How it works
Bubble letters with highlights need one light: top left here. Type a word for bubble letters with shadow: 3D block, Drop shadow and Long shadow all fall down and right. The tool draws no highlight: add yours by hand, top left of each letter.
Read the full guide
Shading bubble letters: how wide the side is
3D block stacks 14 copies of your word, each a step down and right, in the Colours set's darker shade. At the opening Strength of the look, 50, the side is just under a third of Titan One's stroke; at 100, about half. It is one size in every font: over half of Fredoka's stroke, a fifth of Chango's.
On bubble letters 3D sides fill the holes
Inside a hole the side shows against the top and left walls, so shade those when drawing. At 50 it fills every hole in Titan One's letters and digits except a sliver of O and Q; Fredoka's O stays half open. Long shadow at 50 fills every hole in all five solid fonts. Sticker's soft shadow sits straight below.
Tips
- Bungee Shade has its own shadow, down and left, so its light is top right. Keep it on Plain and highlight the top right.
- For a colouring sheet, set Colours to White with 3D block: white faces, a thin black line, dark grey sides. Leave each highlight bare.
- On Night blue or Black the print is a thin outline with no shadow. Untick Print as an outline (saves ink) to keep it.
Questions and answers
How to shade bubble letters by hand?
Pick one corner for the light and shade the opposite side of every stroke. With the light top left, as here, that is the right edge and the underside. Keep the strip one width throughout, in a darker shade of the face colour.
How to highlight bubble letters?
Leave a short white curve inside the outline at the top left of each letter, with a dot beneath it. The tool does not draw this mark. On a print, keep it as bare paper, or add it afterwards with a white gel pen.
Where do highlights on bubble letters go?
On the side the light comes from, the same on every letter: top left here. On O, C and S the mark bends with the curve. Keep it on the face, never on the 3D side, which is in shadow.