Capital letter · 9 of 26
Bubble letter I
Bubble I is one fat capsule standing on end, rounded at both ends, as wide as the strokes of the letters beside it.
- The font
- Modak. Round, puffed up. Free to use, from the catalogue.
- Step by step
- 1Draw a single straight line, as tall as your other capitals.
- 2Fatten it evenly and close the top and the foot with half circles.
- 3There is nothing to keep open in an I: only check it is as fat as the posts of an H or an L beside it.
- 4Shadow the capsule’s right side and its foot, and put one long highlight on the left.
- Watch for
- A bubble I drawn thinner than the other letters looks like a gap in the word. Measure its width from the posts of its neighbours.
- Mixed up with
Alone, a bubble I is easily read as a small l or the figure 1, and with a stub of a foot, as an L.
- Practise with
- Ice · Isla · Idea · Indigo
01 / In other fonts
I in 4 more fonts
Modak draws the widest I for its height and Bagel Fat One the narrowest.
02 / To colour in
A page to colour
On US Letter the sheet prints the I 133 mm tall and 58 mm wide, 5.2 by 2.3 inches, with about 74 cm² to colour; on A4, 129 by 57 mm. The alphabet sheets print A to Z or your own name.
One page: the I big and hollow in Modak to colour in, and the same I 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 I, 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 I?
A 3D I needs only a band down one side, the right, and a curve under the foot, the simplest letter to give depth.
Should a bubble I have bars at the top and bottom?
It can, as in some fonts, and then it is an I-beam: two fat bars and a post. Plain capsules, the way all five of these fonts draw it, are easier to draw and read better in a word.
How do you colour a bubble I?
The plainest shape of all: colour it in bands across, or in a stripe of each colour of a name’s other letters.