How it works
Shadowing letters is easier with a model to copy. This page prints capital A to Z in Archivo Black with a drop shadow on every letter: down and to the right, the same distance each time. Five more alphabets wait under More options.
Read the full guide
Where the shadow goes
Pick where the light comes from. On these sheets it is the top left, so every shadow falls down and to the right. Draw the letter. Draw it again, moved a little right and the same distance down. Fill in whatever shows past the first letter. That shade lands on the right side and the underside of every stroke, never on the left or the top.
Three depths
Look has the other depths. Long shadow sweeps the letter far down the same diagonal. 3D block sweeps it a short way, so the letter looks cut from a slab. Hollow prints a bare outline to shade yourself.
- Start with EFHILT: straight strokes only. Then COS, where the shade is thickest at the lower right of a curve and thins toward the ends.
- Bungee Shade, Londrina Shadow and Rubik Doodle Shadow carry a shadow of their own, so the sheet prints them as drawn.
Questions and answers
Which side do shadows on letters go?
The side away from the light. With light from the top left, as on these sheets, the shade sits on the right and underneath. Keep one direction for the whole word, or the letters look lit by different lamps.
How do I shade letters in my own word?
Type up to 40 characters in Your letters or words and the sheet draws them in place of the alphabet. Print it, lay thin paper on top and trace: outline first, shade second.
How far should the shadow reach?
Here the drop shadow moves about a twentieth of the letter size, right and down alike. Long shadow carries on along the same diagonal, about seven times as far.