Fading lettering to darker color

[TSKgrind]

Ok so I have a set back and i need to put lettering on set background and have it fade from a certain color(blue) to a dark or black at the bottom. Ive try using the gradient function but it wipes out my background and turns it white. Ive also tried adding a new layer and using gradient and does the same thing. Any suggestions?

[DrewDale]

On your new text layer - Use magic wand and shift / click your text to select it, then select your gradient, it will then cover only your chosen text.

[TSKgrind]

On your new text layer - Use magic wand and shift / click your text to select it, then select your gradient, it will then cover only your chosen text.

When I do  this it then clears the cololrs on the lettering(font).

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

When I want to select font, I often select the outside of it (and the wholes for letters like O and A) then I go up to menu bar >  Edit > invert selection (shortcut keys for invert selection are ctrl + i.)

 

For recoloring the font, I will then add a new layer, (keeping the selection though) and do the recoloring on the separate layer. As I recolor, I will play with the layer's opacity and blend modes, which can be accessed from layer properties. Once I have my font recolored, I will run some edge smoothing plugins in case the edges of the coloring are choppy. Or if I'm in paint.net 4.0 I sometimes manually erase since paint.net 4.0 has a soft eraser.

 

The plugins I like for smoothing edges are :

Basic Antialias : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=7644

Feather : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=2140

AA's Assistant, which is part of this pack : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=16643

[Lloyd]

When I do  this it then clears the cololrs on the lettering(font).

You will need to pick your colours before you do your gradient.