Retro Text Effect

Today I’ll show you how to create an easy retro text effect in Illustrator.

Step 1: Type the word.

This effect basically works with any font, but a sans-serif works better. The font I used is Blackcurrant Squash (by Rian Hughes).

Give the text a stroke and no fill.
Make the color white.

Step 2: Building the effect.

Go to the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance):
- Add 4 new strokes
- Move the fill to the middle
- Give the top stroke a white color and set the weight to 10 pt.
Second Stroke:
- Weight 10 pt. and color 20 or 30% grey.
- Add an effect: Transform: Move horizontal and vertical: 1px. / copies: 50.
Make the fill visible and the color is white.
Third Stroke:
- Give it a 10 pt. weight and a different color.
- Apply the Transform effect but this time set the copies to 70.
Last Stroke:
- Color for this stroke is black. This will be the shadow.
- Apply the Transform effect but this time set the copies to 120.
- Set the opacity to around 25%.
Add a new fill:
- Place the new fill above the white fill
- Give it a pattern fill with strokes.
- Set the opacity to around 12-15%.

Vector Swirling Circle

Geen categorie

In this Illustrator tutorial we’re going to create a swirling vector circle.

Step 1: Basic Shape.

This is the basic shape: to create it follow the next steps:

Create two circles: a large one and in the center a smaller one.
Copy the smaller one and align it to the left so that the left side touch the left side of the big circle.
Copy the left circle so that it touches the right side of the bigger circle.
Now copy the two circles and rotate them so that they stand horizontally.

Step 2: Shape Builder Tool.

The Shape Builder Tool lets you create any shape out of basic outlinings. First we need to turn off the stroke and fill. Press CTRL + Y to enter the Outline Mode.

Now select everything and hold the Shape Builder to select the shape you want.

Step 3: Adding more swirls.

Copy the new created shape 3 times and rotate it so you get this result:

Step 4: Giving Color.

Now we’re going to give color to the shape. Select the Live Paint Bucket (behind the Shape Builder), select a color and paint the segments in that color. Tap CTRL + y to exit the Outline Mode.

Now we have a complete solid color shape. We have to make every segment in a separate object. To do this select the shape and go to Object -> Expand. Then ungroup the object several times until every segment is a separate object.

Step 5: Gradient Color.

Select 1 object and give it a gradient fill. Then select everything and with the color picker select the gradient fill segment.

Now you can experiment with the gradient and its angle, different colors…

Isometric New Year

Geen categorie

With this Illustrator tutorial I’m going to show you how to create Isometric Numbers. You can use these for a modern New Years card or Social Media banner. The first thing to do is to create an isometric grid. I’m going to ease the process by giving one to you.

The Isometric Gird: Download.

Step 1: Outline numbers.

When you have opened the isometric grid file, take the Pen tool with a stroke and no fill. Snap the Pen to a, Anchor Point to start. We’re going to make the numbers 3 squares wide and 5 high. When drawing in Illustrator you’re creating vectors so we can scale them infinitely.

Now we’re creating the 0 with the same size.

Step 2: Filling the numbers.

The numbers have strokes but we need them with a fill and no stroke. I filled the numbers with a light grey color. The middle part of the 0 is filled with white.

Step 3: Creating Depth.

Now we have a light grey flat numbers. To give them a sense of depth we need to draw with the Pen tool again. Set the stroke on and the fill off. Start drawing like this:

Now we’re going to fill the stroke elements. I used a darker grey.

Step 4: Making 2020

Now we have a Isomectric 20, to create the Year we just need to duplicate the first two numbers. Make sure every elemet of the numbers is grouped together.