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I have this problem every time I go grocery shopping: whenever I go down the cereal
isle it takes me forever to pick out a box to buy. I’m so wrapped up in looking at the
box design, especially those super tasty display logos! The other day I was caught
staring at the new box of Lucky Charms drooling, not over the thought of
marshmallowy moons and clovers, but over the beautiful new logo. So I set out to
make one of my own in Adobe Illustrator. In the process I came up with some quick
and easy techniques that look great! I am pleased to share them with you here.
I am using a Mac, and in this tutorial I will add shortcut commands, such as (cmd-F) for
Paste in Front. PC users just substitute (ctrl) for (cmd) in most cases.
1. Select the letters and group them up again by right-clicking > Group or (cmd-G).
2. Copy it, and Paste Behind (cmd-B).
3. Using the Stroke Palette, give it a big stroke, any color, and aligned to the center.
Lock the original text for now, by selecting it and going Object > Lock > Lock Selection
or (cmd-2).
#29ABE2.
3. Drag the color from the Tools Palette into the color Swatches Palette so we have it
for later.
4. Repeat, adding a darker blue #0071BC to the Swatches Palette.
5. Select the plaque (can I just call it that now? mkthx).
6. Activate the Gradient Palette, and drag the light blue swatch from the Swatches
Palette onto the left side of the gradient, and the dark blue onto the right.
7. Using the Gradient Tool(G) drag from the plaque top to bottom, to perfect your
gradient.
Step 6: Add Another Text Outline
Building upward from our base layer, let’s add another text outline by following these
steps:
1. Select the outlined text and go Object > Expand Appearance, checking fill and
stroke in the dialogue.
2. Right click > Ungroup (cmd-shift-G)
3. In the Pathfinder Palette, choose Add to Shape Area, like we did for the plaque.
4. Click Expand
5. Fill it with a light blue #88DBF2 (drag this color into your Swatches Palette to save
it).
Step 8: Make the Text 3D!
One sweet effect in Illustrator CS3 is the Effect > 3D Tool. Let’s apply it to our text by
following these steps:
1. Unlock the original text Object > Unlock All (cmd-option-2) to select it, and fill it
with any color for now, I chose red.
2. Go Effect > 3D > Extrude and Bevel
3. Choose options similar to the following, feel free to play around here, making sure
to check Preview to see what you’re doing.
Step 9: Color the 3D Letter Faces
Your 3D text might look pretty good the way it is, but I bet we can make the colors even
nicer. To edit the colors we will need to break the 3D text into individual shapes. To do
that follow these steps:
1. Select all the pieces of the letters besides the faces. Zoom in and make sure you
get them all; there might be some that are hard to see.
2. Group them (cmd-G)
3. Grouping them will cause them to move in front of the letter faces, so right click >
Send Backward (cmd-left bracket) to place them back where they were.
4. Fill them 3D with a darker red #44000A
Step 11: Create Highlights
The real magic in a good logo is in the details. We can really sharpen this one up by
adding highlights to the letters. Here is a relatively quick and easy way to make them,
but is our most complex set of steps thus far:
1. Group the letters up again, Copy and Paste Behind (cmd-B). Lock the PUFFS text
on top (cmd-2).
on top (cmd-2).
2. Give it a big stroke, any color for now. Align the stroke to the outside and make it
big enough to fill the inside.
1. Go Object > Expand Appearance, right click > Ungroup, and in the Pathfinder
Palette choose Add to Shape Area, then Expand, like we did for the first plaque.
2. Choose the eyedropper tool (I) and click the other plaque to copy its gradient
colors.
3. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to adjust the gradient to your liking.
1. Copy the PUFFS text again and Paste in Front (cmd-F), then bring it to the front.
2. Nudge the text up one tap this time.
3. Select the text and the highlights and in the Pathfinder Palette choose Intersect
Shape Areas, then Expand.
4. Now you can color your finished bevel effect with the light blue #88DBF2.
Step 20: Position PUFFS in the Logo
Lookin’ good yet? Let’s get PUFFS in the logo:
1. Select the blue plaque behind PUFFS and give it a white stroke, aligned to the
outside, and about 5pt.
2. Position PUFFS the way you like under your logo.
Go ahead and add some background elements if you like. I made some clouds and rays
but I encourage you to come up with your own!
Thanks for following my tutorial! I hope you learned lots from this.
How did you like this tutorial? Was it easy to follow? Tough to follow? Did I screw
anything up? Your feedback is gold!
The effects and techniques demonstrated in this tutorial can be used however you like,
I’d sure appreciate a link back though! The text and images in this tutorial itself are
copyright of www.alandesigns.com and may not be distributed.