In this lecture you'll get started entering Type into a document in Illustrator. You'll see how to select and use the Type tool, how to set the font and size and how to create Line type - a single line of type. You will also learn how to create Area type - a larger quantity of type such as a sentence or a paragraph. Both are created differently and they work a little differently - in this video you will learn how. 

You will also learn how to configure Illustrator so it displays (or does not display) placeholder text when you use the Type tool. 

In this lecture you will learn to change the size of a font to make it larger or smaller. You will learn to identify the situation where your text is so big it can no longer fit in the container it is placed inside and how to fix this problem. You will also learn how to choose a different font and style for your text. 

We will also cover the concept of Font Families and how you can identify and use them. 

Learn how to apply fills and strokes to your type. You will also learn why coloring type in Illustrator doesn't work exactly the same way as filling shapes! By the time you have finished this lesson you will be proficient at adding fills and strokes to your type and how to arrange the stacking order of these in the Appearance panel so your type looks the way you want it to look. 

You will also learn how to apply a rainbow multi-color effect to color each character in a word (or each word in a sentence) a different color.

Learn to adjust the space between individual characters in a word and the space between lines in Illustrator. The terms Tracking, Kerning and Leading are introduced here - you will learn what they mean and how and when to use them in Illustrator.

You will also learn how to change the space between paragraphs of type in a larger body of type to make it visually more appealing. 

Learn what Ligatures, Swashes and Glyphs are and how you can use them in Illustrator. You will see how to find alternate characters that have a different look in a font and how to apply them to your type. 

You will investigate some of the wonderful character elements in fonts like Gabriola and how to use them. For this we will use the Glyphs Panel to create these interesting effects.

In the External Resources area you will find a link to free Ligature fonts that you can explore and perhaps use in your designs. 

Learn why you might want to convert text to Outlines and how to do this in Illustrator. This process is typically used when you send a file to an outside print shop but also some effects may require this as a starting point. So, when you need to convert text to outlines, this is how it is done.

Learn how to fill text with a gradient in Illustrator. At first appearance it might seem as if you can't do this -  but you can! In this lesson you will learn how. You will also see how to avoid problems with gradients applied to text and how to apply a gradient to a stroke too.

This lesson also shows the use of the Eyedropper tool for applying the look of one type object to another piece of text. 

Learn how to apply a pattern fill to text and how to work with pattern fills and strokes applied to text. This lesson builds on your understanding of using the Appearance panel in Illustrator. You will see how to add multiple fills to a piece of text to solve a problem you may encounter when you work with semi-transparent patterns and you will learn how to adjust the size of a pattern when used to fill text.

You will also learn where to find a range of patterns you can use to fill text - these patterns are shipped free with Illustrator. 

Learn how to use Graphic Styles with Text in Illustrator. You will learn how to find the Graphic Styles which ship free with Illustrator. How to use the Graphic Styles panel and how to reverse engineer a graphic style by looking at its settings which are applied in the Appearance panel. See how to edit text after a Graphics Style has been applied and how to save those edited styles as new graphic styles.

Learn how to make a layered editable text effect using the Appearance panel.  You will learn to add a second fill to a piece of text and how to offset this fill from the original text. All this results in a piece of text that can be easily edited and, when the text is changed, the entire look of the text object will update automatically.

Create a customizable long shadow effect in Illustrator. The shadow is created using a color that can be reused for any color text and it is created using multiple copies of your text created using an interesting (and very handy to know), Transform effect.

Learn to add type along a path in Illustrator. You will see how to make a line and how to apply your type to that path including how to move the text along the path and how to flip it across the path. We will do this with both a line and a circle.

You will also learn how to to recover a copy of the line at a later date if you need the line as well as the type on a path effect. 

Learn to create a banner in Illustrator and fill it with a piece of text. You will learn to make a 3D style banner with flag shape tails. Once you have made and warped the banner you will add text to the banner using the Type on a Path tool so that you bend the text to match the banner shape.

Make a scribble text effect in Illustrator. You will learn how to make a custom brush and how to apply the brush to your text. The final look of your type will be that it has been drawn using a series of scribbly pencil lines to create the outside of the letters. You will also see how to roughen your type so it looks more hand drawn and also how to apply an optional glow effect to the type. 

Learn a process for applying a brush stroke effect to your type. You will learn how to identify the best fonts to use for this effect and how to apply a brush stroke to your type. You will learn how to find brushes which are shipped free with Illustrator that you can use for your art. Learn how to adjust the settings for a brush so you can customize it for use in your projects. 

Another technique you will learn is how to offset a stroke from your text. 

Create a 3D text object and map a pattern to the front face of the text. You will learn the basics of turning regular text into 3D text and a method to locate the front faces of your text so you can map a saved image to your 3D object. 

Building on the previous lecture you will learn more about creating 3D text in Illustrator and how to light your 3D objects so you make sure they look as good as they can. You will also learn how to edit a 3D effect that you have already created. 

Learn how to fill a shape with a large body of type. You will learn how to resize your type and how to identify if there is more type in an object than you can currently see. In addition to shapes you will also learn how to fill a type character with type including managing the situation where your type character has a cutout shape in it like the letter O.

Learn how to place text in an image using one point perspective. You will learn how to add a photo to an Illustrator document and how to draw a perspective grid over the image. You will then see how to add text to the image following the perspective that you have created. You will also learn how to blend text into an image using a blend mode.

Learn to create the suggestion of a reflection of a piece of text. You will learn how to select a font to use and understand why you should use Upper Case for your type. Learn to make a reflected second fill in Illustrator and fill the reflection with a gradient that fades to transparent. A global color is used for this effect so that a change to the text color will be automatically applied to the reflected text too. 

Create a custom neon effect to add to your text.  You will learn how to create a black background for your work and how to ensure that the neon effect you create can be recolored by simply altering a single fill rather than lots of fills. See how to save the neon effect as a Graphic style and how to edit it to change the color. Your neon effect will include glows and gaussian blur effects. 

Learn to bend text into shapes using Envelope Distort. You will see how to create a cloud shape and how to bend text to that shape that you have created. You will also learn how to bend text using a Warp mesh. In both instances you will also learn how to edit the text in the finished effect and how to switch between editing your text and your path. 

Learn to use the built in warp effects in Illustrator to bend your text into interesting shapes. You will also learn how to edit the warp effect once you have created it.

This lesson wraps up our look at creating warp effects with text in Illustrator.

Create a series of overlapped text objects and control how they blend with each other. This lesson explores blend modes in Illustrator and how to limit blending so it applies only to the objects in a group. 

You will learn how to choose a good mix of fonts to use for this effect. 

Create a knockout see through effect in Illustrator. You will make a piece of text and fill it with an image using a knockout opacity mask effect. The text in the mask is fully editable. 

This is an advanced technique which introduces the process of creating and using an Opacity mask in Illustrator.

Learn how to make a custom swash effect to add visual interest to a word in Illustrator. You will learn how to join an expanded character to a hand drawn swash to make an object that looks more interesting than the original type.

See how to add some splash shapes to a piece of text to create an interesting effect. Here you will learn how to match a shape to a font that has irregular edges. You will use the Roughen effect and also see how to use a brush and a knockout effect to distress the edges of the text.

These are techniques which are a valuable addition to your Illustrator toolkit. 

This lesson introduces things that you can do in the Appearance panel in Illustrator. You will learn how to add multiple fills and strokes to your text and how to reshape the fills and strokes to oval shapes. 

This lesson will give you a hint of the power of what you can do in the Appearance panel. We're making an effect that is added to a type character but you can, potentially, do lots more with it. 

In response to a question from a student, here's how to make italics in Illustrator if your chosen font doesn't have italics as an option. Just be aware this is a faux italics and not a true one and your better option may be to choose a font which does include an italics variant.