How to Create Camouflage Text with a Drop Shadow in Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a great program to use to create text effects. In this tutorial I will show you how to create a Camouflage Text Effect with a drop shadow in Adobe Illustrator. There are three parts to this tutorial. First, we will create the text. Then we will apply the camouflage. Last, we will add the drop shadow.

First, you will need to create a new document to work on. If you are new to Illustrator, go to the top of your window and click File > New. A box will open and you will need to enter the size that you want the document to be. 400 pt by 400 pt is a good size to use. Click OK to create the new document.

Next, we will type the text on the document. On the left side of your Illustrator program you will see the tool panel. In the tool panel you will see the T icon. This is the text tool. Click that icon to select the text tool. Once you have selected the text tool, click your mouse on the document. You will see the blinking cursor. Type what you want on the document.

Now select the pointer (arrow) tool in your tool panel. Click the text that you just typed. A blue box will appear around the text. You can change the size of your text by right clicking it and selecting Size > and the size that you want. You can also change the font by right clicking again and selecting Font > and the font that you want. After you have changed that, you can move on.

Now comes the part where we apply the camouflage to the text. You will need to look for your Swatches panel. It should be on the right side of your program in one of the boxes. If you do not see it, go to the top of the window and click Window > Swatches and that will open the box. At the bottom of the Swatches panel you will see the little square that looks camouflaged. Click that square to apply it to your text. Now you should have camouflaged text.