Web Development: How to Create an Art Nouveau Text Effect in Illustrator

How to Create an Art Nouveau Text Effect in Illustrator

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

In this Art Nouveau Illustrator tutorial, you will learn how to turn an Art Nouveau font into a mesmerizing Art Nouveau text effect.

What You'll Learn in This Art Nouveau Illustrator Tutorial

How to create a new document in Illustrator
How to use patterns in Illustrator
How to use an Art Nouveau font
How to use the Appearance panel in Illustrator
How to use Art Nouveau Illustrator brushes

For more inspiration on how to adjust or improve your Art Nouveau font styles, you can find plenty of resources at GraphicRiver.

Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:

What You Will Need

You'll need the following resource in order to complete this Art Nouveau Illustrator tutorial:

Carllosta font

1. How to Create a New Document

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, and enter 850 in the Width box and 60 in the Height box. Select RGB for the Color Mode, set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click the Create button to create your new document.

2. How to Create the Background

Step 1

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=255 G=233 B=183.

Move to your artboard and simply click on it to open the Rectangle window, where you can set the size of the shape that you're about to create. Set the Width to 870 px and the Height to 620 px, and then click OK to create your rectangle. Press the Escape key to easily switch to the Move Tool and move your rectangle so it covers the entire artboard, as shown in the following image.

Step 2

Open the fly-out menu from the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches) and go to Open Swatch Library > Patterns > Nature > Nature_Foliage to open the small set of built-in patterns.

Make sure that your rectangle is still selected, focus on the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance), and add a second fill using the Add New Fill button. Select the new fill, apply the Floral Vines pattern, and then change the blending mode to Soft Light.

3. How to Create the Text Effect

Step 1

Now let's add the Art Nouveau text using this Art Nouveau font. Once you've installed the font, pick the Type Tool (T) and focus on the Character panel (Window > Type > Character). Select the Carllosta font, and then set the font size to 200 px and the Leading to 130 px.

Click on the artboard and type in your text. You have plenty of Art Nouveau font styles to choose from if you wish to use a different font.

Step 2

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text stays selected, open the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches), and click that [None] swatch to remove the existing text color. This should make your text invisible, but don't worry—we'll fix it immediately.

Open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) and add a new fill using that same Add New Fill button from the bottom of the panel. Select the new fill and set its color to R=243 G=153 B=39.

Step 3

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text remains selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a second fill and move it below the existing one. Select it and change the color to R=105 G=37 B=16, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to 4 px, select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Step 4

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text is still selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a third fill and move it below the existing fills. Select this new fill and change its color to R=206 G=97 B=28, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to 9 px, select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Step 5

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text is still selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a fourth fill and move it below the existing fills. Select this new fill and change its color to R=105 G=37 B=16, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to 13 px and select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Reselect the fill added in this step, and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and then click OK.

Step 6

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text is still selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a fifth fill and move it below the existing fills. Select this new fill and change its color to R=163 G=71 B=22, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to 8 px and select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Reselect the fill added in this step, lower its Opacity to 10%, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Drag both Move sliders to 15 px and click OK. This effect will move your fill 15 px up and 15 px to the right.

Step 7

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text is still selected and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a sixth fill and move it below the existing fills. Select this new fill, make sure that the color is set to R=163 G=71 B=22, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to 6 px and select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Reselect the fill added in this step, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Make sure that both Move sliders are set to 15 px, click OK, and go to Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 25 px and click OK.

Step 8

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text is still selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Select the top fill and add a new one on top of it. Change the color of this new fill to R=206 G=97 B=28, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to -6 px and select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Step 9

Make sure that your Art Nouveau text is still selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Click that Stroke button to open the Stroke fly-out panel, set the Weight to 2 px, and select Width Profile 2 from that Profile drop-down menu. Change the color of this stroke to R=105 G=37 B=16, and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to -6 px and select Round from the Joins drop-down menu, and then click OK.

Make sure that the stroke is still selected, and go to Effect > Pathfinder > Add.

4. How to Add Art Nouveau Illustrator Brushes

Step 1

Now, let's add some Art Nouveau Illustrator brushes. Open the fly-out menu from the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes) and go to Open Brush Library > Decorative > Elegant Curl & Floral Brush Set to open a small set of built-in brushes.

Select Floral Brush 12 from this list, and simply drag it onto your artboard. Change its color to R=105 G=37 B=16. Make two extra copies (Control-C > Control-V) and then place these shapes around your text, as shown in the first image.

Select Waves 2 from the same list and add it to your design. Fill it with the same color and place it as shown in the second image.

Step 2

Select the rectangle that makes up your background, add a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F), and bring it to the front (Shift-Control-]).

Make sure that this new shape stays selected, and press the D key to replace the current Appearance attributes with the default ones (white fill and black stroke). Remove the stroke color and select the fill from the Appearance panel. Change its blending mode to Overlay and then apply the radial gradient shown below. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to stretch and squeeze your gradient as shown in the second image. Remember that the left gradient slider should have the Opacity set to 0%.

Step 3

Make sure that your gradient filled shape is still selected, and keep focusing on the Appearance panel.

Add a second fill, select it and change the color to R=92 G=43 B=2. Lower its Opacity to 10% and change the blending mode to Overlay, and then go to Effect > Artistic > Film Grain. Enter the attributes shown below and click OK.

Congratulations! Your Art Nouveau Text Effect Is Complete!

Here is how it should look. I hope you've enjoyed this Art Nouveau Illustrator 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 to try different Art Nouveau font styles. You can find some great sources of inspiration at GraphicRiver, with interesting solutions to improve your Art Nouveau text effect.

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