Love
a good cherry pie? I do! So let’s have fun and turn it into a cherry
pie text effect.
At the beginning you’ll create the shape of the
letters with the traditional wavy edges of a cherry pie. After that you’ll add the
tasty filling with the help of a custom Cherry Scatter Brush, and then
it’s time for the intertwined stripes on top of the cherry pie.
Let’s
not forget about the pie crust texture and the custom Powdered Sugar
Scatter Brush. If you want to know how to create all these things,
let’s begin!
If
you are hungry for more text effects or food vectors in general, then
GraphicRiver has you covered with plenty of resources to choose
from.
Tutorial
Assets
To
complete the tutorial, you will need the following assets:
- Geist Knt Font
- Round Any Corner Script from 20 Free and Useful Adobe Illustrator Scripts
1. Open a New Document
Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set up the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.
Make sure that Align
New Objects to Pixel Grid is
not checked.
Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General and
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px, and
while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process.
2. How
to Create the Pie-Shaped Letters
Step
1
Take
the Type Tool (T) and type “PIE” on your artboard using the Geist
Knt Font, with a size of 200 pt. Under the Set the tracking for the selected
characters field, choose 200 in order to spread the letters.
Step
2
With the text still selected, choose Expand from the Object menu and then
Ungroup (Shift-Control-G) to obtain the individual letters.
Keep
those letters selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Round
Corners. Apply a Radius of 10 px and hit OK.
Step
3
With
the letters still selected, choose Expand Appearance from the Object
menu to expand the effect applied, and after that, Ungroup
(Shift-Control-G) if necessary.
Stroke
the letters with the Diamonds 1 Pattern Brush, which you can find in
the Brush Libraries Menu under Borders > Borders_Geometric. Reduce
the Stroke Weight to 0.75 pt.
Step
4
Select
only the letter “P” and choose Expand Appearance from the Object
menu in order to expand the brush stroke applied. Next, press Unite
in the Pathfinder panel to merge the border and the letter into a
single shape.
Repeat the same thing for the other two letters.
Step
5
With the new letters still selected, go to File > Scripts > Round Any
Corner and apply a Radius of 5–6 to obtain the rounded edges that are
characteristic of a pie.
If
you want to make extra adjustments to the wavy edges, take the
Direct Selection Tool (A) and move some of the points or adjust their
handles.
3. How
to Add Texture to the Letters
Step
1
Fill
the letters with the color indicated; then go to Effect > Stylize
> Inner Glow and apply the settings shown below.
Step
2
With the letters still selected, add a New Fill above the first one
and keep the same fill color. Next, go to Effect > Texture >
Texturizer and apply the settings shown. Set this Fill attribute to
Blending Mode Multiply and 40% Opacity.
Step
3
To
get rid of the pixelated edges generated by the Texturizer effect, we
will use a mask. Select the three letters and then Copy and Paste in
Front (Control-F) to get copies of them; then remove all existing
appearances from the Appearance panel.
Now,
select the letter “P” along with the copy of letter “P” and
go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Control-7). Repeat the
same thing for the other two letters, and you will have sharp edges.
4. How
to Create a Cherry Scatter Brush
Step
1
Grab
the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a small 18 x 18 px circle. Distort this
circle a little with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A) to
obtain the shape of the cherry, which shouldn’t be perfectly round.
Next,
follow the sequence of images and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw some
random shapes on the cherry as highlights and shading.
Step
2
Draw
a few smaller shapes on the cherry to add more highlights. Fill these
shapes with white and reduce the Opacity to 50%.
Step
3
Group
(Control-G) all the shapes that make up the cherry, which is pretty
small. Drag the group into the Brushes panel and choose New Scatter
Brush. In the Scatter Brush Options window, just type a name for your
new brush and leave the rest of the settings as they are.
5. How
to Create the Cherry Pie Filling
Step
1
Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the shapes of the letters
from under the mask, and then go to Object > Path > Offset Path.
Apply an Offset of -20 px and you will get the smaller letters in the
center. I will name these shapes “filling background”.
Step
2
Take
the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a random circular path over the three
“filling background” shapes. Stroke these paths with the Cherry
Scatter Brush that you saved earlier. With the paths still selected, go to the Appearance panel, open the Stroke Options window, and change the Size and Rotation settings as shown or until you get a
slightly messy look.
Step
3
Select
the three “filling background” shapes from underneath and then
Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to get copies of them.
Now,
select the cherry stroked path over the letter “P” along with the
copy of the “filling background” and go to Object > Clipping
Mask > Make (Control-7). Repeat the same thing for the other two
letters and mask the cherry filling.
6. How
to Add Highlights and Shading to the Cherry Pie Filling
Step
1
Let’s
make the cherry filling more glossy. Zoom in on the letters and use the
Pencil Tool (N) to draw a bunch of short paths following the contour
of the cherries in the filling. You can add as many as you want.
After you are done, create three groups of paths, one for each
letter.
Step
2
Select
a 1 pt white Stroke for all these paths and use the Width Profile 2
in the Stroke panel. Set the Opacity for each group of paths to 80%.
Step
3
Select
the three “filling background” shapes from underneath the
cherries and then Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to get
copies of them. Use white as the fill color; then go to Effect >
Stylize > Inner Glow and apply the settings shown below. Set the
Blending Mode to Multiply in order to make the white fill transparent, and you will only be able to see the inner shadow.
7. How
to Create the Lattice Top Pie Crust
Step
1
Focus
on the letter “P” and draw a few paths over the cherry filling in
a criss-cross pattern using the Pencil Tool (N). The paths are not
supposed to be perfectly straight. Group (Control-G) every second
path in each direction because it will be easier to obtain the
intertwined design later.
For example, I have four groups of stripes:
white and green in one direction, and yellow and blue in the opposite
direction.
Step
2
Select
an 8 pt Stroke for all the stripes and press the Round Cap option in
the Stroke panel to get the rounded ends.
Step
3
With the four groups of stripes still selected, go to Effect > Stylize >
Drop Shadow and apply the settings shown.
At
this point, you can mix around the groups of stripes until they are
in the correct order and they look perfectly intertwined.
Step
4
Now
focus on the letter “I” and first draw the criss-cross paths.
Apply the same settings as before and you will get the lattice top
design.
Step
5
The
same thing goes for the letter “E”.
8. How
to Create the Pie Crust Texture
Step
1
Grab
the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a random circular path over each letter
as shown in the following image. Stroke the paths with the Ink Spatter 1
Scatter Brush from the Brush Libraries Menu > Artistic >
Artistic_Ink. The Stroke Color is black and the Stroke Weight is 1
pt.
Step
2
With
the three paths still selected, set the Blending Mode to Overlay and
the Opacity to 40%.
Step
3
With
the three paths still selected, add a New Stroke in the Appearance
panel above the first one. This time, use the Ink Splats Scatter Brush
from the Brush Libraries Menu > Artistic > Artistic_Ink. The
Stroke Weight is 1 pt and the Stroke Color is white (although for
visual reasons, in the next image the color is yellow).
Step
4
Set
the Blending Mode for the second Stroke attribute to Overlay and
reduce the Opacity to 30%.
Step
5
Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the letter “P” from under
the mask, and then Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to make a
copy of it. Remove all existing appearances from the Appearance
panel.
Now,
select the stroked path over the letter “P” along with the copy
of the letter and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make
(Control-7). You can name the resulting group “pie crust texture”.
Repeat the same thing for the other two letters and create the clean
edges around the text.
9. How
to Cut a Slice of Cherry Pie
Step
1
Use
the Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the letter “E” from under
the mask and then Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to make a
copy of it. Remove the existing appearances and just give it a stroke
(the blue shape). Next, use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a triangle-like
shape as the slice of pie (the green shape). Before you continue,
make copies of these two shapes.
Now, with the two shapes selected,
press Intersect in the Pathfinder panel to obtain the slice shape
(1).
Grab
the copies of the two shapes that you just made, and make sure that
the green shape is in front of the blue shape. While they are
selected, press Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel and you will get
the rest of the letter “E” (2).
I
will name the blue shape “E cut” and the green shape “E slice”.
Step
2
First,
select all the shapes that make up the letter “E” as a cherry pie
and Group (Control-G) them. Name this group “E cherry pie”. Make
a copy of this group in front because you will create two masks.
Now,
select one of the “E cherry pie” groups along with the “E cut”
shape on top and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make
(Control-7). As a result, you will get the letter “E” with the slice
missing (1).
Select
the second “E cherry pie” group along with the “E slice”
shape on top, and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make
(Control-7). As a result, you will get a slice of pie which you can
move anywhere on your artboard (2).
10. How
to Create the Shadow Under the Cherry Pie
Make
a copy of the following shapes: letter “P”, letter “I”,
“E cut”, and “E slice”. Move them behind everything by going to
Object > Arrange > Send to Back (Shift-Control-[), and remove
all existing appearances.
Fill
these copies with black; then go to Effect > Stylize > Drop
Shadow and apply this effect four times.
These
are the settings for the Drop Shadow effects:
11. How
to Create the Runny Cherry Filling
Step
1
Use
the Pen Tool (P) to draw a shape as shown below and fill it with the
radial gradient shown. With the help of the Gradient Tool (G), adjust the
direction and the angle of the gradient.
Next,
draw two thin shapes on the upper right side as highlights, and fill
them with the linear gradient shown below.
Group
(Control-G) all the shapes, and name the group “runny filling”.
Step
2
Scale
and arrange the “runny filling” group where the slice of pie is
missing. Make a copy of the group, rotate it, and arrange it on
the opposite side.
Make
two extra copies and arrange them on the sides of the slice. Make
sure that the two small highlight shapes from the “runny filling”
group are facing outwards and are visible.
Select
all the “runny filling” groups and send them behind everything by
going to Object > Arrange > Send to Back (Shift-Control-[). You can see the final result in the image below.
12. How
to Add Powdered Sugar on the Cherry Pie
Step
1
First,
draw a small 10 x 10 px circle filled with white (although for visual
reasons, in the image below the color is black). Drag this circle into
the Brushes panel and choose New Scatter Brush. It will be there, but
you can’t see it.
Step
2
Use
the Pencil Tool (N) to draw a random wavy path on the upper right
side of the letter “P” and stroke it with the Sugar Scatter Brush
that you just saved. Duplicate this Stroke attribute or add as many
as you want until you are happy with the amount of powdered sugar and
how dense it looks.
Open
the Stroke Options window for each Stroke attribute in the Appearance
panel and drag the slider for Size and Spacing to the minimum, which is
10%, in order to create really fine powdered sugar. You can also play
around with the Scatter settings until you get the desired result.
After
you are done, while the path stays selected, press the New Graphic
Style icon at the bottom of the Graphic Styles panel in order to save
the style.
These
are the settings that I’ve used in the Stroke Options window for the
four Stroke attributes:
Step
3
Use
the Pencil Tool (N) to draw more wavy paths following the edges of
the letters. After that, simply select the Sugar Graphic Style saved earlier.
To
add even more powdered sugar, draw more paths over the others and
apply the Sugar Graphic Style again.
Step
4
Select
the letters “P”, “I” and “E” and then Copy and Paste in
Place (Shift-Control-V) in order to make copies of them. Bring them
in front of everything by going to Object > Arrange > Bring to
Front (Shift-Control-]), and then remove all existing appearances. With
the three copies still selected, go to Object > Compound Path >
Make (Control-8).
Now,
select all the sugar stroked paths along with the compound path and
go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Control-7).
Step
5
If
you add powdered sugar next to the missing slice or on the slice of
pie, you need to move these stroked paths under the existing masks in
the Layers panel (the “E cut” and the “E slice” masks from when
the slice was first made). This way you will get the clean edges without creating another mask.
Congratulations!
You’re Done
The
cherry pie text effect is ready, and here is the final image. This was
so much fun to create, and I hope that you enjoyed the tutorial. Don’t
forget to share your recreation of this delicious text effect with
us.
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