Create a Multicolored Splashed Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a multicolored splashed
text effect in Adobe Illustrator. In the beginning you will manipulate the text
a little and once ready, you will add some dimension to it with the help of the
Bas Relief effect. 

Next, you will create the multicolored splashes using the
Appearance panel and by playing with two built-in Scatter Brushes and their
settings. 

Towards the end of the tutorial you will add highlights and shading
to the text and also to the splashes, and that’s it! Sounds easy? Let’s find
out. 

1. Start a New Project

Open Illustrator and go to File > New to open a blank document. Type
a name for your file and set up the dimensions, and then select Pixels as Units and
RGB as Color Mode. Next, go to Edit > Preferences > General and set the
Keyboard Increment to 1 px and while there, go to Units & Display
Performance to make sure that the Units are as in the following image. I
usually work with these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing
process. 

2. Type and Prepare the Text

Step 1

Grab the Type Tool (T) and type Paint me on
your artboard. The font that I’ve used is LeckerliOne, Regular, size of 117 pt
and is created by Gesine Todt. Select
Expand from the Object menu. 

Step 2

Next, take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag a selection over the
top half of the letter “t” as shown below. This allows you to select all the
points in that area and move them upwards in a single movement. After this, the
letter “t” should be about the same size as the letter “i”.  

Step 3

Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) again to drag a selection over the
letter “t” as shown in the following image. Move the selected points towards
the letter “m”. 

Step 4

Now, select all the letters and press Add in the Pathfinder panel to unite them into a single shape. 

3. Add Dimension to the Text

Step 1

Select the compound path that you created in the previous step and
set the fill color to black. Next, go to Effect > Sketch and apply the Bas
Relief effect. Reduce the Opacity to 40% for a less dramatic look. I will name
this the “bas relief shape”. 

Apply these settings for the Bas Relief effect and set the Light to Top. 

Step 2

Copy and Paste in Back (Control-B) the “bas relief shape” and remove all
existing appearances by pressing the Clear Appearance icon at the bottom of the
Appearance panel. 

Use the color indicated as the fill color, and then go to Effect
> Stylize > Drop Shadow and apply this effect four times. I will name this
the “shadow shape”. 

These are the settings for the four Drop Shadow effects:

Step 3

If you zoom in on the letters, you will notice they have pixelated edges. To
fix this problem, you will use a mask. Copy and Paste in Front (Control-F) the
“bas relief shape” and remove all existing appearances. Now, select this new
copy along with the “bas relief shape” and go to Object > Clipping Mask >
Make (Control-7). 

You can name the resulting group “Bas Relief” if you want, and
at this point in the Layers panel you should have this group and the “shadow
shape” under it.  

Step 4

Copy and Paste in Front (Control-F) the “shadow shape”, and then bring it in
front of everything by going to Object > Arrange > Bring to Front
(Shift-Control-]). Remove all existing appearances, select white as the fill
color, and set the Blending Mode to Soft Light. As a result, your text will be
whiter, and we want this because the multicolored splashes will stand out more. I
will name this the “white shape”. 

4. Create the Multicolored Splashes 

Step 1 

Grab the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a path over the letters as in the next
image. Try to follow the shape of the letters as accurately as possible because
you want most of the splashes to be on the letters, not around them on the
background. If needed, you can make additional adjustments with the Direct
Selection Tool (A). 

Stroke this path with the Ink Splats Scatter Brush that you can find in
Brush Libraries Menu > Artistic > Artistic_Ink. Since the Colorization
Method is set to Tints, by changing the stroke color to light blue, your
splashes will turn light blue as well.

Keep the Stroke weight at 1 pt, but go to the Appearance panel and double-click on the brush stroke to open the
Stroke Options window and change the settings. I’ve only changed the settings
for Size and Spacing and left the others as they were.

Step 2

With the path still selected, choose Add New Stroke from the fly-out
menu of the Appearance panel. As a result you will get a second Stroke
attribute above the first. Change the color to red and use the Ink Splats
Scatter Brush again. Open the Stroke Options window and change the settings as shown.
We want bigger splashes at the beginning and smaller splashes later. 

Step 3

With the path still selected, add the third Stroke attribute above the
others. Set the color to orange and this time use the Ink Spatter 1 Scatter
Brush from the library. Open the Stroke Options window and change only the
settings for Size and Spacing as shown. 

Step 4

Add a new Stroke attribute and use the color indicated. Select the Ink
Splats Scatter Brush again, and then change the settings. Obviously, you won’t get a
result identical to mine, but it should be pretty similar. 

Step 5

Add a new Stroke attribute, set the color to green, and use the Ink
Splats Scatter Brush again. Use smaller values for Size in order to get smaller
splashes. 

Step 6

Add another Stroke attribute above the others and set the color to
brown. This time use the Ink Spatter 1 Scatter Brush and change the settings
for Size and Spacing in the Stroke Options window. You want to get really small
brown splashes this time.

Step 7

Add the last Stroke attribute and set the color to purple. Use the
Ink Spatter 1 Scatter Brush again, with the settings shown below. The purple splashes
should be pretty small as well. 

Step 8

It’s time to mask the splashes around the letters, but before you
continue, make a copy of the stroked path for later use. Now, Copy and Paste in
Front (Control-F) the “white shape” and remove all existing appearances. 

Bring
this copy in front of everything by going to Object > Arrange > Bring to
Front (Shift-Control-]). Select the newly made shape along with the stroked
path and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Control-7). 

Step 9

Next, we will add more splashes around the text, on the background, because at this point the text looks quite strange. Select the copy of the
stroked path that you made earlier and move it in a new layer under the
text. Select Expand Appearance in order to turn the strokes into fills. 

At this
point, in the Layers panel you should have a group that contains seven other groups (each Stroke attribute will turn into a group of splashes). In each of
these groups you will find the path that you have used (stroke-none, fill-none). Therefore open each group, scroll to the end of it and delete them. It’s
important to delete all seven paths before you continue. 

When you are done, select the big group of splashes and Ungroup
(Shift?Control?G) two or three times until you are able to select individual
splashes or smaller groups of splashes. 

Step 10

Start to delete some of the splashes from around the text because at
this point it is much too crowded. In the next image you can see the areas that
I’ve cleaned up, so you can follow my example or create your own unique
design. 

The important thing here is to keep the bigger splashes located right
at the edge of the text (indicated by the arrows), otherwise the overall look is
going to be weird. You are free to delete a large part of the splashes that are
further from the text. 

5. Add Highlights/Shading to the Text 

Step 1 

First, create a new layer above the one with the text. Grab the Pen Tool
(P) or the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a path over the left side of the letters “P”, “a”, “n”, “t”,
“m”, and “e”, as in the next image (1). 

Stroke these six
paths with a brush from the Set of Multi-Use Blend
Brushes called Black Angled Art Brush, which we created a while ago.
Increase the Stroke weight to 2 pt (2) and set all of them to Blending Mode
Overlay and 75% Opacity (3).

Step 2

Next, draw the paths shown in the following image over the letters (1).
Stroke these paths with the White Angled Art Brush from the Set of Multi-Use Blend Brushes, which is just the
white version of the previously used brush. Set the Stroke weight to 1–1.5 pt
depending on the letter (2), and then set all of them to Blending Mode Overlay (3). 

Step 3

Here is a before and after image. At the beginning the text looked pretty
flat, but after the highlights/shading the text looks shiny and more defined. 

6. Add Dimension to the Outer Splashes 

Step 1

Before you continue, lock the layer with the text and the layer with the
highlights/shading. Now select all the splashes around the letters and Copy
and Paste in Front (Control-F) all of them (1). Keeping them selected, fill all the
copies with a radial gradient from white to black (2) and set them to Blending
Mode Color Dodge and 50% Opacity (3). 

Step 2

Select all the splashes around the text again, and Copy and Paste in
Front (Control-F) all of them. Keeping them selected, press Add in the Pathfinder
panel to unite them into a single shape. Remove any existing
appearances of the newly created compound path, and select white as the fill
color. 

Step 3

With the white compound path from the previous step still selected, go
to Effect > Stylize and apply the Drop Shadow effect twice. After that,
reduce the Opacity to 0% but only for the white Fill attribute, otherwise we
won’t be able to see the color of the splashes. We are interested in only the
shadow. Set the shape to Blending Mode Color Burn. 

These are the settings for the two Drop Shadow effects. Notice that the
first one uses the color black and the other one uses white. 

Step 4

In the last step let’s add even more shine to the outer splashes. Grab
the Pen Tool (P) or the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a few small paths over the
bigger splashes (1). 

Stroke these paths with the White Blend Art Brush, size of
100 x 3 px, from the Set of Multi-Use Blend Brushes.
Set the Stroke weight at 1–2 pt depending on the size of the splashes, and reduce the Opacity to 40-75% depending how shiny you want them to be (2). And
with this you’ve just finished! 

Congratulations! You’re Done

I hope you learned something new from this tutorial. If you decide to
create this splashed text effect, please share it with us. It would be lovely
to see other color combinations, or maybe a unique design.