Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
back with another video tutorial for Adobe Illustrator. Today I'm going to share a technique
I actually covered in a written tutorial on my Spoon Graphics website just last month,
but it's a really cool effect that doesn't take long at all to produce, making it perfect
for a video tutorial too!
So what we'll be creating is a shaded type effect, which applies little shadows to cursive
lettering where the strokes loop and overlap, to give the impression that the characters
interweave.
The artwork we’ll be creating in this tutorial features the word ‘Love’ in a bold, flowing
script font with the addition of those shaded elements, further enhanced with grain filters
and dusty textures to distress the artwork and finish it off with a low-fi appearance.
But first, if you *love* making cool stuff like this, then check out Envato Elements,
the ultimate creative toolkit for designers...
So to create the shaded type effect, begin by making
a new document in Adobe Illustrator.
Set out your type using a font, or if you're a talented hand-letterer, this same process
can be used to enhance your lettering pieces once they've been traced. I'm using a ready-made
font named Monday, which has an elegant appearance with swashes and interlocking letters.
We need to work with the shapes of the letters, so right click and select Create Outlines.
Move the text off the artboard into some empty space so we can give it a white fill.
Make a copy of the text using the Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste in Front menu options. This
duplicate will be used later with the Pathfinder tool.
Before continuing, make sure you have Smart Guides enabled under the view menu, otherwise
you're going to have a tough time lining things up.
Select the Pen tool and zoom into the document. Starting with the first letter, look out for
a spot where the stroke might overlap itself if you were drawing the type by hand.
Snap a point on one side where the intersection starts, then click and drag a point on the
other side and extend the bezier handle to continue the outline.
Make a couple more rough clicks to extend the shape back along the letter stroke and
back to the starting point to make a complete shape.
Give this shape a recognisable fill colour, such as the bright cyan swatch.
Hold the CMD, or CTRL key on Windows, and click on some empty space to deselect this
shape, then start drawing a new shape on the opposite side where this stroke overlaps itself.
Match the curvature of the outline with a smooth curve, then roughly complete the path
to form a shape.
Deselect, then move on to the next letter to find another overlapping stroke.
You can choose which side of the stroke will appear on top by placing the shadows on either
the top and bottom, or left and right.
Wherever you place them, just take care on the first smooth path that neatly continues
the outline, then roughly complete the shape.
You can also add shading on letters with crossbars, or where a script joins with the next character.
Sometimes it's easier to turn on Outline Mode under the View menu, or the CMD+Y shortcut
to better see the outline you need to follow.
As with the other shading shapes, once the main path has been drawn, the rest can be
roughly finished off as long as the shape is created large enough to contain the shading
gradients later.
Add those blue shapes along the rest of the type wherever you want to simulate the strokes
overlapping.
Use the Magic Wand tool to quickly select all the blue shapes, then go to Object > Compound
Path > Make so they work properly with the Pathfinder tool.
We also need to make a compound path of the letters, but first they need ungrouping to
break them apart. Right click and choose Ungroup, then go to Object > Compound Path > Make again,
or hit the CMD+8 shortcut.
Hold the Shift key and add the blue shapes to the selection. Since they're now a compound
path all it takes is one click to select them all.
Open up the Pathfinder panel and click the Intersect button to trim the blue shapes down
to the outline of the text.
Change the temporary cyan fill to a black-to-white gradient.
Right click and Ungroup the shading elements, then deselect and click the first shape.
Grab the Gradient tool from the toolbar, then click and drag to alter the gradient flow.
Aim to angle it so it follows the direction of the stroke, flowing from light to dark.
Make sure the gradient starts within the shape so it isn't cut off with a hard edge.
Go through each shape in turn and alter the gradient direction. You can toggle back to
the selection tool by holding the command key while the gradient tool is active, in
order to quickly select the next shape.
When it comes to the shapes that don't cover the whole stroke, it might take a few attempts
to get the angle right so the gradient isn't cut off by its container.
Once all the gradients have been altered the basic effect is complete, but we can customise
it further to give it some cool grungy effects.
Use the Magic Wand tool to select all the gradients, then go to Effect > Texture > Grain.
Set the Grain Type to Stippled, then change the settings to 50 Intensity and 20 Contrast
to give it more of a hand-drawn stippled look.
To add some texturing, draw a selection around all the elements and group them together.
Click the Make Mask button in the Transparency panel, then activate the little square thumbnail
on the right to enter the mask.
Download and open one of my free film dust textures and drag one into Illustrator. It
will be placed directly into the mask, but the Invert Mask button needs clicking to flip
the blacks and whites the right way round so it creates the right distressed effect.
Click on the box on the left in the Transparency panel to exit back out of mask mode.
A film dust texture can also be used as a background for the artwork to complement the
gritty style. Go to File > Place and choose a texture. To position it underneath the text,
right click and choose Arrange > Send to Back.
The final result is shaded type effect where the letter strokes appear to weave, loop and
overlap, simply produced by a series of gradient-filled shapes in key places within the text outline.
The artwork can be left clean and crisp, or distressed with grain effects and dusty textures
to give the design a gritty hand-made appearance.
If you enjoyed this tutorial or learnt anything new, a Like would be really appreciated to
help recommend the video to others. Subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel to stick
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As always thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one!