Below is a tutorial I’ve written about warping text in Adobe Illustrator. Feel free to check out my other tutorials here. Enjoy!

I start by using the Type Tool to write the text that I want.

Next, I Select my type and go to Type > Create Outlines. This turns my type from text to shapes. You don’t have to Create Outlines to run the Warp effects, so if you think you might edit your type, keep it editable.

With my text shapes selected, I go to Effect > Warp > Arch.

A dialogue box will pop up. Check the Preview box to see what your text will look like. Play around with the sliders and style until you get the distortion that you are looking for.

After you click OK, you’ll notice that it shows you the original text in blue guides and the warp effect in black text. If you are unhappy with the results, you can run the filter again and it will discard the current warp effect.

If you’re happy with the results, you can use the Flatten transparency to turn your text into shapes again. Go to Object > Flatten Transparency.

A dialogue box will appear. Set the Raster/Vector Balance slider to 100.

Now, you have warped text. Feel free run a second warp effect.