3D Lettering Shadows & Highlights Tutorial | Adobe Illustrator

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Hey guys! So in this tutorial I am showing you an easy way to add highlights and shadows to your vectorised lettering work. I have had a few people ask me how I create this effect and of course this process would be fairly difficult to simply explain over a message, so I thought I would make a tutorial on this to help those people and to also give you guys a bit more insight on the processes I regularly use when creating my vectorised lettering. As I said at the very start, adding these highlights and shadows can make a great impact on the overall look of a piece of lettering, it helps bring some depth to your piece without being overly intrusive if done correctly. You of course need to keep in mind the colours you're using, you don't wan't the shadows to be drastically darker than the background and you don't want the highlights to be drastically lighter than the lettering they're sitting on because then they will simply stand out too much and can easily make your lettering look over-designed and messy, so please keep that in mind.
I hope this tutorial has cleared this up for you guys and hopefully helps you out in your journey to becoming better at both hand lettering and the vectorising stages. It's always nice to learn something new in the digital process to make your lettering stand out more. Let me know what you guys think of this tutorial, and as always, if you have any suggestions for future tutorials, feel free to drop a comment down below! Thanks everyone!
Songs Used
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Todd Siesel
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Intro created by Koencept
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Intro Song
• 20syl - Voices feat. R...
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[@danjames2422]

Great tutorial, love that its under 10 minutes, but if you named your layers as you went and referred back to them it would make this much easier to follow along

[@eliankalel856]

I guess Im asking randomly but does any of you know a method to log back into an instagram account?? I was stupid lost my password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me.

[@connorlorenzo2162]

@Elian Kalel instablaster =)

[@eliankalel856]

@Connor Lorenzo i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and Im trying it out now. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.

[@lukastherien6781]

Yesss! I was one of the people who requested this in an instagram comment. Thanks so much. The tutorial was super helpful. I'd been trying to figure it out on my own for quite a while with no success haha

[@SteBradburyDesign]

ayyyy im glad I was able to clear this up for you and help you achieve this look! Always happy to help :D

[@mala_jama]

OH MAN I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN SOME COMMENT UNDER TUTORIALS BUT GUY; DID U TODAY SAVED MY ASS. god bless you really

[@porfidev]

just in the point, a little difficult but very concise. Thank you!

[@randomrandy3059]

I found it a bit confusing until the imaged started developing. Like he almost lost me as a view but then he did the compound thing, and I was like "idk what he just did there but thats cool" haha

[@ayyoubbouzerda8347]

nobody can explain better than u do here , thanx

[@galihbagaskara5339]

What font u used?

[@jdhogans5790]

YES this is the best tutorial on your I've seen. I needed this two. I'm trying to do the same thing. AWESOME! THANK YOU!

[@clonboymusic]

OMG! You Sir made not only my day! my long long search how to easily give some nice highlights and looks for custom text! my search is over and i finally understood how to easily do it! i thank you so much! i thank you soooo much!

[@HirokoNekoMaid]

this was actually really helpful!! It was the exact effect I wanted to recreate for one of my logos, but I agree with some comments below? I probably understood this because I use Ai everyday and I've got experience with it, buy maybe talk slower and take your time explaining what are the tools you used and why the importance of using layers, because I think the most important thing when you're teaching something, is not actually teaching it, but actually explain it and make the others understand why they're doing it that way

[@arunaru606055]

Thank You my friend its really helfpful , Little Complicated to understand but while replaying twice its easy to understand thank you very much bro

[@mykhailozadorozhnyi4983]

Great tutoriall man, thanks for spending YOUR OWN time to help others!

[@5IRAHHHP]

yeahhh ! im doing a project that requires this knowledge. the way i know how to, would take much longer than this. thanks for saving me heaps of time, also really like your videos.. your lettering, and everything you do it just so nice and cool! keep making videos. youre doing great!

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thanks man, and im glad this was able to help you, especially since you need to use it in your current project, that's good timing :D

[@5IRAHHHP]

just used it, the clients were really amazed with the work! thanks for the help, and for giving us videos to help us get better!

[@jonahjefferson3175]

Great tutorial, never fail to learn something or just be hyped to do some work after your vids

[@PeenayM]

Wait is it Command 8 or Command A?

[@kween93]

Is Command 8

[@bbrainzz]

omg this is where i was fucking up

[@rrrigil]

its make a compound path, so u extract all the shapes into one path

[@ischelkanov]

Man, it's just perfect. You're the best! Thank you, brother!

[@banglarbagh6675]

Thanks a lot for this tutorial.It'll save my time a lot

[@zolushka4823]

Thank you very much for the video! Always wanted to know how they do that. Love your work! Superb logo lettering work!

[@jennyives6200]

Such a great little tutorial! Love it and very well done

[@slashmagora4265]

thanks for the great tutorial. you got one subscriber.

[@thedartt]

Really great result on something similar I was working on, thanks!

[@NancyLynn]

Brilliant Stephen and so cool! TFS

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thank you, Nancy!

[@kelepondisko]

I was dreaming that you will create a tutorial about this, and damn my dream just come true!!

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Well it's official, I make dreams come true hahaha! Glad this has helped you man!

[@Averyman]

Thanks man! Very informative and useful tutorial. Definitely subscribing!

[@arschfrucht]

As always it helped a lot and now i know something i wanted to know for a while! Thanks man!

[@lelandhall6936]

It's like MAGIC😃👌🏽❗️ Thanks for sharing❗️

[@tix987]

Amazing tutorial!!! Thanks so much for this 👌🏼💯

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thanks man, and you're very welcome!

[@abaresoul1487]

Great video. Can't wait to start learning.

[@michaelpurwagani6122]

Thanks for sharing this amazing technique! :)

[@digitalplayroom]

You turn the simplest task into an unnecessary nightmare in order to make people think you're Wojak. Your confusing workflow can be broken down into 7 steps. 1-Create the text 2-Convert the text to outlines 3-Go to shape modes and unite the text outlines 4-Create the first shadow by copy+paste into place the text outlines 5-Change the text outlines copy's color to dark gray. Convert it into a compound shape (Ctrl+8). Send it to back. Slightly nudge it offset. 6-Create the second shadow by repeating the 4th and 5th steps 7-Select the 2 shadows and subtract one from another by applying "minus front" from the shape mode panel Voilà

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Or maybe this is the may I learnt how to do it... did you ever consider that before writing your condescending comment? Now who's the one trying to make everyone think they're Wojak.

[@klyfkai5118]

Thank you for the different approach and instructions typed out. This is the way I learn best. His tutorial is good but I got lost after putting forth much effort in the beginning. Creating and outline wasn't mentioned in the beginning and something told me to do this. I will try it your way Dan.

[@takacsovatattoo]

bless you for sharing such valuable information

[@CostasSchuler]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

[@alonghom9055]

i love your work man , i learned a lot , thanks

[@breathingtokyo]

I love it! Thanks for this tutorial and keep making more!

[@juliekennedy6452]

This is fantastic, thanks so much for making this!!!

[@simonwilkosz7562]

very good thorough tutorial, thank you

[@MasudVillageLife]

best quality tutorial. love this....

[@tylerjaynesmusic]

thank you!

[@Paweue]

Just in time I need it! Great work, 5 minutes and I totally get it :)

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Brilliant! Im glad this tutorial was easy to follow for you guys!

[@tasos8869]

Great tutorial, thank you for sharing!

[@mythreas9698]

Thank's for your tutorial it,s help me a lot for my homework (y) (y)

[@maximusdoomed]

great process and vid!!!!

[@ivananelovic3425]

Rocking as always! Thanks again :)

[@nomad1331]

Awesome work mate, thanks👌🏼

[@Filiku]

I've been using Photoshop for shadowing like this. Thanks for this

[@maxxxter07]

Very cool tut, thank you for share it.

[@bobyalex3d]

That's a pretty good Logo :) Like it so much!

[@withrhythm1966]

Great vid Ste, thanks brother

[@RenaldoXhahu]

Amazing tutorial, as always...

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thank you! :D

[@MarkeshaSmith]

Awesome video! Thanks

[@rafacosta9589]

thanks man! shout out from Brasil!

[@Karataron]

so thankful for this great tut:)

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Glad it has helped you!

[@desert6120]

This Video helped me a Lot Lot Lot... Thanks man. Please, do some more video like this. I have Subscribed you to see more form you.

[@glud3145]

Excuse my language, but fuck yeah! Been waiting so long for someone to tell me how to do!

[@SteBradburyDesign]

You are excused hahaha! Glad this tutorial has helped you out, man!

[@olas591]

I did it man, thanks!

[@doomster2914]

Thank you mate! Subscribed

[@pingupongu843]

Very helpful tutorial, your voice is like molten feathers to my ears. One question tho, why do I have to create compound path for each of the layers? Cheers!

[@KingShone]

Great man. Thank you very much !!!

[@typehandstudio]

Inspirated ! Btw if in windows we should un group if we have more than 2 shape. :) if 1 shape please unity first after make from path xD

[@temitopenkechiakintola4253]

Thank you for this tutorial!!!

[@roynobody]

thank you very much! this was very informative!

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Im happy this has helped you :D

[@wix4936]

hello im having some trouble im new to the illustrator when im gonna click the "offset path" i somehow cant click it need help please

[@keziah_dll]

Cyan Alonzo Create outline first

[@ainjeffery]

This is really helpful!

[@thpdi]

awesome video!

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thanks man!

[@pasists]

Thanks!!! Helped a lot!

[@IvanAcunzo]

Cool and usefull! Thanks ;)

[@jhula007]

Thanks, great stuff.

[@sapwoodcreative]

Very hard to follow.

[@aarifahmed6162]

Thank you so much Bro !!!

[@pietdijkman1980]

Excuse me, are you saying ctrl A or ctrl 8? Thanks man, it's a great tutorial, i'm just learning illustrator. Subbed!

[@iadesigns5558]

bro really like this video keep going :D

[@craigradcliffe635]

great tutorial.

[@mowais5658]

Thanks so much for this

[@PXLGraphics]

That's an really awesome technique! Did you sketch the logo with a pencil or with a brush pen? :)

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thanks man, and for this I drew it all with a pencil, no brush pen was used. :)

[@PXLGraphics]

Ste Bradbury Design Thanks! I'm not sure how much effort a tutorial about this would take, but I would love to see the process behind a "pencil" sketch logo :) for example how do you set your guidelines, do you have any special tricks to make smooth lines etc

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Yannik W. That is definitely something I will consider doing :) Thanks for the tutorial idea, man!

[@LazzaraFPV]

So helpful dude. Nailed it (Y)

[@obv_design9310]

Brilliant! Thanks allot!🙌

[@SteBradburyDesign]

You're welcome :)

[@ryanbrianna4703]

can I download the font?

[@willetterstudio2664]

Nice

[@valentinacol89]

Thank you. From 2 Colombians in Turkey.

[@Xl0ud]

Wow, love it! By the way, what's the CMYK or RGB of the grey color on the background? I love it

[@SteBradburyDesign]

The hex value for that dark grey is #191919 :)

[@Xl0ud]

Thanks :)

[@Remjbbx]

Thanks, that's what I needed ! Great vid' as always bro !

[@SteBradburyDesign]

Thanks for the support, man!

[@JostenDooley]

Hell yes thank you

[@NasirUddin-pt4vw]

This tutorial is so confusing. Please don't use shortcut for beginner.

[@edasch]

He said the shortcuts in the Video, just pause it and press the same as he says xD

[@user-cb8po5gw8t]

thank you! good lessons.

[@boteldsn]

very useful! thankyou stephen :D

[@SteBradburyDesign]

You're very welcome man!

[@Batallo]

So I'm having a little bit of trouble with this. The option to offset path isn't available. Does this has something to do with it still being considered text? I've tried to expand the text... that makes the option to offset available but causes a whole different set of problems.

[@mrnordjr]

its not text, first create outlines from the text

[@isaachernandez2080]

Guys if you can't follow this guy you must be very new to Illustrator, My advice would be to just WATCH and COPY everything he does, even if you don't understand.

[@Vobo-Ghure]

Helpful.... Thanks...

[@HACH191]

why cant i select object, offset path? it won't allow me to do it you must have left out a step? I'm using text do i need to group or merge or something for it allow me to use that feature/tool?

[@angelperozo2315]

AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEE

[@scottbminer]

as a tutorial, it's weak... there are numerous places where the person jumps over what are important steps in the creative process, assuming that the observer will be able to look at the desktop and "infer" what steps he took to reach a certain place. i.e., turning the one text layer into an object so that he could offset it...

[@tanjirulislamsami6225]

Can anyone please tell me this font name?

[@steelous2697]

Is there a way to do the inner highlights in photoshop instead of illustrator?

[@tilfly]

that's awesome

[@MisterDogan]

How do you do that, seeing the layer without anchor points ?

[@annamariahack]

Please help! When I apply the Pathfinder with Minus Front it gets only applied on one letter because they are not together. How to make that Minus Front and apply on the whole text?

[@abdul-khaliqemam]

Thank you so much

[@ros1cz3k]

Please help. I've been doing inner shadows (minus offset) then i make compound path but in the group layer I have just one compound path. Exactly the "full background" path that should be deleted. Tried to follow every step like three times... :/

[@Sidthesexiest]

Control A or Control 8 ?

[@gsfxmentor]

nice tutorial love...this..:)

[@juanmonge5937]

Appreciate it bro