Another way to do this is with an Image and an ImageExpression with SVG. net.sf.jasperreports.renderers.BatikRenderer.getInstanceFromText("<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" width="765" height="990"><text x="60" y="40" transform="matrix(.6,.8,-.8,.6,0,0)" style="font-size:140px;font-weight:bold;fill:#d8d8d8">$F{my_text_field}</text></svg>")[/code]