The skeleton
Build a narrow inverted V first — two straight diagonals meeting at a point — then add the crossbar as a third, shorter stroke sitting about a third of the way up from the baseline. At hairline weight the two diagonals should look like they could collapse into one line. That is the sign the stance is tight enough to inflate.
What happens when you inflate it
Inflation eats the ends first. The apex pinches into a blunt wedge and the inner triangle — the counter — shrinks toward a dot. Keep the counter alive by pulling the inside edge of each diagonal inward rather than pushing the outside edge out. The outer silhouette can be as fat as you like, as long as the counter survives.
What usually goes wrong: A turns wider than it is tall, and then it reads as a tent rather than a letter. Cap the width at roughly seventy percent of the cap height and let the diagonals take the weight.
Letters A sits next to
A shares its diagonals with V, M and N, so it locks together with them almost for free — the right leg of A can run straight into the left arm of V. Keep it away from O: the blunt triangle next to a round counter makes both letters look like mistakes.
One thing to try
Slope the crossbar down a touch toward the right. A dead-level crossbar between two leaning strokes looks like an error; two or three degrees of slope looks like a decision.
How to draw the letter A in four steps
- Sketch the skeleton. Build a narrow inverted V first — two straight diagonals meeting at a point — then add the crossbar as a third, shorter stroke sitting about a third of the way up from the baseline. At hairline weight the two diagonals should look like they could collapse into one line. That is the sign the stance is tight enough to inflate.
- Inflate the strokes. Inflation eats the ends first. The apex pinches into a blunt wedge and the inner triangle — the counter — shrinks toward a dot. Keep the counter alive by pulling the inside edge of each diagonal inward rather than pushing the outside edge out. The outer silhouette can be as fat as you like, as long as the counter survives.
- Check the neighbors. A shares its diagonals with V, M and N, so it locks together with them almost for free — the right leg of A can run straight into the left arm of V. Keep it away from O: the blunt triangle next to a round counter makes both letters look like mistakes.
- Add your own twist. Slope the crossbar down a touch toward the right. A dead-level crossbar between two leaning strokes looks like an error; two or three degrees of slope looks like a decision.
Questions about the letter A
Why does my graffiti A look squashed?
Almost always because the apex is too wide. The two diagonals should leave the top point at a narrow angle and only spread near the baseline. Widen the base, not the apex.
Should the crossbar touch both diagonals?
Yes, and it should overlap them slightly rather than stop short. In bubble and block styles the crossbar is usually the same weight as the diagonals; in handstyle it can be thinner, and in that case it can break through the outline on one side for a looser feel.