🦸‍♂️ Superman Comic Book Text Effect Illustrator Tutorial

In today's Adobe Illustrator tutorial I'm going to take you through the process of creating a retro text effect, inspired by the title art for the Superman comic books. Old comic book titles feature some really simple but effective text styles, often incorporating faux-3D effects, bright colours, and thick black outlines. It's a graphic style that is immediately recognisable thanks to these common visual features that appear in different variations across all the superhero stories. The original comic book covers were drawn by hand, but I'll show you how to apply some adjustments to your text in Illustrator to transform it into a bold comic book title effect, then stick around to the end to see how the comic book theme is enhanced with the help of my Bad Print Effects Photoshop Action.
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[@spoongraphics]

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[@muhammadlukman5488]

Thank you very much brother🙏🙏🙏

[@oxvenomousxo]

I need to ask, CAN I PULL THIS OFF WITH A.I. iPad version?! Or desktop only?! Thank you!

[@sheils.digital]

Thanks so much for the tutorial! Very quick and straightforward. Been looking for something like this.
For those using a newer version of Illustrator (I'm using 2022 at time of writing), you have to go Effect --> 3D and Materials--> 3D (classic) --> Extrude and Bevel (classic).
I tried doing it exactly as shown in the tutorial and was wondering why it wasn't turning out like in the tutorial. When you use the "current" 3D effect, it would turn into a flat raster image after I expanded the appearance. Wasn't broken up into pieces and couldn't apply stroke. Otherwise, every other step in this tutorial still works. Just a heads up for anyone else who was confused!

[@1PhillyFili]

THANK YOU Sheila! I was cruising right along until that very step.

[@transitlibrarian]

thank you!

[@marcdevinci893]

ditto! thanks

[@mrgraphik]

T H A N K Y O U ! ! !

[@eleri_theda]

Thank you!!

[@DingDingPanic]

When I try to Expand Appearance (2.39 in video) in AI 26 it does not treat the text as separate characters it seems to group them into a single object. How to accomplish it please anyone?

[@akeel_1701]

Great effect, loved the action in Photoshop!

[@1PhillyFili]

Thank you for this fantastic tutorial.

[@montserratsz7106]

thanks for the tut. Love your actions bad prints effects

[@VioletWW]

Oh boy you just turned my whole damn day around - bless u for this

[@imnotmarbin]

Very nice tutorial, thanks for doing it!

[@oh-oi7ux]

Thanks! So nice 😍

[@quacquac_quacquac]

Love it 💕💕

[@madebymarco]

If anyone experiences a dashed line effect on the outline, just increase the size of your artwork. I increased mine from 2000 px to 4000 px and that fixed the problem! Thanks Chris for this excellent tutorial and PS action freebie!

[@VJMorph]

Super stuff!

[@danahal-mukaimi1765]

Amazing video!

[@alexmcginness5316]

I've been wondering how to achieve this text effect. Thanks for the awesome tutorial.

[@praneeth_amigo]

It was really a great video 💙

[@spoongraphics]

📺 WATCH THIS NEXT: Retro Text Effects with Illustrator's Blend Tool - ua-cam.com/video/UNQ5E_DMf3Y/v-deo.html

[@janus1450]

Very cool ! thank you Mr Spoon ;)

[@Marween]

Very nice!

[@trcctrl]

Thank you 😊

[@anamulburhan4492]

Thank you so much :)

[@GrandCanyonTV]

Are you stuck? This drove me insane for hours...when he makes it 3D, if you are using a new version, you must select Effect > 3D and Materials > then slide all the way down to "3D Classic"

[@PremiumS3lection]

lifesaver

[@danisrael6197]

Legend

[@abhijithsajeev924]

Dope 🔥🔥🔥

[@keyframer.]

I've tried multiple times but can't add strokes because after adding the 3D extrude, it turns the text to an image. Can't find the work around :(

[@sneggleblech]

Up Up and Away is a good font for this specific effect

[@darknytestudios]

Genius

[@soldyourgold]

Wow cool

[@Reisen18]

Excelente video , felicitaciones , saludos desde mexico y colombia 🇨🇴 🫶🏼🙌🏻

[@mixturadu1408]

Lov u maaan!!!

[@reverendzero]

Thank you so much, your Photoshop actions are a treasure !

[@wonderboyingameland9108]

wow!!👍👍👍

[@juangperez8210]

Hi Spoon, I was wondering if you could do a 46pgs magazine grunge style tutorial. Thank you!!!

[@soldyourgold]

I’ll try to do a sticker like this

[@Legendarykoenma]

Wouldn’t let me add another stroke after expanding the appearance

[@marcdevinci893]

Thanks that, is there a way to do this non-destructively?

[@jonathanvincentllena3338]

the envelop distort is making it an image, what should I do? using 2023 illustrator

[@adamquark7515]

I follow the tutorial step by step but I never get the same result -.-

[@jonathandutra4936]

Hi Spoon, I was wondering how to download these effects? What do you recommend?

[@oxvenomousxo]

I need to ask, CAN I PULL THIS OFF WITH A.I. iPad version?! Or desktop only?! Thank you!

[@cicholasnage]

Why cant i find the perspective option in the 3d extrude & bevel segment? Also, are there any alternatives?

[@ashleyrodriguez2621]

You need to select 3D(classic) in the 3D and Materials

[@mikodesain]

the letter "O" kinda has a different appearance from others letter

[@mattpool9164]

I was able to reach the step where you apply the black stroke, except from my end it was no able to activate. I also don’t seem to get the object guidelines as well. Anyone have a clue what could be wrong here?

[@cicholasnage]

Yes, same problem here. Really hoping if someone could give an explanation though

[@kentmoore8628]

@@cicholasnage SAME

[@monicaokami]

Also having this issue, I'm wondering if it's a font thing or a grouping thing because it doesn't seem to be expanding like his

[@atrangiartist]

I am facing the same issue.@@monicaokami

[@SMARMAIA]

Great tutorial and greater action but when I run the action on a file with dark colours the result is not so great.
I guess I have to watch the tutorial about the making of the specific action to figure it out how to adapt it to my specific file.
Thanks for sharing.

[@congnguyenhuu4607]

if there is vietnamese subtitles, it would be great

[@miraclito1224]

How do install the file , it keeps saying unable to open it

[@messynate]

wont let me apply stroke after 3d effect??!

[@samnooney]

i have the same problem

[@madmolf]

@Spoon Graphics : Thank you Chris for the tutorial and the free actions... But I wanted to let you know that when I applied the "Bad Print Effects" action, the paper and worn ink textures were that of leaves (green plant leaves) and not the expected texture. Am I doing something wrong or was there as mistake in the texture files ? Thank you again for all the efforts, please let me know if there is something I can correct on my side with the PS action.

[@madmolf]

Thank you for the solution @Andy Thompson

[@TheTwitch03]

@Andy Thompson Can you please explain this to me? I did add the "Bad Print Effects" folder to the actions folder in photoshop first, but I still end up with leaves.

[@rakakovaraa8197]

@@TheTwitch03
L

[@rakakovaraa8197]

L

[@rakakovaraa8197]

@Andy Thompson pl

[@ashleyrodriguez2621]

I download your pack but it add an image of some plants in the background....not sure what that is about haha

[@yopdart4197]

I can't seem to paste the work into Photoshop without the letters coming through as grey after I run the actions on it. What am I doing wrong? I ran the actions individually and found that it happens during the second action, the "Misregistration".

[@theponie5880]

A similar problem happens to me. The misregistration action turns all of my red colors to black.

[@alfredsalisbury721]

if you save the work in your CC Library, you should then be able to open it in any other adobe software. It's how I get text and word art from Illustrator to InDesign

[@ShanesVlogs]

Hey I downloaded the bad print effect and tried uploading it to illustrator and it wasn't working. .pat files won't upload to illustrator or photoshop and ideas??

[@spoongraphics]

The Bad Print Effects tool is Photoshop-specific so it won’t work in Illustrator, but the .pat files in particular need to be loaded into the patterns library manually if double-clicking the file doesn’t do it itself (my computer used to, but now it doesn’t for some files!)

[@victorsalinastorres1561]

I can't find that Perspective command at 2:50 in my program

[@cicholasnage]

Same

[@ashleyrodriguez2621]

Select 3D (classic)

[@chanukaranga8614]

HELLO

[@gregwoolliscroft6255]

As much as I try I just find it all so complicated....

[@Legendarykoenma]

I personally could never follow tutorials fully. I just get stuck halfway & end up doing my own thing

[@mlrtim]

Aaaaand we're using CS6... joke's on me.