Guides / Texture & distressed
How to add texture or a distressed look to text in Illustrator
For a printed texture, add Effect › Texture › Grain or an opacity mask filled with a grunge texture; both keep the text live. For chipped edges, use a scatter brush on a mask or, destructively, Pathfinder on outlines. JuicyType's Halftone and Crack / Shatter give a printed dot texture and worn breaks as live effects.
JuicyType Halftone Effects · screen recording goes hereSkip to JuicyType ↓
The manual way, in Illustrator
- Select the text and apply Effect › Texture › Grain: Sprinkles or Stippled, low intensity.
- For a real texture: place a grunge image over the text, select both, open the Transparency panel and click Make Mask; tick Invert Mask if needed.
- For chipped edges non-destructively, paint white with a scatter brush on the mask.
Texture effects are raster: set Document Raster Effects to 300 ppi before exporting for print.
Steps drafted from Illustrator's documentation; to be checked in Illustrator 2025–2026 before launch.
Or, with JuicyType
3 effects in JuicyType
Halftone and Crack are vector, so the texture prints sharp at any size and the word can still be retyped.
- Halftone Effectsa coarse dot lattice for a screen-printed feel
- CrackCrack mode, low Shift and Rotate, for worn breaks
- Strokesa rough band in a print colour
JuicyType≡
Halftone Effects✓
Crack✓
Strokes✓
Keep live text●
Apply
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Common questions
Can I make the texture vector?
Image Trace a textured raster copy and use it as a mask, or use the JuicyType effects, which are vector from the start.