Illustrator Text Effects
Designing creative and eye-catching text effects doesn’t have to be a complex task. Today, I’ll show you how to create a fully editable sketchy text effect in Adobe Illustrator in just 5 minutes. By combining the power of the Appearance Panel with native Illustrator effects, you’ll achieve a dynamic, hand-drawn look with ease. Best of all, your text will remain 100% editable, so you can easily modify the font, color, or size anytime without losing the effect. This flexible and time-saving technique is perfect for a variety of creative projects, from bold graphic design pieces like posters and logos to web design typography.
Open Illustrator and make a new file at any size you want. In this case, I will make mine at 1000 x 650 px.
Select the Type Tool (T) and type your text using any font you wish. I will be using CocoSharp Extrabold at 160 pt. Note: I will be using a color background set to #FFEFE1 for you to better see the effect, but you are free to set any color background you wish.
Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. In the Roughen window apply the following settings and click OK.
Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Tweak. In the Tweak window apply the following settings and click OK.
With your text object selected, go to Window > Appearance.
Click on the "Add New Stroke" icon 3 times to add 3 stroke layers and once on the "Add New Fill" icon to add 1 fill layer.
Set any color you want in the Fill layer for your text. In this case, I will set mine to #CC2128.
Drag the Fill layer between the second and third Stroke layers.
Set the first Stroke weight to 3 pt.
Set the second Stroke Weight to 4 pt and give it a different color. In this case, I will use the same color I've used for the background.
With the second stroke layer selected, click on the "Add New Effect" icon and from the dropdown menu select Distort & Transform > Transform.
Apply the following settings and click OK.
Set the third Stroke Weight to 3 pt.
With the third stroke layer selected, click on the "Add New Effect" icon and from the dropdown menu select Distort & Transform > Transform.
Lastly, apply the following settings and click OK.
Now that you know how to create a sketchy text effect in Illustrator, you can edit the text as usual and adjust the text or stroke colors directly in the Appearance Panel, as shown in the following examples.
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