Illustrator text tutorial - Rocky 3D text

In this tutorial we will learn how to make some stylized 3D text that I am calling Rocky text because when it is grey it reminds me of cracked rock and I don't know what else to call it...

Anyway, in this tutorial we will learn a few different things. The first is how to distress your own type, turn it into a 3-dimensional shape and apply some hand drawn styling to it. I hope you enjoy!

Illustrator Tutorial - 3D lighted text effect

Today Transfuchsian brings you another tutorial that shows how Illustrator can perform design tasks generally reserved for Photoshop or other raster programs. Like my previous lighting effect tutorial, Photoshop is going to be easier to use for this effect, but it doesn't mean you can't get the same results in a pure vector format. So, today I bring you a lighted text effect tutorial in a new segment I like to call "Anything Photoshop can do, I can do...also".

In this one I will first show you how to create some 3D text, which we will then apply some art brushes to so that we get a neat, futuristic spacey effect. Before you begin, you may want to stop by my previous post and download a set of glowing brushes.

24 free Illustrator glowing/blurry brushes

Here is a new set of brushes from Transfuchsian. This set is to simulate a glowing or blurry effect when used with various transparencies so you can make some groovy spacey designs. I plan on creating a tutorial that uses these brushes, so I figured I may as well go ahead and post them now. Stay tuned to the next post for a colorful lighted text effect using these brushes.

Download the file by clicking Here

Tutorial for Colorful Lighting Effect In Illustrator

There are a number of amazing tutorials out there that teach you how to create some really awesome futuristic light wispy effects. I’ve always found this type of design very interesting, but everything you see is almost completely created in Photoshop. I recently had a project where I wanted this effect, but had to use only vector graphics. The following is the technique I used to get that nifty effect using Illustrator.

EDIT: Thanks to new submission allowances, I am able to offer an image like this for purchase at Shutterstock. To purchase this file or others like it, please visit my gallery by clicking HERE

Everything you wanted to know about the blend tool...

...but were afraid to ask.

This is the first of what I hope to be a long list of featurettes on various tools available in Illustrator. I know from experience that getting into Illustrator for the first time can be a little daunting, especially when you aren't familiar with the program. Working with vectors is a lot easier than you may think once you get to know the functions of the program.