Dive into this comprehensive Illustrator tutorial that covers a variety of topics including Graphic Styles, The Appearance panel, Multiple fills, and Auto-sizing text boxes, and learn how to create unique effects, box effects, strokes, and apply styles using step-by-step guidance.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Adobe Illustrator training materials and is compatible with Illustrator updates through 2020. To learn current skills in Illustrator, check out our Illustrator Bootcamp and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Topics covered in this Illustrator tutorial:
Graphic Styles, The Appearance panel, Multiple fills, Auto-sizing text boxes
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
In this exercise, you’ll use effects to help you quickly enhance text. Once you create a style, you can use it for text throughout the document. That way you can make changes to all the text globally. What a time saver!
Creating the Box Effect
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In the Illustrator Class folder, open Fancy Car.ai. (If a Missing Fonts dialog appears, just click Close.)
We want the text to be boxed, but instead of drawing the boxes manually, we will use effects so the box is based on the size/shape of the text. Changes to the text will automatically adjust the box!
Using the Selection tool
, select the block of text at the top right that begins with Super-bright headlights.If the Appearance panel isn’t already open, go to the bottom right of the Properties panel’s Appearance section and click the Open the Appearance panel button
, or go to Window > Appearance.We can use the Appearance panel to add a new fill or stroke. (We can’t do this in the Properties panel’s Appearance section.) At the bottom left of the panel, click the Add New Fill button
(the second button from the left).-
A Fill has been added above the Characters (which includes their fill). As shown below, drag the Fill below Characters, so it’ll be behind it visually (although you won’t see any change yet).
If the Fill isn’t selected, click once on it to select it.
Shift–click on the Fill’s Color Picker
. (Shift–click opens a color picker, while a regular click opens a swatches picker.)-
As shown below, change the color to 7c, 7k.
Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to close the color picker. You won’t be able to see any changes yet, but just wait—it’s coming!
Make sure the Fill is selected in the Appearance panel, then go into Effect > Convert to Shape > Rounded Rectangle.
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In the dialog that appears, choose Relative and enter the following:
Extra Width: 10 pt Extra Height: 10 pt Corner Radius: 4 pt When done, click OK. Now you should see a light blue box behind the type!
Adding a “Stroke” to the Box
As you can see, a light blue box has appeared around your text. However, we also want the box to have a stroke. If we just change the stroke, Illustrator will apply the stroke to the text, not to the box itself. Therefore, we’ll have to add another (larger) fill behind the existing box so it looks like we have a stroked box.
In the Appearance panel, make sure the Fill is still selected.
At the bottom of the panel, click the Duplicate Selected Item button
.Select the lower Fill in the panel.
Hold Shift and click on the Color Picker
for that bottom Fill.In the color picker that appears, make it 96c, 96m, 52k.
Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to close the color picker.
We want to edit the effects on the bottom Fill, but they are probably hidden. Click the Arrow
to the left of the bottom Fill to show/expand its effects.Under the bottom Fill, click on Rounded Rectangle to edit the effect. (You must click directly on the text.)
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In the dialog that opens, change the Extra Width and Extra Height to 12 pt and Corner Radius to 6 pt. Click OK.
Because this box is two points wider and higher than the light blue box, we end up with a 2 pt “stroke.” Great!
Creating & Applying a Style
The best way to apply this appearance to the other text blocks is to make it into a style. Open the Graphic Styles panel (Window > Graphic Styles).
Before we create the style, we have to make sure the style won’t change the character color (which doesn’t get saved into the style). At the top right of the Graphic Styles panel, go into the panel menu
and if Override Character Color is checked on, choose it to turn it off.At the bottom of the Graphic Styles panel, click New Graphic Style
.You should see a new thumbnail box appear in the panel. Double–click the new style and name it Boxed Text.
To apply this style to the other two bottom text blocks, drag the style you just created from the panel and drop it onto the text. Do it now!
Editing a Style
Oops. We forgot something—namely a subtle drop shadow on those boxes. Does that mean we have to do this all over again and reapply the style to each and every text block? Of course not—that’s what makes styles rock!
Select any one of the text blocks by clicking on it.
Go to the Effect menu and under Illustrator Effects, choose Stylize > Drop Shadow.
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In the dialog that appears, enter the following values:
Mode: Multiply Opacity: 30% X Offset: 4 pt Y Offset: 4 pt Blur: 5 pt Darkness: 50% Click OK.
This has added a drop shadow to the text block you had selected; however, it hasn’t changed the style itself. To update the style, open the Appearance panel.
At the top right of the Appearance panel, go into the panel menu
and choose Redefine Graphic Style “Boxed Text”.Sit back and smile as Illustrator has updated every text block the “Boxed Text” style was applied to!
Save the file as yourname-Fancy Car.ai. In the dialog that appears, leave the default options checked and click OK.
