How to Make Glowing Text in Illustrator 2011

Create glowing text with the Appearance palette.

Unlike Adobe Photoshop's inner and outer glow layer presets, creating glowing text in Illustrator requires a few steps. Making a glowing neon sign or just setting words apart from the rest with a glowing look requires using Illustrator's Appearance palette. This palette keeps you from having to draw complex paths around your letters to create a glow effect, which was necessary in early versions of Illustrator.

Instructions

1. Type your text in a thin font. Choose "Type" and "Create Outlines" to make each letter an image instead of text. Select each letter. Use the color palette to choose your main color, which should be a dark shade. Apply the color to your letters. Pick a lighter, secondary color, but don't apply it to your letters yet.

2. Apply a stroke in the Appearance palette by clicking on the empty "Stroke" box. Choose "1.75 pt" for the stroke dimension. Make it a dark shade of your main color. Set the stroke to "Multiply." Go to the "Effect" menu and choose "Distort and Transform," then "Transform." Adjust the "Vertical" position to "-2.5 px" to add a shadow.

3. Apply a second stroke, choosing "4.5 pt" for the dimension and set the opacity to 20 percent. Make the color a very light version of your main or secondary color of your gradient. This will create a soft glowing effect, with the light stroke above the shadow stroke.

4. Build additional strokes in the Appearance palette to enhance the glow effect. Set the next stroke at "4.5 pt" with a shade slightly darker than the previous secondary color with 25-percent opacity. Set the following stroke to "2 pt" with a 30-percent opacity, with a color a darker shade than the previous stroke. Add a final stroke that is "0.5 pt" thick -- make the color white or nearly white. This tiny bright center surrounded by progressively darker shades makes the text appear to glow.

Tips & Warnings

• To make a color darker or lighter while staying in the same color range, adjust the black levels up or down.

References

• Vector Tuts Plus: Create a Glowing Neon Sign Ssing the Appearance Palette
• Vector Tuts Plus: Quick Tip: How to Create Colorful Neon Text with Adobe Illustrator