Hi there, I'm a total PS noob and am trying to get this stroke path I created with the pen tool (which took me FOREVER to figure out how to do!!) to also be gold. When I try a clipping mask on both the letters and the pen strokes it only works on the letters. What am I doing wrong?! Thanks for your any help/advice
You have kind of shot yourself in the foot by painting the brush strokes on the background layer. They need to be on a layer of their own. Even your clipping mask will only operate on the layer below — the one it is clipped to. So what you have to do is select the text layer, and brush stroke layer, and make them a Smart Object. It will work fine then
You have kind of shot yourself in the foot by painting the brush strokes on the background layer.
That might sound a bit harsh but it beautifully makes the point: If one wants to utilise Photoshop’s Layer functionalities one needs to actually work accordingly.
But assuming the strokes are black it should be a easy to load them as a Selection (with only the Background Layer visible cmd-click the composite channel in the Channels Panel), invert the Selection and create a Solid Colour Layer (Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Colour).
So what you have to do is select the text layer, and brush stroke layer, and make them a Smart Object.
Since a few Photoshop versions back one can clipping mask Layers to Groups so one could alternatively group the two Layers and use the Group as the basis of the Clipping Mask, but the Smart Object approach may provide other advantages.
Another reason to join the layers as a Smart Object is you can then you Layer Styles on the Object to enhance the effect
One can apply Layer Styles to Groups, too, though.
Many thanks for all your suggestions/advice. It helps me up this steep learning curve immensely!