How can you Create Neon Text Effect in Adobe Illustrator?

When you edit text such that the outside section of the text is blurred, it gives the appearance of glowing, creating a neon text effect (similar to a neon light). The light-up neon font is the best choice for bringing evening glitz and a melancholy 1980s vibe to your projects. 

Text effects like this would look fantastic on a poster or event flier, and they are quite simple to create. Neon texts also have been gaining a lot of popularity recently. It can be used in static designs, video animations, and motion graphics. 

This blog will tell you how to create neon text effects in Adobe Illustrator. 

How to create Neon Text Effect in Illustrator?

First things first, open an artboard. I am describing how to create a neon text effect, and it only makes sense to add a dark background to let the effect of the neon do the magic. 

Now, I will use the rectangle tool and create an effective backdrop to work on. The rectangle can be made bigger just by dragging it. 

Use the colour palette to change the colours. You can adjust the colour to a lighter or darker version. 

You can lock the rectangle tool because it might get selected by mistake when you are working with neon text composition. Now select the text tool and click anywhere on the artboard. Change the color of the text to white so that you can actually see your text and you can type whatever word you wish to type. 

I will take neon as a word and change it to white to explain this. You can choose any word you want; the color need not always be white. You can also change the font of the next according to your liking.

Click on the type option on the top and then click on Create Outlines. This way, you make the text editable, aligning with the outline or shape. 

Double-click on the palette and choose a color for the words. We have chosen pink here. Once you have created the neon effect, it will be updated to a new colour if you go back and change this. 

Now that my pink text is visible, we'll pick it and click on the object button at the top of the screen. Then, we'll click on the offset path, which will essentially produce a second version of our text that is somewhat offset from the original one.

Pixel images may be found on the next page. If we look at the preview, it basically adds a ten-pixel stroke all the way around the edge, and if we adjust it to 5px, it will be a thinner stroke all the way around.

As long as we keep it at -5px on the inside, which is what we want, we'll be okay, right? It all depends on how large you've made your text when you first started.

I'm going to go with a 4-5px size for this one. Although this is a different variation of the same neon writing, the interior of the text is significantly thinner than that of the original text. To achieve this, we'll ungroup the item and drag it down to the bottom. Now, we have another newly created shape.

I'll go ahead and pick these inner shapes, and then I'll choose my original shape and put them all together in a new document.

Because they are now both upside down, I will adjust the colour of the new text or form I generated seconds ago to match the original colour.

To make this form more feminine, I will use a softer shade of pink. As a result, we've gone with a softer hue of pink. You may go to colour and see if there is a darker or lighter version of the colour of your choice available to you.

Now, we'll return and put my thinner text back into place. The bulb is represented by the lighter hue in the centre. The brilliant bulb produces the light, and the pink around the edge of the bulb will be transformed into the glow that emanates from the bulb as a result of this transformation.

As a result, if you wanted to, you could even make the inner hue a little lighter. To do this, we'll choose the outside pink, darker, and then go to the effects menu at the top of the screen and select blur.

Choose Gaussian blur from the drop-down menu and click on the preview box. You have complete control over how this is displayed. The glow is being added, and the neon text effect is being created, as seen in this image.

Again, depending on the size of your artboard and the composition you're working with, you may make adjustments to fit your needs. Make the necessary modifications to meet your needs.

As shown, we've developed some neon writing that may be enhanced by applying a very tiny blur to the light bulb itself. You may add a slight blur to the image if you like.

Now, you should pick the previously blurred neon text and select the edit option at the top of the screen, then copy and paste it in front of the image. If you hold shift and use the arrow keys to hit the up arrow key, you may navigate to your appearance panel and pick the Gaussian blur effect.

It is possible to boost it just enough such that when you slide it back under while holding the shift key and using the arrow keys, it produces a faint light around the letters.

You have the ability to customize the transparency of this as you see fit. I'll go with anything in the range of 80 %. You can now change the colour to anything you like and build graphics in various hues using the same technique.

Don't be concerned about the colours, thinking you'll have to start from the beginning. You have the option of changing the colour in the last phase as well.

Got a clear understanding of using the Neon text Effect?

Neon lights are so beautiful and look great in the dark. It is an on-demand design that many people like. You can, other than in Adobe Illustrator, create neon text effects in Canva or any other design tool. 

I hope this blog was beneficial for you and you will be able to create neon text in your future designs and even animate it for motion graphics. Using neon text effects on video thumbnails is also a great idea.

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