How to Draw 3D Letters: Extrusion, Perspective and Shading

A 3D letter is a flat letter with a side added to it. That sounds trivial, but the sides have to agree with each other, with the light, and with the other letters in the word. This guide explains the two main drawing approaches, how to avoid the standard mistakes with hidden edges, and how to shade in a way that convinces the eye.

It assumes you can already draw a clean flat letter. If not, work through block letters first, since simple, straight-edged letters are the easiest to extrude.

How to draw 3D letters: two ways to give depth

Use parallel extrusion for graphic, simple depth and vanishing point perspective for realistic depth.

Neither is better. Parallel extrusion is the standard approach in sketchbooks and many graffiti pieces, and perspective is the standard for words that need to feel like objects in a space. Start with parallel and move to perspective once the basics are secure.

Method 1: How does parallel extrusion work?

Parallel extrusion copies the flat letter along one direction and joins the corners with parallel lines.

Step 1: Draw the front face

Draw the word as flat block letters. Use light guide lines for baseline and cap height. Keep strokes straight and corners crisp, because every corner will generate a depth line.

Step 2: Choose the direction and depth

Pick one direction for the depth, such as diagonally down and right at 45 degrees, and one length, such as half a stroke width. Draw a small arrow in the corner of the page as a reminder. You will use the same arrow for every letter.

Common choices:

• Down and right (light from top left), the most common.
• Up and right, which suggests viewing from below, a more heroic feel.
• Straight down, which gives a stacked, poster-like look.

Step 3: Draw the depth lines

At each outer corner of the front letter, draw a short line in the chosen direction. Use a ruler. Draw every line the same length. Do not draw lines at inner corners yet.

Step 4: Draw the back edges

Connect the ends of the depth lines with lines parallel to the front edges. The back edge of a horizontal stroke is a horizontal line, and the back edge of a vertical stroke is a vertical line. The shape you have drawn is the front face copied to a new position.

Step 5: Erase hidden edges

This step is where most mistakes happen. Any edge that would be behind the front face or behind another part of the extrusion must be erased. Look at each part of the letter and ask: could I see this line if the letter were a solid object? If a depth line goes into the front face, remove the part inside.

Letters with holes, such as A, B, D, O, P, Q and R, need extra care. The inside of the hole shows part of the extruded wall, usually on the side facing away from the light direction. Draw the depth lines at the inner corners only on the edges that face the viewer.

Method 2: How does vanishing point perspective work?

All depth lines converge on one point on the horizon. Perspective makes the letters look like objects in space. The key idea is that all depth lines, which are parallel in reality, converge on one point.

One-point perspective

1. Draw a horizon line across the page. Mark a vanishing point on it. Put it to the right of the word for a view that shows the left sides, or to the left for the right sides. You can also place it in the centre for a symmetric tunnel effect.
2. Draw the word as flat letters in front of you. These form the front face and have no distortion.
3. From each outer corner, draw a faint line toward the vanishing point.
4. Decide how deep the letters go. Draw a back face along those lines, scaled smaller than the front. The deeper you go, the smaller the back face looks. A back face at 70 to 90 per cent of the front size is a good range.
5. Connect the corners and erase hidden edges, as with parallel extrusion.

Placing the vanishing point high above the word makes you look down on the letters and shows their tops, and placing it low shows their undersides. Keep the point inside the page at first, so lines are not too long.

Two-point perspective

Two-point perspective uses two vanishing points, one on each side of the horizon. Letters are drawn standing on a corner, with vertical edges kept vertical and horizontal edges converging toward either point. It looks great on corner signs and big titles, but it is harder to apply to whole words. Treat it as a later step, and use a ruler for every line.

Practical shortcuts

• Draw depth lines faintly first and ink only the visible ones.
• Make a template: draw the horizon, vanishing point and a handful of guide lines on a spare sheet, and place it under thin paper if you work on a light box or window.
• Keep the vanishing point far from the word if you want mild depth, and close to the word for dramatic depth.

How do I shade 3D letters?

Choose one light source and make every face obey it. Whichever method you choose, shading is what turns a drawing of a shape into a convincing object. A rule that holds in every case: choose one light source, and make every face obey it.

Suppose the light is at the top left.

1. The front face is the lightest, because it faces the viewer and is lit directly. Leave it plain or fill it with the lightest colour.
2. Faces that turn toward the light (usually the top faces) are light to medium.
3. Faces that turn away from the light (usually the right and bottom sides) are the darkest.
4. Gradient or hatching can be used on the sides. A gradient is darker where the side meets the shadow, while hatching lines go in one direction with tighter spacing for darker areas.
5. Highlights are short, bright marks on the edges nearest the light. A white gel pen works well.

If you use only three tones, such as a light front, mid-tone top and dark side, the result is clean and readable. More tones create subtler effects but also give more chances to get inconsistent.

How do I draw cast shadows?

Draw the shadow opposite the light direction, as a flat shape stretched from the base of the letters.

A cast shadow is the shadow on the ground or wall behind the letters. Without one, a 3D word looks like it is floating in white space. With one, it sits somewhere.

• The shadow falls in the direction opposite to the light. If the light is top left, the shadow runs toward the bottom right.
• For a simple look, draw the shadow as a flat shape, the letters’ footprint stretched along the shadow direction.
• Fill it with a darker tone of the background colour. Do not use pure black unless the background is also very dark.
• Keep the shadow edges parallel to the depth lines for a consistent feel.

If your letters stand on a ground plane, the shadow starts at the base of each letter. If they float, the shadow is detached and slightly offset. Either is fine as long as you are consistent.

How do I extrude curved letters like O and S?

Draw the front curve, copy it along the depth direction and join the two with tangent lines. Curved letters, such as O, S and C, need slightly more care than straight ones.

• For parallel extrusion, draw the front curve, then copy it along the depth direction.
• Draw two straight lines that touch the curve at its extremes in the depth direction. These are the silhouette edges, and they are tangent to both the front and back curves.
• Erase the part of the back curve that is hidden behind the front face. The part of the back curve you can see is the visible edge.

Practise on an O first. It is the clearest demonstration of the tangent line rule, and once it is right the other curves follow.

What mistakes make 3D letters look wrong?

Most come from inconsistent depth lines, hidden edges left in and mixed light directions.

Where to go from here

3D lettering is a common building block of graffiti pieces, where the block is often drawn deeper and exaggerated. See how to draw graffiti letters for ways to combine blocks with outlines, fills and highlights. If you prefer a softer look, try inflating the letters first, as shown in the bubble letters guide, then add a shifted second outline.

What is a short practice routine?

Five short drills cover extrusion, curves, perspective and shading:

1. Draw the letters E, L and T with parallel extrusion and a single light direction.
2. Add the curved letters O and S, and apply the tangent rule.
3. Write a three-letter word and extrude it, checking that depth and spacing are equal.
4. Redraw the same word using a vanishing point and compare the two.
5. Add shading in three tones, then a cast shadow.

After a few rounds, how to draw 3D letters stops being a puzzle: the process becomes quick, and your eye will pick up mistakes before you ink them.