1. When using Illustrator, first open an image or vector that you want to show up in your text.  Let’s take this image of the beach, for example.

 

 

2. Next, place your text on top of the image.

 

3. The third step can vary based on the amount of paths present in your text.  In the image above, the text is spaced in a way that will require each letter to be masked individually because they are separate paths. When this is the case,  you will need to convert the text to outline so each letter can be edited. To convert text to outlines, click on Type > Create Outlines or right click on the text and selecting Create Outlines. This creates individually editable objects out of the text, which can be distinguished by the anchor points that can now be found on each letter. Now, instead of having to go through the letters one by one to create a clipping mask on each, Illustrator allows us to combine several paths into one – a ‘compound path’. Select all of the text and go to Object > Compound Path > Make to complete this step.

 

4. Once a compound path is created from your text, you can now create the clipping mask by selecting the text and image and going to Object > Clipping Mask > Make.  The result should be something like this below! (Once the mask is made, you can still edit it and move around the image by double clicking into isolation mode, or going to Object > Clipping Mask > Edit/Release!) 

If your text is close enough to be one path, however, like this instance below, you can simply skip the outlining and compound path creating steps and go straight to the clipping mask. 

PHOTOSHOP

The steps to create a text mask in Photoshop are very similar to creating a mask in Illustrator.

1. First, open your background image or create a document and paste the image in.

2. Type out your text in a large bold font and move the text layer behind the image

3. Finally, right click on the image layer and select ‘Create Clipping Mask’ for the image to be masked into your text! To edit or move the photo, select the photo layer and use the move tool to shift your image. 

4. Export your newly created text as a .png file to be able to place on any colored background, and you’re good to go!