Awesome 3d Interlacing Type Tutorial

This is a really fun project inspired by my neice, Amelie. We were drawing manga characters together recently, and she put together ann awesome title page, with two simple elements. She wrote her title in bold caps then again in a fluid script over the top. It looked awesome!  

It reminded me a bit of 80's neon signs and bold print t-shirts, and I wanted to create something like that myself. I decided to get a little inspiration to create something channelling those vibes, and came across this amazing tutorial from Ste Bradbury Design ...

First you start off in illustrator creating simple linear type from your own hand written word. Simply photograph it on your phone & import to illustrator, then draw on top with the pen tool. Next use the blend tool to create smooth looking tubes out of 2 gradient-filled circles, then replace the spine of your type lines with these tubes, using the blend tool menu.

Add some classic blocky type, carefully arrange then use photoshop tools to mask and remove sections of the artwork to create the interwoven illusion, then add shadows to the block type.

Next add a gradient to your hand drawn type from the effects button at the bottom of your panel. Select 'Overlay' for the detail to show, and all those highlights and lowlights to glow.

Next it's back to the pen tool again, this time in photoshop. draw in the shine curves one at a time on a seperate layer, right click for stroke options set to brush and simulate pressure. Right click again to remove the path. Finally usue the 'Gaussian Blur' filter to soften the appearance.

Next I tinkered with Colour Lookup to add effects, and altered the vibrance and exposure. I then added the colour gradient to my shines to get a rich satin look. Presto! Some very juicy type! Unneccesarry extra, but for a little extra depth I added a second layer with my artwork blurred beneath the origina to hint at a buzzing neon glow. Have a play and see what you can do!

The tutorial was easy to follow, uses a lot of familiar photoshop tools and I am sure you'll agree is really effective. Tips from me are; spend time on your flowing line script, it will look so much better if those cureves flow! I hope you enjoy :) Emma x