The skeleton
The stem is the letter. Draw it first and make it generous — an E with a thin stem never recovers. Then three bars, generally the top and bottom the same length and the middle one shorter. The middle bar sits on the optical midpoint, which is above the true halfway line.
What happens when you inflate it
The gaps between the bars close before anything else does. Top gap, bottom gap, middle gap — three chances to lose the letter. Inflate the bars outward and keep the stem rigid; the fastest way to ruin an E is to let the stem bend while the bars get fat.
What usually goes wrong: The middle bar ends up longer than the top bar. This happens because the middle bar sits in the widest part of the visual field, and it turns the E into a Ǝ-shaped mess. Draw the middle bar shorter, then leave it alone.
Letters E sits next to
E is the best partner letter in the alphabet for wide styles — its flat edges give F, L, H and B something to butt against. It also tiles: E next to E next to E reads as a fence, which is useful for words with repeated letters.
One thing to try
Shorten the bottom bar very slightly compared with the top. Nobody will name what you did, but the letter will stop looking like it is standing on a wider base than it has.
How to draw the letter E in four steps
- Sketch the skeleton. The stem is the letter. Draw it first and make it generous — an E with a thin stem never recovers. Then three bars, generally the top and bottom the same length and the middle one shorter. The middle bar sits on the optical midpoint, which is above the true halfway line.
- Inflate the strokes. The gaps between the bars close before anything else does. Top gap, bottom gap, middle gap — three chances to lose the letter. Inflate the bars outward and keep the stem rigid; the fastest way to ruin an E is to let the stem bend while the bars get fat.
- Check the neighbors. E is the best partner letter in the alphabet for wide styles — its flat edges give F, L, H and B something to butt against. It also tiles: E next to E next to E reads as a fence, which is useful for words with repeated letters.
- Add your own twist. Shorten the bottom bar very slightly compared with the top. Nobody will name what you did, but the letter will stop looking like it is standing on a wider base than it has.
Questions about the letter E
Why is my graffiti E harder than it looks?
Three counters, three places for paint to fill in. E is the letter where beginner pieces most often collapse, and the fix is nearly always the same: keep the stem thick and let the bars take less weight.
How long should the middle bar of an E be?
Shorter than the top bar, usually by about fifteen percent. The middle bar reads longer than it measures because of the space around it.