The skeleton
Stem, top bar, middle bar. That is all — but the stance is everything. F should be nearly as wide as E even though it is missing a bar, otherwise it looks like a letter that ran out of paint.
What happens when you inflate it
The single lower counter is the first thing to go. Push the stem and the middle bar together and F becomes a hook. Keep the counter open and remember that the area below the middle bar is open space, not empty space — it is doing the same job as the bottom bar of an E.
What usually goes wrong: Letting the top bar droop or shorten. Because F has an open bottom, any sag at the top reads as the whole letter sliding downhill. Keep the top bar level and full length.
Letters F sits next to
F sits naturally with L, I, E and T, all of which share its vertical stem. It is also the letter that benefits most from a slight forward lean, since a leaning F looks like it is moving and a leaning E just looks crooked.
One thing to try
In handstyle, let the middle bar overshoot the stem on the right by a hair. The overshoot gives the letter a hand-drawn tension that a clean T-junction cannot produce.
How to draw the letter F in four steps
- Sketch the skeleton. Stem, top bar, middle bar. That is all — but the stance is everything. F should be nearly as wide as E even though it is missing a bar, otherwise it looks like a letter that ran out of paint.
- Inflate the strokes. The single lower counter is the first thing to go. Push the stem and the middle bar together and F becomes a hook. Keep the counter open and remember that the area below the middle bar is open space, not empty space — it is doing the same job as the bottom bar of an E.
- Check the neighbors. F sits naturally with L, I, E and T, all of which share its vertical stem. It is also the letter that benefits most from a slight forward lean, since a leaning F looks like it is moving and a leaning E just looks crooked.
- Add your own twist. In handstyle, let the middle bar overshoot the stem on the right by a hair. The overshoot gives the letter a hand-drawn tension that a clean T-junction cannot produce.
Questions about the letter F
Why does my graffiti F look small next to the other letters?
Because its open bottom makes it read lighter than its neighbors, even at the same height and width. Compensate by drawing F slightly wider than it feels like it should be.
Can the F bars be the same length?
They can, but they usually should not be. Equal bars make the letter look like a ladder; making the top bar noticeably longer gives it direction.