3D Graffiti Letter B Drawing Tutorial
Learning how to draw a graffiti alphabet letter B is so much fun. And it’s really easy to do. In this tutorial I’m going to show you a 3D letter B.
But you can leave the 3D part off if you’d like. I’ll also be using markers for my drawing today. Which is optional as well. Feel free to use any medium of your choice.
There are many different ways to do your graffiti drawings. Today I’m going to be showing you one of those ways, in hopes that you’ll feel inspired to make your own.
Let’s grab a few supplies and get started on our graffiti B drawing.
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Art Supplies
- Thin black marker
- Paper or cardstock
- Markers
- Pencil
- Click Eraser, Pink Pearl Eraser
- White Gelly Roll pen
History of Graffiti Art
The underground art form is said to have originated in Philadelphia in the 1960’s. Writers would “bomb” the city with their names, as a way to gain recognition and attention by the community and media.
By the late 60’s it had moved into New York and gained momentum by the 1970’s. During this time people were going around ” tagging” the cities.
Modern graffiti has changed quite a bit from its original form. Although many people still tag, graffiti art has taken over as the more popular method for getting noticed.
And instead of simply scribbling a name on a wall the artwork has grown immensely. Not only are artists getting noticed, but they are also telling a story or making a point about society and politics.
Slap tagging is another modern form of street art where the artwork is drawn on stickers and slapped somewhere in public.
Graffiti B Sketch Practice
A good way to warm up your drawing muscles is with a sketch practice exercise. And it’s a great way to quickly work through some rough ideas for your drawings.
Here’s how to do it.
- Get some paper and something to sketch with (pencil, pen, marker, etc.)
- Pull up some reference photos of graffiti art
- Set a timer for three or five minutes
Then simply sketch out as many graffiti letter B’s as you can before the timer runs out. Another option is to quickly sketch until your paper is filled and you’re out of room.
Either method is fine. The purpose is to warm up and work through some ideas. This exercise shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.
You can use this exercise strictly as practice. Or, you can choose some of the designs you like and make finished drawings from them.
How to Draw Graffiti Alphabet Letter B (Step by Step)
Step 1: Rough Guidelines
I like to start my drawings with some basic guidelines. There are several reasons for doing this.
First, and most importantly, it gets us past that blank page syndrome that so many artists get stuck on.
Second, it helps get a good size, location, and proportions for our drawing. It’s much better to figure this stuff out now than after spending a bunch of time on your drawing and then realizing something is off.
Begin by drawing some guidelines for how you want your graffiti letter B to look. This is where you can get an idea about how the letter will flow.
When sketching your letter B, keep in mind it’s going to be bigger when finished.
Step 2: Letter B Shape
Next, draw the outside edges to your graffiti B letter using your sketch as a guide. Pay attention to sizes, angles, and the spaces between each area of your letter.
This is where you want to make any corrections to your drawing.
Step 3: Details
Finish your drawing by adding in any extra details to your letter B. You can add some extra bits to your letter. Or you could cut some areas out or add little notches.
Arrows are also quite popular in graffiti lettering.
3D Letter B
To draw a 3D graffiti letter B you need a vanishing point. This will be drawn in one point perspective.
Since there isn’t room on the side of my paper, I made my vanishing point off to the side where the circle is.
To make your letter 3D, simply lineup each of the corners with the vanishing point and draw a straight line using a ruler.
Do this for each corner in your letter. Draw your lines lightly because parts of your lines will get erased.
Then decide how wide you want your letter to be and shorten the 3D effect to that width. When doing this you want to keep your lines parallel with the lines on the face of the letter.
Then, erase any extra lines that you don’t want on your drawing.
Graffiti B Outline
After you have your letter all drawn out you can add an outline with a black pen or marker. Which type of marker or pen you use will depend on your personal preference and the look you’re going for.
You can also use a color other than black.
You can make your outline thin, thick, or a combination of line weights. The outline is a good way to experiment and try new things.
I like doing my drawings on artist trading cards because it saves time and gives me more freedom to try new things.
Letter B Graffiti Drawing with Markers
The last step is to add some color to your graffiti letter. This can be done with markers, colored pencils, paint, or any other medium of your choosing.
For this tutorial I used markers. Here are some basic rules for using markers.
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.
You can start with the 3D fill in, or the letter itself. Either way is fine.
You want to make sure your colors work well together. This can be done by following basic color theory.
A white Gelly Roll pen can be used to add highlights.
Graffiti Alphabet Letter B – Conclusion
The process we used to draw a graffiti letter B can be used for any letter of the alphabet. And any style of lettering as well.
After you’ve learned this simple technique, it would be a good idea to practice by doing several drawings. You can continue drawing the same letter, choose a different letter, or try drawing an entire word.
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