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1. DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION

2. TEXT EFFECTS

How to Create a Retro Long

Shadow Text Effect in Adobe
Illustrator
by Andrei Marius20 Nov 2017
Difficulty:BeginnerLength:ShortLanguages:
Text Effects Adobe IllustratorVectorRetro
This post is part of a series called Retro Text Effect Tutorials.
How to Create a Warm, Retro Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator
What You'll Be Creating
Retro design is always popular, as our recent blog post on retro design trends showed.
In the following steps, you will learn how to create a retro long shadow text effect in
Adobe Illustrator. 

For starters, you will learn how to create some text. Taking full advantage of the
Appearance panel and using a neat Transform effect, you will learn how to add the
long shadow effect without expanding your text. Some basic blending techniques and
a simple Gaussian Blur effect will be the final touches for your text effect.
 For more inspiration on how to adjust or improve your final text effect, you can find
plenty of resources at GraphicRiver. And if you want to learn similar techniques in a
one-hour video masterclass, try our course on creating 3D text in Adobe Illustrator.

 FREE

3D TEXT

Mastering 3D Text in Adobe Illustrator

Matt Withers

1. How to Create the Text

Step 1
Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu,
enter 850 in the width box and 610 in the height box, and then click that More
Settings button. Select RGB for the Color Mode, set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi),
and then click that Create Document button. Don't forget to set the unit of
measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units.
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Step 2
Pick the Type Tool (T) and open the Character panel (Window > Type > Character).
Select the Insaniburger font and set the size to 200 px.

Move to your artboard, click on it, and add your piece of text about as shown below.
Make it black.
Step 3
Use the same tool and character attributes to create the last letter of your text. Make it
blue and place it right above the black one.

Keep adding separate blue letters until you cover all your black text. Once you're
done, go to the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and remove your black text.
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2. How to Add the Long Shadow Effect
Step 1
Select one of your letters, focus on the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches), and click
that [None] swatch to remove the blue text color.

Move to the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) and add a new fill using
the Add New Fill button. Select that new fill and set the color to R=255 G=245 B=225.
Step 2
Make sure that your "S" is still selected and focus on the Appearance panel. Add a
second fill and select it. Drag it to the bottom of the panel, set the color to R=0 G=146
B=69, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag both Move sliders
to 0.5 px, enter 700 in that Copies box, and then click OK.
Step 3
Make sure that your "S" is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.
Add a third fill and select it.

Drag it between the existing two fills and set the color to black. Lower
its Opacity to 10% and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -10 px Offset,
click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag
both Move sliders to 15 px, click OK, and then go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Enter a 5 px Radius and then click OK.
Step 4
Focus on the Layers panel, open your layer, and use those target icons to easily apply
the Appearance attributes used for your first letter to the rest of your letters. Target
icons are the little round icons displayed at the far right of each individual layer or
shape.

Hold the Alt button from your keyboard, click the target icon that stands for your "S",
and then drag it onto the target icon that stands for your "T". Select your "T", focus on
the Appearance panel, and replace the green used for that bottom fill with R=255
G=154 B=9.
Step 5
Move to the "O" and apply the same Appearance attributes, but replace the green
with R=244 G=54 B=44.

Select that "P" and apply the same Appearance attributes, but replace the green
with R=7 G=132 B=170.
3. How to Create a Background and Add
More Text
Step 1
Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a shape that covers your entire artboard. Fill it
with R=42 G=27 B=67 and send it to back (Shift-Control-[).
Step 2
Pick the Type Tool (T) and focus on the Character panel. Make sure that the
Insaniburger font is still selected and set the size to 50 px.

Add the "DON'T" piece of text and place it as shown in the following image. Again,
remove the text color and focus on the Appearance panel. Add a fill using that Add
New Fill button, select it, and set the color to R=255 G=245 B=225.
Step 3
Make sure that your "DON'T" piece of text stays selected, focus on
the Appearance panel, and add a second fill. Select the bottom fill, set its color
to R=255 G=80 B=145, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter
the attributes shown in the following image and then click that OK button.
Step 4
Make sure that your "DON'T" piece of text is still selected and keep focusing on
the Appearance panel. Add a third fill and select it.

Drag it between the existing two fills and set the color to black. Lower
its Opacity to 10% and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -2 px Offset, click
that OK button, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag
both Move sliders to 5 px, click that OK button, and then go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian
Blur. Enter a 3 px Radius and then click that OK button.
Step 5
Pick the Type Tool (T) and add the "BELIEVING" piece of text. Set the text color
to R=255 G=245 B=225 and place it as shown in the following image. Make sure that
this new piece of text is selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the
attributes shown below and then click that OK button.
Congratulations! You're Done!
Here is how it should look. I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these
techniques in your future projects. Don't hesitate to share your final result in the
comments section.

Feel free to adjust the final design and make it your own. You can find some great
sources of inspiration at GraphicRiver, with interesting solutions to improve your
design.
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 Andrei Marius
I'm a self-taught graphic designer and a vector fanatic. I spend most of my time working on all
sorts of designs in Illustrator, Photoshop, XD, Figma or Sketch. Everything from illustrations to
UI designs and interfaces, icons, charts, infographics and diagrams, logos and badges, patterns, a
few character designs and a lot of text effects. You can find all my tutorials at vforvectors.com
and my entire portfolio at andreimarius.com.

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