Give ANYTHING a Realistic NEON GLOW in Illustrator

[@ForeverDansky]

👉 Ready to master Adobe Illustrator and confidently create professional designs? Take the next step with my complete Illustrator course! Start now go.dansky.com/illustrator-first-class

[@suzannerinoldo7007]

A client asked for a neon logo and I had no idea how to make it. Thanks to you, the logo looks fantastic. This was easy to follow and I had a few laughs along the way. Thank you!

[@ForeverDansky]

That’s amazing to hear Suzanne, and thank you so much for the $10! 😊

[@AverageHomeBoy]

I literally laughed out loud at the "Simply resize...and it remembers to fuckin work!" You've always been a top design role model in my mind. Keep being you because YOU are AWESOME.

[@allenleitch1783]

egg fuckin ZACTLY - I'm sold - well played sir

[@byAlexandraG]

I've known Illustrator forever but you NEVER stop learning and your Videos are awesome but it's the "Glow Crazy" with a chuckle that made me subscribe because you're awesome 😂

[@phoebus00]

Looks good 👍🏼 To keep it completely editable and save yourself time with all the copy/paste you can also have one single “Yo” Then click on the text and open the appearance panel. Duplicate the white fill layer several times and add the desired blur to each fill. That way you can also save the effect as a style and add it to anything with a click.

[@fraicheness]

I knew there was this workaround. Thx!

[@phoebus00]

@@fraicheness my pleasure 😇

[@Raptor_Roach]

For years I've watched these stupid tutorials, usually pissed off because I just need my toolbar back or need help with something simple. For years I have been disappointed with the tutorials I see and wish people would just get to the point. This is the first video I've ever seen that was helpful, funny, and to the point. THANK YOU!

[@NOADDEDMSGtv]

Straight👏🏻to👏🏻the👏🏻point👏🏻 Thank you for making a 2 minute video for this

[@stephanie5838]

the tutorial was so entertaining I forgot that I was trying to learn! I wish all tutorials were this fun.

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha awesome, glad you enjoyed it Stephanie!

[@originalmarshmello]

Thank you sir!! Helped a bunch :)

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome! 🙂

[@ForeverDansky]

Also, to remove the black background, simply group everything together and changing the blending mode to 'Screen' 😊

[@leksmar]

this dont work for me

[@Ton653]

Doesn't work

[@leomac3337]

i tryed...but if i choose screen instead overlay it does not work

[@Soothsayer99]

The result is beautiful, but I need only the letters without the black background and this method does not work :(

[@5PENC3]

In order for this to work you have to have another white layer outside and below the group.

[@amywarren1706]

Why not just use the appearance panel instead of using symbols? I followed your example, but used the appearance panel with 5 white fills, each with a different gaussian blur, just like you did. It worked fine - it was completely editable and it was just one object. It just seems easier to use the appearance panel than to use 5 individual instances of a symbol. Just for kicks, I also did the gradient overlay as part of the text appearance in the appearance panel. I put a gradient fill as the top fill on the text, set its opacity to overlay and then gave that fill an offset effect of 150px (anything should work as long as it is greater than the largest gaussian blur used). It seems to work well. A side note - I also tried other blending modes on that fill - Color Burn, Color Dodge and Color all gave cool effects. Of course, those effects look better or worse, depending on the colors chosen for the gradient. OOPS - I just noticed that another user already suggested using the appearance panel. Oh well, I'll just leave my comment up anyway

[@brennalp.gymnast]

Thanks you for this! I needed to make neon lines and I ended up using the appearance panel with 5 strokes on one object to create the effect after reading your suggestion.

[@kalydoscop2751]

This is super refreshing, normally i'd just go with a inner/outer glow effect, time to experiment with blurs 😌

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha yea, it's a useful technique 👍 Mixing the two techniques together could be interesting!

[@flaviabarar2680]

GENIUS!!! Doing a happy dance right now

[@azuremv]

dude honestly you swearing caught me off guard, first time ive ever heard you drop an f bomb. but for real though, ive been lurking around your channel watching all your tutorials, and theyre awesome, keep up the great work!

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha yea that may be a first for me on this channel! 😋 Also, thanks for checking out my videos, hope they're helpful 👊

[@jayestanley837]

That symbol thing.... Amazing!!! 😍

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks Jaye! Yea they’re very useful! 👍☺️

[@jonathanformlyrics5355]

For those who doesn't work, change your document colour from CMYK to RGB.

[@Goldlender]

THANK YOU! This is exactly the step I needed. The last step in the video was not working and redid the glow part twice thinking I made a mistake.

[@cmj199318]

Rgb ftw

[@brucekennedy5274]

“..and then it remembers to fuckin’ work” - total respect for that 😆

[@ForeverDansky]

Haha... totally off the cuff that one! 😅

[@brucekennedy5274]

@@ForeverDansky It's gold! Totally killed me 🤣👍

[@thecollaborateva3238]

YES! thank you for the fit of laughter and for so eloquently putting all of our frustrations in one sentence. Thanks for the tutorial!

[@testing7802]

youre a genius to figure out the workarounds to the damn bugs

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha thanks! Truth be told, I do love a good problem to solve! 😁

[@enamulhaque8817]

Have been looking for a long time on how to do this neon effect easily. You are amazing. Take love.

[@ForeverDansky]

Awesome! Glad I could help!

[@siryessirnosir]

Thanks for this, works great in CMYK as well!

[@roeyael8015]

BRO IS THE GOD OF ILUSTRATOR

[@lefthandstan]

I followed along at the same pace and I feel great

[@togudv9033]

thanks to this video I was able to make the graphics of my video game, you are the best.

[@bladedaboi15iscrazyyy]

THAT LOOKS AMAZING WHAT THE HELL

[@NoRuleBut3]

Beautiful! Thank you for this!

[@iqrajaved3260]

After raster effect setting. I decrease the size of text but no glow comes in my design like your come. Can you please tell me how to fix it?

[@zzz9854]

dude this so amazing! Your tutorial is so useful and so easy. Thanks you.

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome! 👊😀

[@jorgequeipul]

Thank you!! with some little adjustments I was able to apply this neon effect to my logo and it looks amazing!! I really appreciate your help 🙏🙏

[@ForeverDansky]

Awesome! You're very welcome 😊

[@somratha1929]

Thank you🤩🤩

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome 😊

[@018saveme]

"give it a second to load, and then it remembers to fucken work. hooray!" - def one of the funniest and more entertaining tutorials i've seen. great, btw!

[@ccuny1]

Dan, that was an hilarious tutorial, and it made my day.

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha awesome! That's great to hear Cricri 😂👊

[@ccuny1]

@@ForeverDansky Yep. Crap evening turned into smiles and giggles. And I learned a neon glow in Illustrator: bonus.

[@bendarlington4987]

Thanks!

[@ZakiBekakra]

awesome ..Thank's mstr Dansky

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome! 🙌

[@Teen69Gamers]

I am from Bangladesh. Love your work sir.

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks so much!

[@Sultanul]

kaj hoyche bro apnr? amr rasterization por glow ta r ashena size komanur poro

[@Teen69Gamers]

@@Sultanul amr 720 pt ashe kina px ashe na??

[@muhammadyeasin4643]

I like it💜

[@Thegreatercheese]

Overlay doesn't work for changing the colour for me.

[@sgabrielle2439]

I genuinely love you 🤣🤣🤣 This was great. Thanks!

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it ☺️

[@Targoon_Music]

thank you very much

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome 🙂

[@kopfnuss53]

Thank you very much, bro!

[@ayanasef2894]

Thnx bro❤

[@ForeverDansky]

✌

[@vmplx]

cool short tutorial nice.

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks!

[@khermancreative]

LOL @ 1:23… typical Adobe. Too funny, good video.

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha thank you! 😂👊

[@hritankarbasu7594]

Love it sir

[@Van-ci]

I'm stuck, when i go to click opacity to check the overlay option its grayed out, then i tried selecting everything including the text and the gradient the neon text don't show at all, I'm just seeing a black background

[@presleyyole6796]

I love you ❤❤

[@Sultanul]

after the rasterization process if i decrease the size it doesn't work i mean that glow dont show.

[@tashlentine]

"and then it remembers to fucking work"..... every designer's dialogue with illustrator every day.

[@MyNinjaOfficial]

I have never thought about trying it this way. Thanks for the new perspective. I'm gonna try this out tomorrow 😌👍🏾

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome 😊

[@HelloMyNameIsJeevo]

Great video, many thanks! I am trying to figure out how to cut out the text with blur from the background. So that I can print the logo on glass for example. Do you know if this is possible? And how? :D

[@ForeverDansky]

I would try adding the colour directly on to the text at the beginning (rather than using a block colour overlay), as this will retain the transparency in the design. You could also try a similar approach with Photoshop if you would like a bit more realism. If that sounds good, consider checking out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWS1fHetj7mkmqM

[@ghafourbouakaz2744]

Thank you

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome Ghafour ☺️

[@faiqshad]

Thank you Dan, you've been an amazing instructor making complex concepts so simple to learn with hint a of fun!

[@ForeverDansky]

Hey that's amazing to hear Faiq, thank you so much! :)

[@luciaormaza4767]

Awesome tutorial!! How do I save just the text? So, if I want a png of just the neon text in the colors (not just white) ?

[@tmthydlws]

how do i get only the letters to be colored so i can copy and paste them to other backgrounds?

[@yelenaaleksic590]

Mine doesn't work past the document raster effect settings - do you know why?

[@saarahannefletcher1580]

Shooowee, how helpful. Thank you!

[@gramierwinston1533]

Awesome

[@matoflynn]

Thank you as always for these digestible tutorials!

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome mate! 👊

[@KodeLiMe]

Awesome 😎

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks Jason!

[@lykarn]

Actually with copy and paste process, can we simply do it all making multiple fill set up in appearance along with blur effect?

[@ForeverDansky]

Hey Chaiya, one of the first tips in the video linked here demonstrates how to copy appearance effects to other objects in Illustrator: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2G0gKSAq82Fo5Y

[@leomac3337]

yehaaaaaaaaaaa you are the man

[@ForeverDansky]

Cheers Leo! 😃

[@leomac3337]

@@ForeverDansky i tryed screen...but it does not work how to proceed

[@Mohanadomar10]

Amazing

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks Mohanad!

[@Usmanghani063]

Excellent 👌

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks Usman!

[@LeeA-yn5yk]

Hi, I have been making some pretty cool stuff following your tutorial. Now, how do I export it as png? Black background can be hidden, prior exporting is done, without affecting anything, but that gradient layer which elevates the whole neon glow to a new level is what I have troubles with? Also, I followed these instructions - group everything and change the blend mode to screen, but nothing happened. To be clear I click properties, after the grouping, look for appearance menu and then click opacity, from where I change from overlay to screen. Thank you and cheers!

[@yourtrinty]

Awesome🔥🔥🔥

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks Asif 🙏

[@yourtrinty]

You are most welcome. Love from Bangladesh 💜

[@sefa7152]

Thanks for this vidéo i havé à question that works with antihéros fonts?

[@TickleTiki]

For some reason when I put overlay they colour does not show up on the glow

[@lucas-jaywoodbridge9043]

Hi Dan, I cant seem to get the overlay part to work but the rest of it looks good. Any idea what is wrong?

[@lucaswoodbridge]

Figured it out, I was in CMYK mode but in RGB mode this works. Not sure why 😂

[@Jeannemarre]

I am in RGB it still does not work@@lucaswoodbridge

[@HazzyKizo]

Note to self on Gaussian Blur: 0.5, 3, 10, 25, 50

[@AsadKhan-ib8xi]

Thanks

[@anhhoangminh266]

Hi, in the raster effects step, my illustrator only have color model of CMYK, Grayscale, Bitmap, what should i do?

[@bambinoesu]

so how would add neon effect without having a black background??

[@ForeverDansky]

Group everything together and change the blending mode to something like 'Screen'.

[@bambinoesu]

@@ForeverDansky thanks for your response ✨

[@DeefStudio-cl9md]

nice 😍

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks 😊

[@7Questions]

Will it only work if I choose the RBG color mode?

[@ForeverDansky]

Yea should work. There's just more colours in the RGB spectrum, so the end result often looks more vibrant.

[@multiprintdesignersandprin1200]

Can we not use BLEND tool effect, that way it would be all vector, as I believe Blur effect is a raster effect

[@ForeverDansky]

For sure! Honestly, theres a bunch of ways to do glow effects 😊

[@visualpictureofficiel]

Du coup on peux pas le porter en PNG ou le mettre sur une photo autre que du noir ? Au top la vidéo 💪

[@r1yoo]

Can this work on things I did with the pen tool?

[@nrthnmonkey3308]

The first time I did this it worked perfectly, but the second time I was editing an adobe template. I added the new text, and repeated the process but this time when I added the first 0.5 blur it blurred a lot straight away, the final result is very pixelated. Any idea what's gone wrong?

[@ForeverDansky]

Likely different document or object sizes. On a smaller document 0.5 might be way too much, so 0.1 might be more suitable, and if the document is massive (eg. signage) you may want to go higher than 0.5 for the first blur 👍🙂

[@shader9995]

I hope this works for cmyk format, I need it for a poster 😢❤

[@f11bot]

1:18 “Then it remembers to fucking work” HAHAHAHAH

[@kdubs3342]

Sweating after this video you went so fast lol but it worked! Had to pause many times and Google some things because my screen didn't have certain panels pop up likes yours.

[@flapstick_101]

How do you make the background not adherent to the gradient? So that just the text is affected by the gradient? Having a bit of trouble (Illustrator 2020)

[@ForeverDansky]

If you “Group” everything together, and change the blending mode to something like “Screen” the background will essentially disappear. Is that what you meant? 🙂

[@flapstick_101]

@@ForeverDansky yes, exactly! Thank you so much for the help!

[@creativefall2012]

Aaaand what are we supposed to do if we dont want the black background to show up?

[@ForeverDansky]

Group everything including the background and change the blending mode (under opacity options) to Screen. You can now add a photo behind for example, and the neon effect will appear on top 👍

[@lune1102]

Is it good for fabric printing?

[@garyvoigt321]

My favorite tutorial yet. Now if only I can remember how to f'n work. 🤣

[@ForeverDansky]

Haha cheers Gary! 😂👊

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

I watched this on 0.5 speed to be able to keep up without pausing and it was absolutely batshit😂😂 super helpful though!!!

[@droneskyshows]

When following the steps my text turns into an image and I can no longer edit the text in the last step. Is there a way to avoid this?

[@ghafourbouakaz2744]

Great

[@ronielchesterpayos4145]

What to do if the Document Raster Effect Settings does not have RGB option so that I can make that gradient effect on glow text?

[@brandinojam24]

What's the pros and cons of doing this on illustrator rather than photoshop?

[@richardc.shadeii3686]

I work with neon how do you suggest doing this on a white wall? Like to show a client neon on there wall?

[@ForeverDansky]

Same technique 👍 Although neon in my opinion, doesn’t stand out as well on lighter backgrounds. You may also need to try different blending modes or just apply the desired colour of your neon directly to the text itself.

[@elenaaravani3267]

Hello! I'e got a wuestion. by the time I want to cgange the opacity drom normal in overlay, it does not let me to select anything, what can I do?

[@TomBoute]

I can't figure out how to remove the black background

[@ForeverDansky]

Group everything, position over your image/photo, and then change the Blending Mode to something like Lighten or Screen 👍

[@andreeamaryn5159]

why when I reduce the gaussin blur do I get a light circle with squares?

[@gf618]

opacity overlay not working. Any clues on to why?

[@KalponicGames]

How do I get this effect without backgrounds? For example in cyberunk theme games you need to make a lot of assets with neon effects. I want to get the action to set to make a neon effect and change colour too. Man adobe being such big industry tool makes it an unintuitive way of making things.

[@DeltaGen42]

When I add a red colored rectangle and change the opacity to overlay, it just makes it a brighter white glow. I'm trying to get a red glow... What am I doing wrong?

[@DeltaGen42]

Scratch that. Solved it. It doesnt work in CMYK mode properly, but worked fine in RGB

[@ForeverDansky]

Try the ‘Color’ blending mode, or change the colour of the lettering itself 👍

[@alonzomonroy8149]

Mine won't change color. I have a green and purple background, but it's still glowing white.

[@liezstarht9026]

I try it. At first it didn't work 'cause I was in CMYK mode and now is mid working, I can see the neon effect but doesn't follow up the outline of the text. I simply see the gradient circle. Idk why

[@chrisjohn2415]

"Then it remembers to f'n work". Best comment ever!

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha cheers Chris 😂

[@me_noge4727]

when I click "overlay" it doesn´t work...what can I do?

[@ForeverDansky]

Make sure the overlay layer is on top of everything else, and try changing the colours to something vibrant and see if it works. Or you can change the colour of the letters themselves, as the overlay trick is a quick way to try out different colours 👍