Draw Drop Shadow Letters Live with Layer Effects in Illustrator

Add a live drop shadow to your hand lettering in Adobe Illustrator using a layer effect. In this video, I show you how to create the drop shadow effect, how to use it, edit it, and finally expand it. When you draw your lettering, the drop shadow is applied automatically as you draw on the layer, and your hand-drawn lettering in Illustrator looks amazing and fun!
0:00 Intro
0:47 Looking at the layer effect in the Layers panel and the Appearance panel
2:47 Looking at the Transform effect in the Appearance panel
4:03 How to create the drop shadow effect on a new layer
6:30 How to cut strokes to avoid overlapping shadows in corners
7:50 How to expand the shadow art, remove the effect for editing
10:15 Using Pathfinder to Unite the overlapping shadow shapes
10:44 Outro
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All content by Laura Coyle

[@sararosinsky9523]

You’re such a good teacher! Thanks for this!

[@LauraCoyle]

Wow, thank you, Sara! 😊

[@sararosinsky9523]

Naive question: why would I want to expand the artwork? What's the benefit? (Thank you!)

[@LauraCoyle]

If I were handing the art off to a client or another designer, I would expand it first. Layer effects may not be as widely understood as other features in Illustrator, and it might cause a problem. Also, expanding creates other avenues for editing, adding a pattern fill, etc.

[@sararosinsky9523]

Makes sense. Thank you!