Guides / Liquid & drip
How to make dripping or melting text in Illustrator
Drips are drawn: outline a copy of the text, add teardrop shapes hanging from the bottoms of the letters with the Pen or Blob Brush, and Pathfinder › Unite. For a softer melt, use Effect › Warp › Flag or a Mesh envelope. JuicyType's Swish draws tails from the letters as a live effect.
JuicyType Swish · screen recording goes hereSkip to JuicyType ↓
The manual way, in Illustrator
- Duplicate the text, Type › Create Outlines on the copy, and ungroup.
- With the Blob Brush or Pen, draw drips from the lower edges of letters: a thin neck widening to a round drop.
- Select the letters and drips and click Unite in the Pathfinder panel.
- Smooth joins with the Smooth tool, and add a highlight ellipse on each drop.
Drawn drips belong to one word; change the text and they must be redrawn.
Steps drafted from Illustrator's documentation; to be checked in Illustrator 2025–2026 before launch.
Or, with JuicyType
3 effects in JuicyType
Swish tails are the live-text stand-in for hand-drawn drips; Highlight and Gradient sell the wet surface.
JuicyType≡
Swish✓
Highlight✓
Shadow✓
Keep live text●
Apply
0:45
Common questions
Is there a brush for drips?
No built-in one; the Blob Brush with pressure is the usual tool, or the plugin's tails.