Capital letter · 4 of 26
Bubble letter D
Bubble D pairs a straight back with one big round belly, and keeps a short slit or half-moon of a hole close to the back.
- The font
- Modak. Round, puffed up. Free to use, from the catalogue.
- Step by step
- 1Rough in a straight line down and one big curve from its top to its foot.
- 2Fatten the whole shape evenly, softening both corners at the back.
- 3Keep the hole as a slim half-moon along the back; the belly can swell, but the slit has to stay.
- 4Darken the entire right curve of the belly and the base, and leave a highlight down the left edge of the back.
- Watch for
- A D drawn as wide as it is tall turns into a fat O. Keep it narrower than an O, and the back dead straight.
- Mixed up with
Rounded at the back as well, a bubble D is an O; with a notch in the belly it becomes a B.
- Practise with
- Dream · Dad · Daisy · Dance
01 / In other fonts
D in 4 more fonts
Bagel Fat One keeps the biggest hole in its D, 30% of the letter’s height across, and Modak the smallest, a slit of 5%. Rubik Bubbles draws the widest D for its height and Bagel Fat One the narrowest.
02 / To colour in
A page to colour
On US Letter the sheet prints the D 132 mm tall and 121 mm wide, 5.2 by 4.8 inches, with about 138 cm² to colour, its hole about 6 mm across; on A4, 128 by 117 mm. The alphabet sheets print A to Z or your own name.
One page: the D big and hollow in Modak to colour in, and the same D in the other fonts under it. Crayons, markers or paint; or trace it.
In the print dialog choose Save as PDF to keep a file. The sheet fills one page of US Letter at full size.
Preview · 1 page · Modak
03 / Questions
Bubble D, answered
A 3D bubble letter is its outline drawn twice, the copy a little down and to the right, the corners joined.
Where does the depth go on a 3D bubble D?
Draw the shadow block around the outside of the belly, from its top right down and along the bottom; inside the hole it is a thin line on the side of the back.
How do I stop my bubble D looking like an O?
Make the back straight and the two left corners only a little round. The hole helps too: a D’s sits against the back, an O’s in the middle.
How do you colour a bubble D?
Fill the belly with the colour running round the curve, and keep the slit of a hole white: it is what tells the D from a blob.