Learn to Draw a Graffiti Letter E with Markers
Working through one Letter at a time is a great way to practice drawing graffiti art. Today we are going to draw a graffiti letter E.
You can do this tutorial as a practice exercise, or you can use your drawings as stand alone works of art. Either one is fine and both approaches are beneficial to improving your art and drawing skills.
And working on individual letters is a good way to practice color combinations and background styles. You could do a series of graffiti letter E drawings and come up with a bunch of new designs.
Working on Artist Trading Cards is a great way to save time. This is what I use for the majority of my artwork.
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Art Supplies
- Thin black marker
- Paper or cardstock
- Markers
- Pencil
- Click Eraser, Pink Pearl Eraser
- White Gelly Roll pen
Letter E Quick Sketch
Starting with some quick sketching is a great way to warm up and work through some rough ideas.
When sketching out your ideas for your graffiti letter E drawings, you only need to capture the flow of the letter. Don’t worry about adding any details yet.
And don’t spend a lot of time doing this. Three to five minutes is all you really need to complete this step. The purpose is to loosen up and to get some basic ideas going for your drawings.
You can use reference photos or try to come up with your own lettering styles. If you’re just starting out you’ll probably need some photos to help you get started.
Graffiti Letter E Drawing Step by Step
The first step when drawing anything is to lay out some simple shapes and guidelines. First of all, it makes getting started much easier. It gets you past making those first marks on your blank paper. And it gives you a rough idea of what your drawing is going to look like.
It’s also a great way to get the size and shape of your drawing right before you spend too much time working on it.
Step 1: Guidelines
Look at your page of quick sketches from earlier and choose one of the lettering styles you came up with. Then copy that letter onto a good piece of paper or blank artist trading card.
If you didn’t do the quick sketch exercise or if you want to just come up with your letter on the fly, just draw out your line work now.
When placing your letter E onto your paper, keep in mind the final drawing will be slightly larger.
Step 2: Add Details
Now draw the shape of your graffiti letter E around that guideline. Keep the style consistent. This is where you’ll want to include any extra accents or details to your drawing.
Depending on the style and complexity of your graffiti letter E drawing, you may need to draw through your other lines. This means adding in some extra lines you know won’t be included in your finished drawing to help keep things lined up.
But if you make your drawings lightly this shouldn’t be a problem. And is quite often a very helpful technique.
Letter E Outline
When you’re satisfied with how your drawing looks, you can go over your pencil lines with a black pen or marker. Or, whatever other color you may want to use.
You can make your outline thick, thin, or a combination of the two. A lot of how you finish your graffiti letter E drawings will be determined by your artistic style. If you’re not sure what your style is, don’t worry. That will come with practice.
How to Draw a Graffiti E with Markers
When finishing your graffiti art, it is helpful to know at least some basic principles of Color Theory. You’ll want to make sure the colors you use work together and compliment each other.
Choose your colors for the inside of your letter. If you’re using alcohol markers you can blend your colors together.
You’ll want to make sure you’re using a few different markers. Avoid just making your letters one solid color. That would look boring.
Learning to draw with markers will take a little bit of practice. But they’re really pretty easy to get used to using. We have a tutorial on Using Marker for Beginners if you need some help getting started. There are a few things you should keep in mind when using them.
First, if you want to be able to blend your colors together you need to use alcohol based markers. Bic, Sharpie, and Copic for example. As well as many others.
Second, you need to work while the colors are still wet or they won’t mix together. This isn’t a big deal. Just make sure you work on a section at a time.
Third, you need to use colors that are similar to each other if you want to create a smooth transition of color. If your markers are too different they will leave a harder edge.
After you’ve finished coloring your graffiti letter E, add in some background designs. You can do just about anything for your background. Have fun and experiment with different ideas.
3D Letter E
If you want to add a 3D effect to your letter drawings, that can be done pretty easily. We have an entire tutorial on drawing 3D letters that will show you how.
By following a simple step by step process you can have your 3D letter go in any direction you want. And be at any depth you want to make it.
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
Now that you know how to draw a graffiti letter E, the next step is to practice as many different drawings as you can do. This will help you improve your art and drawing skills. As well as increase your creativity.
The best way to improve is with practice and repetition. You’ll improve with each new drawing you do. Challenging yourself to a series of drawings is a great way to get better. Making great graffiti art just takes a bit of time and practice.
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