Dramatic Shadow Effect in Illustrator

Recently, I saw a trailer for a new movie called The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon
and was intrigued by the title art. It’s an interesting reversed shadow effect that you can re-
create simply by using the new Perspective Grid feature in Illustrator CS5.

1 CREATE DOCUMENT; SET TYPE

Choose File>New and in the New Document dialog, set New Document Profile to Basic RGB
and click OK. Select the Type tool (T), then go to the Control panel and set the font to Arial
and the size to around 48 pt. Click on the artboard to set the text object, and type
ADJUSTMENTLAYER without a space between the words. Using the Type tool, highlight
just the word ADJUSTMENT and change the font to Arial Black. The different weight of the
words will make it easier to read. Plus it looks cool.

2 COPY, PASTE, FLIP

Switch to the Selection tool (V). Press Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to copy the text to the
clipboard, then press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste a duplicate copy of the text object.
Choose Object>Transform>Reflect and in the dialog that appears, click the Horizontal setting
in the Axis section, then click OK. This will flip the object horizontally, giving you a mirror
image.
3 ADD GRID; ADJUST PERSPECTIVE
Select the Perspective Grid tool (Shift-P). By default, Illustrator displays a two-point
perspective grid; however, for this effect we need a one-point perspective grid. To change
this, choose View>Perspective Grid>One Point Perspective>[1P-Normal View]. Use the
control handles (circled) to widen the grid area and push the ground plane up to get a lower
angle.

4 SELECT PLANE; ADJUST TEXT

Now locate the Active Plane widget. (Note: A grid must be visible in order to see the widget.)
Click on the bottom plane of the cube; it should turn green. This ensures you’re working only
on this plane of the grid. Choose the Perspective Selection tool (Shift-V), click on the
mirrored text we created in Step 2, and drag it into the ground plane of the perspective grid.
Holding the Option key (PC: Alt key), drag one of corner handles with the Perspective
Selection tool and scale the object so it covers a wide area of the ground plane, as shown here.
5 HIDE GRID; REPOSITION TEXT
With the text scaled and positioned where you want it, choose View>Perspective Grid>Hide
Grid. Even though the grid isn’t visible, you can still move the text around on the ground
plane with the Perspective Selection tool. Now, choose the Selection tool (V), select the
original upright text we created, and place it above the perspective text. Shift-click-and-drag a
corner handle to scale it so that its bottom edges line up as close as possible to the top edges
of the perspective text so that the perspective text appears to be a shadow. Remember, to
make adjustments to the perspective text, use the Perspective Selection tool.

6 DRAW SHAPE AROUND TEXT

In the movie trailer, the shadow letters are actually inverted to the background, making the
shadow appear white. Select the Pen tool (P) and in the Control panel, make sure the Fill is set
to black with no Stroke. Draw a shape around the entire area of the perspective text. The
shape should be just slightly larger than the perspective text. (Tip: When using the Pen tool,
press-and-hold the Shift key to ensure the horizontal lines are straight.) Click on the first point
you created to close the path. Once the shape is drawn out, choose Object>Arrange>Send to
Back.
7 ENTER ISOLATION MODE; CHANGE COLOR
Choose the Selection tool and click on the perspective text object to select it. You may
discover that you can select the object but not change the color. To change the color, you need
to enter Isolation mode, so double-click the object and it will screen out everything except the
object. The text is still editable, even though it appears as paths in the grid. Select the text
object or highlight it with the Type tool, then change the Fill color to white in the Control
panel. When done, click the left arrow in the gray bar at the top of the document to exit
Isolation mode.

8 CHANGE TEXT COLOR

Now let’s change the color of the upright text and the black background shape. With the
Selection tool, click-and-drag to select the upright text object and the background shape (it
doesn’t matter if you also select the perspective text since you can’t change its color unless
you’re in Isolation mode). Choose Window>Swatches and select a color fill for the objects.
We chose a violet blue color, which is similar to the original design. Feel free to experiment
with other colors.

9 ADD BLUR
Now select only the perspective text and the shape behind it (leave the upright text
unselected). Go to the Effect menu, under the Photoshop Effects section, and choose
Blur>Radial Blur. Set the Amount to 15, choose Zoom for the Blur Method, set the Quality to
Best, and click OK. (Note: Raster effects are set to 72 dpi by default in Basic RGB
documents, so the blur may look pixilated. You can go to Effect>Document Raster Effects
Settings and change the Resolution to High [300 ppi] for a high-quality effect, but we
wouldn’t recommend changing it until you’re ready for final output.)

10 MAKE CLIPPING MASK

Choose the Rectangle tool (M) and draw a rectangle over most of the graphic. This is going to
frame the art, so make sure all of the upright text is in the rectangle and let the perspective
elements bleed outside the box a bit. Choose Select>All, then Object>Clipping Mask>Make.
This will crop the graphic, making it only visible inside the box. Add some text to complete
the effect.