Cotton please! How to create simple Stereo Colors Typography

3D stereo color typography poster. Cotton Please.

// New File

Launch Adobe® Illustrator® and start with the new document, let’s say 700 x 980 px, units: Pixels, RGB color model, 72ppi:

Note: Instead of digging through your hard drive searching for the file you have just saved (or file you have opened via Open Recent Files menu command) use Doc Revealer Tool* to quickly locate your document in Finder (mac users), Explorer (win users) or Adobe® Bridge®.

// Start with Letters

Create a new layer: for example cotton text_1. Make sure that cotton text_1 is your current layer, go to Type Tool, type COTTON and change its font to Impact Regular:

Now we will divide the text object into multiple objects that make up its appearance.
[select the text] > Object > Expand… (expand Object, Fill)
[select the text] > Object > Ungroup
Once the expansion is done, we need to set all letters to the same size 160 x 200 px (for example using Transform Panel) and rearrange them into 3 x 2 array with a 65 px whitespaces between:

and rearrange them into 3 x 2 array with a 65 px whitespaces between:

The front art is almost finished. One thing more: we set its fill color to RGB 255, 255, 255 and stroke to 248, 164, 167:

// The Blue Projection

Now we start with the 1st projection (blue). Go to Oblique Projection 'opo' Tool* > choose XY Transformation > type 40 for X, and 53.33 for Y > check Custom Projection Color option and set the fill color to RGB 41, 171, 226 and the stroke to RGB 0, 0, 0 (black), either by creating a new, temporary art object with the correct color settings and copying its appearance (Copy Color Properties button) or specifying it directly by its numerical values:

Select all 6 letters (cotton text_1) > go to opo panel > and hit create projection button:

opo automatically creates two additional layers: one for the projection objects (cotton text_1_PZ-) and another for the back side objects (cotton text_1_BZ-):

// Extra Tangent Points

Note that opo automatically calculates and creates extra tangent points (i.e. points at which the projection line "just touches" the curve) if necessary. This way the new projection structure perfectly matches the front art path! No gaps and no approximations - the new point perfectly fits the curve at its local maximum! Take a closer look at the new ‘C’ letter path – 2 extra points have been added to the original path:

We don’t need the black stroke lines in the projection anymore. We turn it off: Go to Layers Panel > select all objects on cotton text_1_PZ- > go to Swatches Panel > and set stroke to None:

The same way we set color appearance for the back art objects (cotton text 1_BZ-), fill color to RGB 0, 0, 0 (black) and stroke to None:

// The Red Projection

Go to Layers Panel > Duplicate cotton text_1 > and rename the new layer into cotton text_2. Go to Layers Panel > turn off visibility for cotton text_1, cotton text_1_PZ-, cotton text_1_BZ-. Go to opo panel > choose XY Transformation > type 53.33 for X, and 53.33 for Y (yes, this time 45 degrees) > check Custom Projection Color option and set the fill color to RGB 237, 28, 36 and the stroke to 0, 0, 0 (black):

Select all the front art letters (This time this is cotton text_2 layer) > go to opo panel > and hit create projection button. The result should be like this:

Again, select all objects from the projection and turn the stroke off:

// Superpositioning

Show all layers except cotton text_2 and cotton text_2_BZ-. Move the cotton text_2_PZ- up, between cotton text_1 and cotton text_1_PZ-:

Go to Layers Panel and set new Opacity value for the following layers: cotton text_1, opacity to 91%, Blending Mode to Normal:

opo the superposition: front transparency

cotton text_2_PZ-, opacity to 60%, Blending Mode to Normal:

opo the superposition: red projection transparency

cotton text_1_PZ-, opacity to 90%, Blending Mode to Normal:

opo the superposition: blue projection transparency

cotton text_1_BZ-, opacity to 70%, Blending Mode to Normal:

opo the superposition: back transparency

The result:

// Texture

Go to Layers Panel > add 2 layers: texture and bkgnd:

Make sure that the bkgnd layer is active. Go to Rectangle Tool > create rectangle 720 x 1000 px > align it to the center of the artboard:

Prepare your own texture file or download one from our collection, for example Coffee Blotch Texture

Make sure that texture layer is active, go to File > Place… > and select the texture image. Scale the picture as required:

Go to Layers Panel > select texture > go to Transparency Panel > set Blending Mode to Multiply and Opacity to 30%:

That's it! Save your work: File > Export > JPG (Use Artboards)

// author: Pawel Kuc