off and on for years. I like Affinnity. But again, have a lot to learn! 

Thank you all, you are amazing!


 

Edited August 14, 2024 by Life Of Spice

[thomaso]

4 minutes ago, Life Of Spice said:

thomaso, this is exactly what I was hoping for but even better!!
(…)
I'm not sure how to do this myself, so I hope you are OK with me using yours as my baseline. I don't think I need a higher res,

Thanks for the feedback, that's good to hear!

If you use vector only the resolution does not matter. Attached my document.
I recommend to change my pixel-text to a vectorized version, for instance the one @firstdefence has attached above.
If you want the poles in 1 colour only you can merge the bunch of rectangle layers to one 'curves' layer for easier handling.

cottonwoodpark_illu.afpub

[firstdefence]

4 hours ago, Life Of Spice said:

this housing complex was built in 1972 and that's when the sign was built (I assume). The builder has long since left this planet.

Will hold a seance tonight at 9:30 GMT lol