It may seem challenging to draw words in perspective, 3D, or another way, and understanding the theory behind it might prove to be quite challenging. Due to this, we are providing you with 3 simple methods to help you understand how to draw words.
The purpose of this article is to learn new things, push our boundaries, and expand our horizons creatively. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to draw words, and we are so excited to share it with all of you. Let’s begin!
Draw Words Step by Step: 3 Methods
Method 1: Draw Words in 3D
Step- 1
Adding a shadow to letters makes them appear 3D, and thick letters cast a shadow. Begin by writing a short phrase in thick letters. Faster is to type your phrase into a word processing application, print it, and trace these same letters. Try to write your own word (preferably with pencil guidelines), as done here.
Step- 2
We’re aiming for a realistic appearance as if the letters are sitting on the page. To accomplish this, we’ll have to include a shadow. To begin, gently draw a few diagonal, parallel lines over your phrase with a pencil to begin your shadow.
Step- 3
We will assume that a light source is coming from the top left corner of the page to make these letters look 3D. As a result, the letters will have shadows to the right of them on the page. The best place to begin drawing shadows is at the very bottom left corner of your first letter. Line up your ruler to parallel the slant lines you drew earlier with that corner. Then, make a pencil line 3/16′′ ( 5mm) from the letter’s corner by drawing along the ruler’s edge.
Using a parallel glider (also known as the “rolling ruler”) makes drawing 3D letters easier because you can align the ruler with a diagonal and then roll it forward or backward with ease.
Step- 4
Make a mental note of the remaining corners of your letter, and then draw additional 3/16′′ lines parallel to your diagonal lines. The format of your letter should resemble the example provided above.
Step- 5
Connect the 3/16′′ vertical and horizontal lines you drew now. It’s important that the connections you make on the new letter run in the same direction as the original.
Step- 6
Drawing 3/16′′ lines from the corners and connecting them is the same no matter what letter you’re working on. Like the inside of a “A,” certain letters lack a distinct corner. What if these were actual letters and a real light source were used? If that’s the case, where would the shadow fall? Once you’ve done that, you can draw the shadow line to match.
Step- 7
It’s okay if somehow the shadows of your letters cross over with those of your neighbors. Remember that all of the shadow outlines will be visible behind the actual letters in the final product. Consider the “M” in the example below. Its shadow is still visible behind the “O.”
Step- 8
For example, an “O” letter has no corners, so you can’t cut it in half. Lowering the shadow will make it appear as if the letter is sloping downwards rather than rising. Once the letter has finished descending, you can add another line in the lower-left corner. After that, all that’s left to do is join up the two ends. Keep in mind to add a shadow to the letter’s interior as well!
Step- 9
Even though your letters aren’t finished, they should look three-dimensional once you’ve finished drawing pencil guidelines on them.
Step- 10
You now have the option of choosing the color you want to use to fill in the shadows. The classic look we’re going for necessitated the use of black to fill in the shadows. Hand lettering with a gel or Micron pen is faster and easier than with a dip pen.
Step- 11
Do not stop until you have completed all of your letters by adding shadows. Remove any pencil marks by waiting for the ink to dry completely (a few hours is ideal, but it depends on your climate). Waiting until your ink is completely dry before erasing pencil marks is critical. Premature erasing will only result in a smudge on all of your hard work.
Method 2: Draw Letters in Perspective
Step- 1
Draw your horizon line 1/4 of the way down the page. Don’t forget to lighten the weight of your guides so that you can easily erase the pencil lines you’ve drawn later. Dots should be placed near the page’s edges at both ends of this line. Your vanishing points will be these little squares. All of your lines that aren’t vertical will be angled towards one of these points, so they’re extremely important.
Step- 2
Now, about halfway down the page, draw a 2″ vertical line about a quarter of the way down the left side of the page. This is the beginning of the letter that will be delivered to us the soonest. If you were to stand inside your page and look at the word from this point, you would be looking from your point of view.
Your angles will not look quite right if the vertical lines are not all at a 90 ° angle at the bottom of the page (or perpendicular). A transparent ruler, or a T-Square ruler, can be used to square up your ruler if you don’t have one. Even if you don’t have either of those tools, you can still maintain a nearly vertical alignment by aligning the short side edge of your ruler with the bottom of your page.
Step- 3
Connect the vanishing points at the top and bottom of this line. With each passing second, the outline is taking shape, and your word is receding in the distance from you.
Step- 4
Next, find out how wide the letter closest to it is. The visible sides of mine are about an inch and a half wide. Draw two vertical lines on either side of your line of sight between your guidelines.
Step- 5
Each letter of the alphabet will be turned to face outwards, with “E” at the beginning of our piece serving as our closest neighbor. If you look closely at the letter, you’ll see that the back is slanted away from the letter’s depth (or back). You can give your word depth by connecting your farthest-left vertical line’s apex to your right vanish point.
Step- 6
However, don’t be alarmed; the best is yet to come so stick around! The remaining letters’ width will be determined. If we want a realistic perspective piece, our letters can’t be the same width as they recede into the distance. To achieve this, we’ll take advantage of a simple ruler trick.
Draw a line from the center of your line of sight to the right vanishing point on your right-hand side. A midpoint will be created between your top and bottom guiding principles.
Step- 7
As a critical phase, angle your ruler so that it runs from the bottom of your line of sight up to the point where your farthest right vertical line intersects your middle guideline.
A diagonal line should be drawn running from the top left corner of your page to the top right corner.
Step- 8
From your guideline’s top-most intersection with your diagonal line, draw a vertical line down to determine the letter size you’ll use for your next letter. Keep it at a 90 ° angle from the bottom of your page at all times. Rep this step with the next line until you have six boxes for our letters.
Step- 9
Now, in all of the boxes, create some block letters. To make it easier to keep your angles consistent, the right vanishing point can be identified by making some guidelines.
Keep your lines straight by using a ruler. Keep in mind that as you move away from the vanishing point, your letters’ weight (or thickness) should get thinner and thinner.
Step- 10
We’ll use our left vanish point to give our letters more depth now that they’re formed. For each letter, make a straight line from your ruler to your left vanish point.
Just follow the guideline drawn earlier that defined our letter’s depth, and stop drawing lines when it meets that guideline. Make sure the “C” is curved in the same way as the letter’s front.
To see the finer details, we’ll enlarge our drawing. My letters are now easier to see because we carefully erased the guidelines.
Step- 11
If you haven’t already, give yourself a big pat on the back. Your word is looking great!
We’ll add some ink and some shading to finish it off. Use your black ink pen to trace the pencil lines that form your letters. If necessary, use a ruler. Then, carefully erase the pencil marks that remain. Allow your ink to dry completely before erasing to avoid smudging your beautiful work.
Step- 12
We will keep things simple today and work our way up to more realistic shadows in three stages: light, dark, and gradient. Our light source will be positioned at the correct vanishing point for this piece.
A soft pencil like 2B works best for shading because it blends more smoothly and doesn’t leave visible pencil marks when erasing. To achieve a softer appearance, you’ll want to avoid sharpening your pencil all the way.
Let’s begin with the palest of hues. If you’re looking for these, just look for them near the top of a flat horizontal surface!
Step- 13
After that, we’ll add the deepest shadows to the image. These can be found on any horizontal or vertical surface that is oriented to the left. Don’t overlook the small area to the left of the letter “T” at the top.
Step- 14
Last but not least, let’s add some more gradient shading to the surface we’ll call the foundation of our word. For the area coming out of the closet “E,” will help us keep track of where to place the shading. Use the same method as before to start at the deepest point and gently lighten your shadow to the desired lightness.
Remember to blend your shading with a finger or cotton swab to keep pencil marks to a minimum.
Step- 15
Once you’re satisfied with the result, remove the remaining guidelines and make any necessary adjustments to the shadow. You are finally, done!
Method 3: Draw Letters with Diagonal Angles
Diagonal-lined letters are the next set of letters to practice drawing. Slanted planes will be present in these letters once they are converted into three dimensions. non-perpendicular angles can be found in letters like “K,” “Y,” “Z,” and so on. To learn how to draw slanted planes in proper perspective, let’s practice drawing the letter “K.”
Step- 1
Begin with the letter’s front shape, which is a good starting point. It’s just the letter “K” in this instance.
Step- 2
Following that, you should draw all of the letter’s appropriate corners all the way to the vanishing point. Make certain that use a ruler for this step, or else objects will not line up perfectly in the following step.
Step- 3
When finishing the 3D letter in space, keep in mind to keep the front structure of the letter in mind. As you can see in the drawing above, the blue lines have been drawn horizontally, whereas the orange lines are drawn vertically. Creating the slanted portions of the letter will be the next step.
Step- 4
When attempting to deal with slanted angles, make sure that the front and back of the angle are parallel with one another. (See the image above, where slanted lines are highlighted in green.)
Step- 5
For example, the slanted portion of our letter “K” is made up of two different distinct angles. Look at the purple diagonal lines on both sides of the page and see how they are parallel. Using color-coding to organize your lines when learning to draw complex forms in perspective can help you keep track of which lines go in which directions.
Pay close attention to the color coding in the image above! Each group of colored lines represents a pair of lines that must be parallel to one another.
Step- 6
After a little more tidying up, we have finished drawing a letter!
Final Words
You may not be aware of what perspective lettering is, but it is simply a way to draw words that appear as though they have depth and dimension. The perspective lens is used to view houses or buildings from a distance, for example, when you stand on a street and observe them receding into the distance.
As you expand your knowledge of angles and shadows, you will be able to create more intriguing lettering pieces. You can take your lettering from good to great by practicing these basic principles until they make sense. Hopefully, now you understand how to draw words.