How it works
Graffiti bubble letters are fat, rounded letters that share one outline and one fill colour: what writers call a throw-up. This page opens in Sedgwick Ave Display at strength 70, where 661 of 676 pairs of capitals share an outline.
Read the full guide
What the strength does to a throw-up
The Bubble look gives each letter a fill coat and a wider outline coat, then spaces the letters 0.1 em apart. Where two outline coats meet, the letters share one dark outline. Drag Strength of the look down and they part: 502 pairs still share at 50, only 59 at 20. The fills touch in just 19 pairs at 70, so letters butt together but never overlap.
Which holes survive at 70
The outline reaches 0.105 em into every hole. In Sedgwick Ave Display capital B, D and O keep a white middle, Q and R shrink to dark slits, and A and P fill in. Bangers and Luckiest Guy keep no white hole. At 50, A and P come back as dots.
Tips
- The last two presets set the graffiti bubble letters alphabet on four lines: capitals, then small letters.
- Hot pink and Black have a white outline: use them on Black or Night blue, the rest on White.
- Bangers and Luckiest Guy draw small letters as capitals, so whatever you type comes out in capitals.
Questions and answers
Which bubble letters graffiti font does this page open on?
Sedgwick Ave Display by Pedro Vergani and Kevin Burke, which Google Fonts describes as handwritten graffiti letterforms for large sizes. It, Bangers, Gochi Hand and Boogaloo carry the SIL Open Font License; Permanent Marker and Luckiest Guy are Apache 2.0.
How to draw graffiti bubble letters by hand?
Write the word in thin capitals, leaning and almost touching. Draw a rounded shape around each stroke, letting each letter overlap the next. Erase the skeleton and the hidden lines, go round the whole word with one thick outline, then fill with one colour.
How do I get old school graffiti bubble letters?
Keep to two colours and leave the decoration off. Throw-ups began on the New York City Subway in the 1970s and, Wikipedia notes, have changed less since than tags or pieces. Pick Bubble for outline and fill, or Hollow for the outline alone.