In
this tutorial, you will learn to create a Russian inspired vector text
effect, beautifully decorated with traditional geometric designs and
bright yellow and red colors. 

You'll use the Appearance panel in Adobe Illustrator to
create and save a graphic style for the letters, and this will make it
easier to recolor the entire piece of text. You will create a new
geometric pattern and two new Pattern Brushes that will help us to
decorate the vector text. 

By the end of this tutorial, you will be
able to apply these techniques for other text effects as well. Let's
start!

If
you need more Illustrator styles and text effects, make sure to head
over to GraphicRiver, where you'll find plenty of resources. 

Tutorial
Assets

To
complete the tutorial, you will need the following assets:

• Russian
  Land Font

1. How
to Set Up a New Document 

Launch
Illustrator
and
go to File
> New to
open a blank document. Type a name for your file, set the
dimensions, and then select Pixels
as
Units
and
RGB
as
Color
Mode.

Next,
go to Edit
> Preferences > General,
set the Keyboard
Increment to
1
px and, while there, go to Units
to
make sure they are set as in the following image. I usually work with
these settings, and they will help you throughout the drawing process. 

2. How
to Create the Russian Text

Step
1

To create this text effect, we
are going to use the word “Русский", which means “Russian”. So grab the Type
Tool (T) and write the letters “PYCCKNN” on your artboard using
the Russian Land Font, with a size of 240 pt. In the Set the tracking for
the selected characters field, select a value of 10 in order to add
more space between the letters.

Choose
Expand from the Object menu, followed by Ungroup (Shift-Control-G) to
turn the text into individual letters. 

Step
2

Select
only the last two letters, go to the Transform panel, and from the
drop-down menu, choose Flip Horizontal. Now these letters match the Cyrillic alphabet.

We
need an accent to complete the last letter, so follow the sequence of
images to create it. First, draw two 20 x 20 px circles filled with
black and, after that, draw a curved path to connect them at the
bottom. Give it a 4 pt black Stroke and choose Expand from the Object
menu to turn the stroke into a shape. Now, select all three
shapes and press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to merge them into the
shape of the accent. Move it above the last letter. 

3. How
to Create the Colored Text Layers

Step
1

Focus
on the first letter and fill it with pale blue for the moment. Also,
select a 1 pt blue Stroke. 

Step
2

With
the letter still selected, add a New Stroke at the bottom of the
Appearance panel. Give it a 10 pt pink Stroke.

Add
a New Stroke at the bottom of the Appearance panel and give it a 10
pt green Stroke. While this Stroke attribute stays selected in the
Appearance panel, go to Effect > Distort & Transform >
Transform and apply the settings shown. This will move the green
layer to the bottom right side to create some depth. 

Step
3

With
the first letter still selected, press the New Graphic Style icon at
the bottom of the Graphic Styles panel in order to save it. Now,
select the rest of the letters and apply the same style to them. 

Step
4

Select
the text and choose Expand Appearance followed by Expand from the
Object menu in order to expand the appearances and strokes. Ungroup
(Shift-Control-G) twice to get the individual colored layers.

At
this point, the text may not look great in some areas. If you get the
spikes shown in the close-up, you can remove them with the help of the
Delete Anchor Point Tool (-). Simply click on the anchor point at the
tip to remove it, and the curve will update itself. 

Step
5

Move
each letter to a separate layer to keep things organized in the
Layers panel. On each layer, you should have four shapes corresponding
to the four appearances that you applied earlier. Rename the
green shape “depth”, the pink shape “outer border”, the pale
blue shape “main letter”, and the blue shape “inner border”.
On each layer, you should have the same thing. 

4. How
to Color the Russian Text

Step
1

Select
only the “depth” shape of the first letter and go to Select >
Same > Fill Color. As a result, Illustrator will select all the
green shapes for you. Replace the fill color with red. 

Step
2

Next,
select only the “outer border” shape of the first letter and go
to Select > Same > Fill Color. As a result, Illustrator will
select all the pink shapes, and you can easily replace the fill color
with off-white. Also, apply a 1 pt red Stroke and press the Align
Stroke to Inside option in the Stroke panel. 

Step
3

Now,
select the “main letter” shape and use the same method to replace
the pale blue color with yellow. Also, go to Effect > Stylize > Inner
Glow and apply the settings shown. 

Step
4

The
last shape is the “inner border”. Replace the blue color with
red using the same method. 

Step
5

At
this point, if you zoom in on the first letter, you will notice that some corners are missing and we need to fix them. Grab the Pen Tool
(P) and draw a triangle shape to cover the empty space in the
corners. Fill them with the same red as the “depth” shape (1).

Now,
select the “depth” shape along with the triangles and press Unite
in the Pathfinder panel to merge them (2). Move the newly obtained
“depth” shape to the back, where it was (3). 

Step
6

Zoom in on the other letters as well, and fix the corners as explained in the
previous step. 

5. How
to Create a Simple Traditional Russian Pattern

Step
1

Let's
create a simplified version of a traditional pattern. Take the
Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a 50 x 50 px square on your artboard (1);
then draw a smaller 20 x 20 px square in the center. Select a 6 pt
black Stroke for both of them (2).

Rotate
both squares 45 degrees using the Transform panel (3) and then choose
Expand from the Object menu to turn the strokes into fills. Drag the
two shapes to the Swatches panel to save it as a New Pattern Swatch
(4). 

Step
2

Let's
apply the pattern. Focus on the first letter and select the shape
called “main letter”. Add a New Fill above the existing yellow
Fill and select the newly saved Squares Pattern Swatch from the
Swatches panel (1). 

To scale down the pattern, go to Object >
Transform > Scale and make sure that only the Transform Patterns
option is checked. Type 15% in the Scale Uniform field and hit OK
(2). Finally, set the Blending Mode to Overlay for this Fill
attribute (3). 

Step
3

Repeat
the same thing for the other letters and apply the pattern. 

6. How
to Create Shading on the Edge of the Russian Text

Step
1

Let's
create a mask shape first. Select the “depth” shape of the first
letter and then Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to make a
copy of it in front of everything (1). Next, select the “outer
border” shape and then Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V)
again (2). For visual reasons, I've changed the fill colors to blue
and green.

While
these copies stay selected, press Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel
and, as a result, you'll get a group of shapes (3). Keep only the
shapes that match the bottom right edge, and delete the rest. Go
to Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8) to merge the
remaining shapes into one. This will be the masking shape (4).

Repeat
the same thing for the other letters because you will need a masking
shape for each one of them (5). Hide them for the moment. 

Step
2

Use
the Pen Tool (P) or the Line Segment Tool (\) to draw a short, straight path in the bottom right corner of the first letter (1).
Give it a 2 pt black Stroke; then go to Effect > Blur >
Gaussian Blur and apply a Radius of 4 px. Reduce the Opacity to 75%
(2).

Multiply
this path and add copies in the other corners where a shadow should
be, as shown in the image below (3). 

Step
3

Now,
select all the shading paths along with the mask shape that you created earlier (which should be in front), and set to stroke-none,
fill-none and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Control-7).
This will make the shading visible only on the red edge. 

Step
4

Do
the same thing for the other letters by multiplying the same shading
path and arranging them in the areas where you want to create a
subtle shadow. After that, mask them using the shapes created
earlier. 

7. How
to Create a Simple, Traditional Criss-Cross Pattern Brush

Step
1

Let's
create a simplified version of a criss-cross traditional stripe decoration. Take
the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a 117.5 x 117.5 px square on your
artboard (1). Next, draw four smaller 17.5 x 17.5 px squares filled
with dark red, and arrange them in the outer corners of the bigger one
(2). Draw another four 17 x 67 px rectangles filled with red, and
arrange them between the small squares on the sides (3).

Select
all the shapes and Rotate them 45 degrees in the Transform panel. At this point, you can delete the gray square (4). Next, take the
Delete Anchor Point Tool (-) and click on the outer points of the
small squares to delete them. Now the squares will turn into
triangles.

Go
to View > Rulers > Show Rulers and drag two horizontal and two
vertical Guides to the base of each triangle (5). They will help you
to draw a new square in between. Fill it with bright yellow and send
it to the back (6). 

Step
2

Drag
the square decoration that you have created in the previous step into
the Brushes panel to save it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern
Brush Options window, type “CrissCross Pattern Brush” as the name
and drag the Scale slider to 4%. Hit OK. 

Step
3

Let's
apply the newly saved brush. Grab the Pen Tool (P) or the Line
Segment Tool (\) and draw a straight path at the top of the first
letter up to the inner red border (1). Select a 1 pt Stroke and the
CrissCross Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Make extra
adjustments if needed and make sure it fits perfectly (2).

Draw
a new path with the same length, right at the bottom of the
criss-cross stripe decoration (3), and give it a 1 pt red Stroke. This
will make the design more symmetrical (4).

Repeat
the same thing and create another criss-cross stripe decoration at
the bottom of the first letter (5). 

Step
4

Use
the technique explained above to create criss-cross stripe
decorations on the rest of the letters, as shown below. 

8. How
to Create a Geometric Flower Pattern Brush

Step
1

Use
the Rectangle Tool (M) to draw a small 12 x 8.5 px rectangle on your
artboard and fill it with bright yellow. Switch to the Direct
Selection Tool (A) and use it to select only the two top points; then
move them to the right using the Right Arrow key on your keyboard.
You will obtain a geometric petal-like shape (1).

Next,
draw two small 5.5 x 2.5 px rectangles and arrange them in the shape
of a cross. Align the left corner of the petal shape with the corner
of the gray cross as shown below (2). While the petal shape stays
selected, go to Object > Transform > Reflect, check Horizontal, and hit Copy. You will obtain the second petal, and you need to align
it with the corner of the gray cross (3).

While
both petals stay selected, go back to Object > Transform >
Reflect, and this time, check Vertical. Hit Copy and you will obtain
two new petals for the left side. Arrange them in place (4).

While
the four petals stay selected, go to Object > Transform >
Rotate and choose a 90 degrees Angle. Hit Copy and you will get the
last four petals. Arrange them in place, and now the geometric flower is
complete (5).

Use
the Rectangle Tool (M) to draw a square around the flower. Mine was
exactly 50 x 50 px. Fill it with dark red and send it to the back (6). 

Step
2

Select
the geometric flower and the red square and Rotate them 45 degrees in
the Transform panel. Drag everything into the Brushes panel to save
it as a New Pattern Brush. In the Pattern Brush Options window, just
type “Geometric Flower Pattern Brush” as the name and then hit
OK. 

Step
3

Now,
let's use the newly saved brush to decorate the Russian vector text.
Focus on the first letter and draw a straight path with the Pen Tool
(P) or the Line Segment Tool (\) as shown (1). Select a 1 pt Stroke
and the Geometric Flower Pattern Brush from the Brushes panel. Open
the Stroke Options window from the Appearance panel, and drag the
Scale slider to 15% in order to make the geometric flowers smaller
(2).

Draw
another path on the first letter and apply the same settings in order
to add more decorations (3). 

Step
4

Repeat
the same thing for the rest of the letters and decorate them with the
Geometric Flower Pattern Brush as well. 

9. How
to Add Extra Details on the Russian Text Effect

Step
1

Zoom in on the first letter and draw a shape as shown in the image below, between
the red inner border. After that, draw similar shapes on the other
letters. Fill these shapes with the same shade of red as the inner
border. 

Step
2

Finally,
you can add a very small red circle filled with the same shade of red
on the first, third, and fourth letters. 

10. How
to Create the Shadow Under the Russian Text Effect

Step
1

Focus
on the first letter again and select only the “depth” shape. Copy
and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of
everything (1). Next, select the “outer border” shape and Copy
and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) again to make a copy of this
shape as well (2). For visual reasons, I've changed the fill colors to
blue and gray.

While
both copies stay selected, press Unite in the Pathfinder panel to
merge them into a new shape (3). Send this new shape under the letter
in the Layers panel; then go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow
and apply this effect three times to create the shadow (4). 

These
are the settings for the three Drop Shadow effects: 

Step
2

Follow
the technique explained above to create the new shapes for the rest
of the letters and send them to the back. Apply the Drop Shadow effect
three times using the same settings. 

Awesome Work, You're Done!

Here
is the final image of the Russian-inspired text effect. I hope you
enjoyed this tutorial and that you learned new techniques today that
can be applied in future projects as well. 

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