Have you’ve ever wanted to add a second stroke to an object or text in Illustrator?  Then you’ve realized that Illy only seems to allow one stroke .  There is a way around it.  I’ll show you how.

Add  multiple strokes to an object.

 1. First create an object. For the purposes of this tip, we’ll just make a simple rectangle. Grab the rectangle tool and drag out the shape.  Fill it with a color and give it a stroke.

 

 2. Now in the appearences pallet, click on the stroke and then in the flyout menu click “add second stroke”.

 

 3. Our second stroke will appear in the appearence pallet above the original one. Click and drag it under the original stroke. Now click “allign stroke to outside” in the stroke pallet.

 

 4. With the stroke selected in the apperance pallet, change the color and increase the stroke weight to make it different from the oringinal. There you have it. Now our rectangle has two strokes and they are editable in the appearence pallet.

 

You can reapeat this as many times as you like to get more strokes.  Just remember to place each new stroke under the last one in the appearence pallet and adjust the stroke weight so that it’s larger. Of course this can be done to any shape or object.

 

   

                                                       

                                                                                             

Add multiple strokes to text

This is pretty much the same as with an object but there’s a few differences.

 1. Type some textand give it a stroke. Then click the selection tool and select you text.

 2.  Now in the apperance pallet, on the flyout menu, click “add second stroke”.  The new stroke will appear on the top of the list.  Just drag it down under ”contents”.

 

 3. Now simply change the color, up the stroke weight, and thats it. Add as many strokes as you want.

 

    I hope this helps some of you. I know this is not the most advanced tip, but it sure would have helped me in the begining. If you have any questions or suggestions for future tips or tutorials please leave a comment.

Thanks,

D.A.T.