How to Easily Make a Vortex Text Effect in Illustrator

Illustrator Text Effects

A vortex text effect can be made in less than 5 minutes if you use the right tools and there are many different ways to make it. Today I will show you how you can make a vortex text effect using a very simple technique that uses only the default Illustrator tools so you don't have to download or install any kind of plugin.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a new file at any size you want. In this case, I will make mine at 1080 x 1080 px.

Step 2

Select the Rectangle Tool (M) and using black draw a rectangle covering your whole artboard.

Step 3

Select the Type Tool (T) and using any font at any size you want, type your text. Here I will be using "Coco Sharp Heavy" at 40 pt with a white color so you can see the effect better.

Step 4

With the text selected go to Type > Create Outlines.

Step 5

Go to Window > Brushes and click on the "New Brush" icon.

Step 6

Select "Pattern Brush" and click OK.

Step 7

Set the Spacing to 1% in the Pattern Brush Options window and click OK. Now the brush is shown in the Brushes window.

Step 8

Select the Ellipse Tool (L), be sure to set the fill to "none" in the toolbar and make a circle at any size you want right in the middle of the artboard.

Step 9

With the circle selected, click on the recentrly create brush in the Brushes Panel.

Step 10

In the Top Toolbar, select the "Width Profile 4" from the profile dropdown.

Step 11

Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 12

To make the effect a bit more appealing, go to Object > Expand Appearance and then to Object > Ungroup.

Step 13

Select one row and skip the next one until you reach the end of the vortex as shown.

Step 14

Go to Object > Compund Path > Make.

Step 15

Go to Window > Gradient and apply a Black to White gradient with the following settings.

Step 16

Select all the other text rows and again go to Compund Path > Make.

Step 17

Lastly, go to Window > Gradient and and apply a Black to White gradient with the following settings. Be sure to set the Black location to 20%.