Guides / Shadow
How to add a shadow to text in Illustrator
Use Effect › Stylize › Drop Shadow for a soft shadow, or add a second fill offset with the Transform effect for a hard vector shadow. JuicyType's Shadow effect does either, with a feather that stays vector.
JuicyType Shadow · screen recording goes hereSkip to JuicyType ↓
The manual way, in Illustrator
- Select the text. Go to Effect › Stylize › Drop Shadow.
- Set X and Y offset, Blur and Opacity. Tick Preview.
- For a hard vector shadow instead: add a fill in the Appearance panel, drag it below the main fill, and apply Effect › Distort & Transform › Transform with a small move.
Drop Shadow is a raster effect: it pixelates when scaled up unless you raise the document raster resolution.
Steps drafted from Illustrator's documentation; to be checked in Illustrator 2025–2026 before launch.
Or, with JuicyType
Shadow with JuicyType
Select the text, open the JuicyType panel, choose Shadow, and drag. It is a live effect, so the text stays editable and every control can be changed later.
- ColourTC1 / TC2 / Black / White / spot; default Black
- Offset0–100%, default 8
- Angle0–359°, default 135
- Spread0–100%
- Feather0–100%
- Opacity0–100%
JuicyType≡
Shadow✓
Colour
Offset
Angle
Keep live text●
Apply
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Common questions
Why does my shadow look blurry when I zoom in?
It is a raster effect. Use the Transform-fill method or JuicyType's vector feather for print.