How do you draw bubble letters step by step?

Draw two guide lines, write the word in thin letters with extra spacing, draw a rounded outline around each letter at an even distance, round every corner, keep the holes open, then ink the outline and erase the pencil.

How do you make bubble letters look 3D?

Add a drop shadow by tracing the outline again shifted down and right and filling the visible part, or draw short parallel lines from the outer curves and join them to make sides.

How do you write a bubble letter A?

Draw a thin A, outline it with a rounded line, turn the top point into a dome, and keep a small rounded triangle open above the crossbar.

Why do my bubble letters look uneven?

Usually the outline is closer to the skeleton in some places than others. Keep the gap the same all the way around, and use guide lines so every letter is the same height.

How to draw bubble letters

Every bubble letter is drawn the same way: write the letter thin, puff it up, round it off. Here is the method step by step, the letters that trip people up, and how to add shading and 3D.

What you need

A pencil you can erase cleanly (an HB or a mechanical pencil).
A fine black marker or felt-tip for the final outline.
An eraser.
A ruler for the guide lines (optional, but it keeps the letters the same height).
Colored pencils or markers if you want to color them in.

Drawing bubble letters step by step

Draw guide lines. Two light horizontal lines, the height you want the letters to be. Every letter touches both.
Write the skeleton. Write the word in simple, thin capital letters inside the guide lines, with more space between letters than you would normally leave, about half a letter width. They will grow into that space.
Draw the outline. Go around each skeleton letter with a smooth line, about a finger-width away from the skeleton on every side. Keep the distance the same everywhere, which is the thing that makes letters look professional.
Round every corner. Where the skeleton has a point or a corner (the top of an A, the corners of an E), make the outline curve. A bubble letter has no sharp corners on the outside.
Keep the holes. Letters like A, B, D, O, P, Q and R have enclosed spaces. Draw a small rounded shape inside each one. If the holes close up, the letters become blobs.
Overlap if you like. Classic bubble lettering lets each letter sit slightly in front of the one before. Draw the first letter completely, then draw the next one over it and erase the part of the first that is hidden.
Ink and erase. Go over the outline with the marker, let it dry for a minute, and erase the skeleton and guide lines.

The letters people get wrong

Most bubble lettering mistakes come from a handful of letters. The A loses its hole when the outline gets fat, so draw the crossbar low. E and S lose their gaps and turn into rectangles and blobs, so keep them wider than you think. M and W are much wider than other letters and push the rest of the word off the page, so sketch the whole skeleton before outlining anything. R crowds up where the leg meets the bowl. Each letter in the bubble letter alphabet has its own page with the specific problem and the fix.

Shading and 3D bubble letters

The simplest finish is a shine mark: a short curved line or a small oval near the top left of each letter, as if light is hitting a balloon. Keep every shine mark on the same side.

For a drop shadow, imagine the light coming from the top left. Trace a second outline shifted down and to the right by a few millimeters, and fill only the part that sticks out from behind the letter with black or dark gray.

For 3D depth, draw short parallel lines from the outer curves of each letter going down and to the right, then join their ends with a line that follows the letter shape. Shade the sides. It takes longer but looks like the letters are carved blocks.

Coloring bubble letters

Solid color is easiest to read. Gradients (dark at the bottom, light at the top) make letters look rounder. Patterns inside the letters, such as stripes, polka dots or zigzags, are fun for a name on a notebook but harder to read from a distance, so save them for small work. Color before inking the outline and the black line will cover any messy edges.

When to draw and when to print

Drawing is the fun part for a notebook cover, a card or a doodle. For anything big, repeated or that needs to look even, like a classroom display, a banner or a sign, printing is faster and neater. The bubble letter maker prints any word at the exact height you choose, and you can still color the outlines in by hand.