How to Create a Spanish 3D Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

Final product image — What You’ll Be Creating

In the following steps, you will learn how to create a Spanish 3D text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

For starters, you will learn how to create a simple background for your text and how to add basic text. Using only your piece of text and the Appearance panel, you will learn how to create the final text effect. You’ll only need four fills, a stroke, several Transform and 3D Rotate effects, a Gaussian Blur, and some basic blending techniques.

For more inspiration on how to adjust or improve your final text effect, you can find plenty of resources at GraphicRiver.

What You Will Need

You will need the following resource in order to complete this project:

Etna font

1. How to Create a New Document and the Background

Step 1

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 850 in the width box and 600 in the height box, and then click that More Settings button. Select RGB for the Color Mode, set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click Create Document.

Open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Don’t forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units.

Step 2

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and focus on your Toolbar. Remove the color from the stroke and then select the fill and set its color to R=137 G=147 B=150.

Simply click on your artboard to open the Rectangle window. Set the Width to 870 px and the Height to 620 px, and then click OK. Make sure that your new shape covers the entire artboard as shown in the following image.

2. How to Create the Text

Step 1

Pick the Type Tool (T) and open the Character panel (Window > Type > Character). Select the Etna font, and set the size to 100 px and the tracking to 100.

Click on the artboard and add your piece of text about as shown below. The text I’m using means “Always look on the bright side of life” in Spanish. Make it black, for now.

Step 2

Select your text, focus on the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches), and click that [None] swatch to remove the black text color.

Move to the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) and add a new fill using the Add New Fill button. Select that new fill and set the color to R=249 G=62 B=73.

3. How to Create the Spanish 3D Text Effect

Step 1

Make sure that your text stays selected and focus on the Appearance panel. Select the fill and go to Effect > 3D > Rotate. Enter the attributes shown below and click OK.

Step 2

Make sure that your text stays selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a second fill and select it. Drag it below that other fill, set its color to R=206 G=17 B=38, and go to Effect > 3D > Rotate. Enter the attributes shown below, click OK, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag the Move-Vertical slider to 0.25 px, enter 20 in the Copies box, and then click OK.

Step 3

Make sure that your text stays selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a third fill and select it. Drag it below the other fills and set its color to black (R=0 G=0 B=0). Lower its Opacity to 50% and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light, and then go to Effect > 3D > Rotate. Enter the attributes shown below, click OK, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter the settings shown in the following image, click OK, and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 8 px and click OK.

Step 4

Make sure that your text stays selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Select the black fill and duplicate it using the Duplicate Selected Item button. Select the newly added fill, lower its Opacity to 5%, and remove that Gaussian Blur effect.

Step 5

Make sure that your text stays selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Select the stroke and set its color to white (R=255 G=255 B=255). Increase the stroke Weight to 4 px and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -2 px Offset, click OK, and go to Effect > 3D > Rotate. Enter the attributes shown below, click OK, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag the Move-Vertical slider to -20 px and click OK.

Congratulations! You’re Done!

Here is how your Spanish 3D text effect should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these techniques in your future projects. Don’t hesitate to share your final result in the comments section.

Feel free to adjust the final design and make it your own. You can find some great sources of inspiration at GraphicRiver, with interesting solutions to improve your design.