We have another great Vector Plus tutorial available exclusively for Plus members today. If you want to learn how to create retro typographic illustrations, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. This one will teach you to control color and add subtle effects, after tracing your custom lettering sketches.

This Tutorial is Filled with Creative Techniques

Illustrative typography has become an increasingly popular direction for creating dynamic and personal designs, using words and letterforms instead of more common pictorial elements. Over the past 18 months, I have explored this approach in my own work, often using popular quotes as a starting point for the design. The letterforms, shapes, patterns and choice of colors have developed over this time to reflect my own style, but this tutorial can be used with a variety of hand-drawn typefaces of your own.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Illustrator CS4
• Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: 5 hours

A preview of the final image is below.

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! You can view the final illustration below.

This is a Detailed and Professional Tutorial

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are sample images, which show some of the development of this tutorial.

Vector Plus Membership

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Whether or not you’re a Steampunk fan, this two part tutorial is sure to test your knowledge on Illustrator, Cinema 4D and Photoshop. In the first half, we’re going to customize a Blackletter font and create 3D text with vector shapes. There’s lots to do, so let’s start with the first part of this two-part series!

Introduction

In this type treatment, I sought to bring together a Blackletter font with the alluring Steampunk Style. A quick search on the net about the movement will show a well defined style and a few dominant leitmotifs. Raging steam engines, whistling exhausts and shiny metals are the norm, so in keeping with the guidelines, I created this illustration.

Be sure to check out one of our other Steampunk tutorials on Psdtuts+, How to Create a Steampunk Style Illustration in Photoshop for great inspiration and some traditional Steampunk gadgetry!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Here’s what we’ll achieve by the end of these two parts.

For now though, we’re going to try and get this far.

Step 1

The first program on today’s list is Illustrator. Start it up, create a new web document with standard settings and type in your word using this free font.

Step 2

As you can see when zooming in, the font has a lot of harsh edges because it’s free, and not meant to be used for display purposes. We want a clean, few-endpoints font that won’t reveal any bugs in Cinema 4D. So turn down the Opacity of the text, and create a new layer. Lock the previous layer and start to trace your own version of the first letter.

Step 3

Try to keep the lines as smooth and natural as possible. You may choose to follow the edges by the letter (pun totally intended) or create a slightly different version like I did.

Step 4

Create a new layer underneath and create two bars over the old ones. While the color has no importance, I chose different values to make the tutorial easy to follow.

Step 5

Then on a layer above, create some dots with the Ellipse Tool (E). Create a rectangle too with the Rectangle Tool (M) and rotate it by 45 degrees.

Step 6

Then trace the… swirly thing near the center. Once you’ve done that, go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Use the values shown below.

Step 7

Locate your Pathfinder (Window > Pathfinder) and click on the Trim icon.

Step 8

Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), or white arrow, and click firstly away from the object, then in the center. Delete that part.

Step 9

Now trace the rest of the word.

Step 10

Copy all the letter faces and paste them on a separate layer (Command + F).

Step 11

Go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 12

Go to Window > Stroke and give the text a 1 pt stroke.

Step 13

You’ll now have to click away and click back to only the top part of the text. For some reason, you can’t change the stroke alignment of all the elements at once. Anyway, change the alignment by clicking on the middle icon. Also, change the Weight to 7 points.

Step 14

Now go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 15

Trim it with the Pathfinder.

Step 16

Then offset it by -2.4 pt.

Step 17

Trim it again to flatten the effect.

Step 18

Now you can use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to delete the center.

Step 19

Repeat this process for all the remaining portions of the text.

Step 20

Now save it as an Illustrator 3 file. Cinema 4D won’t be able to access later formats.

Continue Learning…

Follow this Photoshop tutorial to create an awesome distorted type design. Using a range of Photoshop brushes we’ll create the appearance of printed type that has come into contact with drops of water, breaking up the text with oversaturated drips, runs and splats.

I was recently out at the clothes store and came across a cool t-shirt by Diesel. The design featured some nice typography that had been treated to some image manipulation to give an awesome effect of wet ink, as if the design has come into contact with drops of water that distorted the print.

I remember originally seeing a similar design by Craig Ward, with his amazing ‘Ink and water don’t mix’ design. I’m not sure whether Craig was also behind the t-shirt art, but I fancied giving the effect a go myself, so I booted up Photoshop and started experimenting. Follow this walkthrough to see the simple steps of creating a similar design, using ready-made brushes to distort some typography of our own.

Start work in Photoshop by creating a new canvas. I’ve chosen to create a landscape poster. Set out a phrase using a classy and sophisticated font, such as Bodoni.

Split the words into their own layers and move them into position to form a balanced layout, align elements of the words with the letters above and below to give structure.

We could get our hands dirty and splash some ink onto some paper and scan in the results, but instead we can take the easy route and use ready-made resources from generous designers and artists. Scour the web for collections of ink splatter brushes for Photoshop. Here’s the selection I personally picked out:

Continue Learning…

3D Typography is usually really beautiful. and which is now more popular and we can notice a surge for 3D Type work on portfolio sites, Here i have collected 40 Beautiful 3D Typography Deisgns For Inspiration, I found these design realy inspiring, hope you will be inspired

well i’ve also compiled 25 Amazing Photoshop 3D Text Effect Tutorials, So you can Try this 3d effects in your next design Project

1. )Explode by osbjef

2. )Wash Your Hands by BK1LL3R

3. )Balance by skam4

4. )Extinction by chanito

5. )CMYK by markie darkie

6. )FIRE STARTER by haniadnan

7. )DO THE DANCE by Felix Valentin

8. )NeoNation by Deetz

9. )CMYK by NeedMoreArtZ

10. )Massive attack by Demen1

11. )Free Your Mind by Niels van Doorn

12. )Summer Blast by NS-1

13. )I Love Typography by Stadno

14. )Waste Not. Want Not.

15. )URBAN JUNGLE by Mike Campau

16. )3d carnval by tariqdesign

17. )Workshop planos by dadoqueiroz

18. )Le Coffee Socks by flexgraph

19. )Creative Design by chanito

20. )Creative Tempest by Paulo Canabarro

21. )Type 3D by Lucas Bellett

22. )Twenty by aiiven

23. )stranded by bes31

24. )Sammii by marcinxp

25. )bloom nature typography design by Joey Camacho

26. )creative temptest

27. )Medusateam

28. )Riot LP Releaseby Uku-Kristjan Küttis

29. )Outsmoked by osbjef

30. )Life’s a journey by vonStrago

See more Designs here…

Typography is the art of arranging, designing, and modifying type to create beautiful and easy-to-read graphic art , Sometimes typography is all you need to communicate your ideas effectively and boldly, There is an endless amount of room for creativity in designing only using type, and also now days you can see a great design trend seems appearing around is using type top create portraits,

There are plenty of Typography designs out there for inspiration, here i’ve collected 30 of my favorites for your inspiration, hope you like this collection

1. ) By kolout.deviantart

2. ) By adhemas

3. ) By daydreamdesignstudio

4. ) By chin2off.deviantart

5. ) By alextrochut

6. ) By debutart

7. ) By Afro Saxon

8. ) By debutart

9. ) By dylanroscover.deviantart

10. ) By andysmith

11. ) By jonathanhaggard

12. ) By madfusion15.deviantart

13. ) By goodmorningstranger

14. ) By Marius Zorrilla

15. ) By Alex Trochut

16. ) By superexpresso

17. ) By sumeco

18. ) By graficspot

19. ) By Smooth as Sandpaper

20. ) By Gravitymachine

21. ) By patrickruegheimer.deviantart

22. ) By deak dezain

23. ) By Alejandro Paul

24. ) By elizabethparkin.deviantart

25. ) By typographyserved

26. ) By Zip Design

27. ) By debutart

28. ) By gawno

29. ) By Fredrik Oscarsson

30. ) By debutart

Read More…