How do you draw an S in bubble letters?
Draw a thin S with a slightly smaller top curve, then trace around it at an even distance. Keep the spine through the middle as thick as the ends, cap both tips with round ends, and leave an open, curved pocket in each half. Ink the outline and erase the skeleton.
- Stack two curves. Pencil a small C on top and a slightly bigger backward C underneath, touching in the middle. Together they make the skeleton of the S.
- Mark the spine. Where the two curves meet, draw two short parallel slanted lines. This is the fat middle of the letter, and marking it first stops it from getting thin.
- Trace the top half. Start at the upper tip and go around the top curve, staying an even distance from the skeleton, until you reach the spine.
- Trace the bottom half. Cross the spine and swing around the lower curve to the bottom tip. Turn the paper as you go so your hand stays in a comfortable position.
- Cap both ends. Close each tip with a half-circle. One cap sits at the upper right, the other at the lower left.
- Check the pockets. Each half should hold a curved pocket that is still open. If one has closed, pull the cap back a little before you ink.
What makes an S easy or tricky in bubble letters
Every line of a bubble S is a curve, and the outline changes direction twice, so there is nowhere to rest. The spine is the weak spot: as you move from one curve to the other your hand tends to cut the corner, and the middle gets thin. The second risk is the pockets. Puff the curves too far and they close, leaving a shape that looks like an 8 or a peanut.
Lowercase s in bubble letters
Lowercase s is the same snake shape, only shorter, sitting at the height of the other small letters. The shorter it gets, the tighter the curves, so the pockets close very quickly. Draw the lowercase s a bit wider than you expect and let the caps be small. Its spine should be as thick as the capital's, or it looks deflated next to its neighbors.
Cute, 3D and graffiti bubble S
A cute bubble S can end in two little curls, or be drawn as a smiling snake with a dot eye in the top cap. In 3D, the shadow wraps around the outside of the bottom curve and slips under the spine, which shows the twist of the letter. Graffiti S's often sharpen the caps into arrows or break the spine into two pieces; see the graffiti letter S.
Common mistakes with a bubble S
- Cutting the corner at the spine, so the middle of the S is pinched and thin.
- Drawing the top curve bigger than the bottom, which makes the letter look top-heavy.
- Puffing both halves until the pockets close and the S turns into an 8.
Printable bubble letter S to color or trace
Each letter fills a full A4 page (choose "fit to page" to print on US Letter), so it is big enough to color, trace or cut out for a banner. Download the uppercase A–Z PDF, the lowercase a–z PDF or the numbers 0–9 PDF, and print only the pages you need. More sheets are on printable bubble letters.