How to Create a Pop Art Text Effect in Illustrator

What You’ll Be Creating

Fan of pop art designs? In the following tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a pop art text effect in Adobe Illustrator.

First, you will learn how to create two simple pop art patterns. Using an Envato Elements font and your saved patterns along with the Appearance panel, you will learn how to put together your editable pop art text effect.

If you don’t have the time to make your pop art text effect from scratch, then Envato Elements is the solution. This subscription-based marketplace has over 2,000 Illustrator add-ons you can download without restrictions! You can find pop art designs, pop art letters, and more. This pop art text effect is just one of the many examples.

Do you prefer video tutorials? Then you’ll love the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel! You’ll find amazing content, like this new video on how to combine a pop art design with text effects in Illustrator:

What You’ll Learn in This Illustrator Text Effect Tutorial

How to create pop art patterns in Illustrator
How to create editable pop art lettering
How to create a pop art text effect

What You’ll Need

You will need the following font in order to complete this pop art text effect:

Etna font

1. How to Create a New Document and Set Up a Grid

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, set the Width to 850 px and the Height to 800 px, and then click that Advanced Options button. Select RGB for the Color Mode and set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click the Create button.

Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid or Control-“) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid or Shift-Control-“). You will need a grid every 5 px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid, enter 5 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. Try not to get discouraged by all that grid—it will make your work easier, and keep in mind that you can easily enable or disable it using the Control-“ keyboard shortcut.

You should also 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. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.

2. How to Create and Save Two Patterns

Step 1

Now, to make Illustrator 3D text effects, we’ll start with the patterns. Pick the Line Tool (\) and use it to create a 30 px horizontal path. Keep it selected and focus on the control panel to adjust the color settings. Remove the fill color, set the stroke color to R=22 G=1 B=80, and don’t forget to increase the Weight to 2 px.

Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select just the left anchor point, and drag it 30 px up, as shown in the second image.

Step 2

Make sure that your line is still selected and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Set the number of Copies to 3 and drag that Move-Vertical slider to 10 px, and then click the OK button to apply the effect.

Step 3

Moving on, you will need a gridline every 1 px. Go again to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box.

Keep focusing on your lines and pick the Rectangle Tool (M). Use it to create a 20 px square and place it exactly as shown in the first image. Once you’re done, make sure that the square is selected and press Shift-Control-[ to move it behind the lines.

Step 4

Make sure that your square is still selected and remove the fill color to make the shape invisible.

Use the Selection Tool (V) to select your invisible shape along with the lines and simply drag them into the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches) to save them as a pattern.

Step 5

Reselect the Rectangle Tool (M) and use it to create a 10 px square.

Switch to the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a 4 px circle, fill it with white (R=255 G=255 B=255), and place it as shown in the second image.

Step 6

Select that 10 px square and make it invisible, and then select it along with the white circle. Again, drag your selection into the Swatches panel, and this will be your second pattern.