H in Bubble Letters
By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content
Rendered in the Bagel Fat One typeface, an open-source font. It is a reference shape, not a hand-drawn letter.
H is two stems and a bridge, and it looks too easy to need a guide until the first attempt comes out as a fat rectangle. The capital's trouble is the crossbar, which tends to swallow both inner gaps. The lowercase h hangs an arch off a tall stem, and that arch is where the shape either works or collapses.
Outline version to colour or trace
How to draw a bubble capital H
- 1Draw two vertical lines with a generous space between them, and a horizontal crossbar linking them at the middle height.
- 2Make the space wide enough that the letter is almost as wide as it is tall, since the outlines will narrow the gap.
- 3Inflate the stems and the crossbar into tubes of equal thickness, ending each stem in a rounded cap.
- 4Smooth the four inner corners where the bar meets the stems, so the two openings look like rounded windows.
- 5Erase the skeleton and shade the right side of each stem, with a lighter highlight along the bar's top.
Tip: Put the crossbar slightly above the centre. A bar at the exact middle can make the two windows look like a pair of identical holes, which feels mechanical.
How to draw a bubble lowercase h
- 1Draw a tall stem to the ascender line, then an arch beginning partway down it and ending in a short leg at x-height baseline.
- 2Make the arch a clear round shoulder, wider than it is tall, instead of a pointed roof.
- 3Inflate the stem, arch and leg as a single connected tube, rounding the top of the stem and the foot of the leg.
- 4Keep the space under the arch as a rounded tunnel that is open at the bottom, and wide enough to see paper.
- 5Erase the pencil and shade the outside of the arch, with a highlight on the stem's upper left.
Tip: Check that the arch leaves the stem a little below the x-height line, not at the very top. If it starts higher, the h begins to look like an n with a flag.
What makes H awkward or easy
Both forms of h are made of straight lines, so the only real danger is inflating them unevenly. In the capital, the narrow gaps on each side of the bar fill in quickly. In the lowercase the arch is a small hole between a stem and a leg, which is exactly where the outlines try to touch. The letter also gets heavy on the left because the tall stem carries so much weight.
Variations
A graffiti H sometimes tilts the crossbar into a lightning-bolt slant. A cute H gives each stem a face and joins them with a ribbon crossbar. A lowercase h can curve its leg out to the right like a hockey stick. For 3D, extrude downward and add a small shadow beneath the crossbar. Outline-only H is a tidy first colouring letter.
Common mistakes with bubble H
The two windows on either side of the crossbar close up.
Move the stems further apart in the skeleton. Each window must still show paper after the outline, so widen the letter.
The crossbar is thinner than the stems.
Draw the bar with the same tube thickness, ending it inside the stems so it looks like part of them.
The lowercase arch collapses and the h looks like an l with a lump.
Make the arch wide and round, and leave a clear tunnel between stem and leg.
The leg of the lowercase h is taller than the arch.
Bring the leg down to the baseline and stop it at x-height beside the arch, so the whole shoulder looks like one curve.
Ideas for bubble H
H is the first letter of Hana, Hugo and Hassan, and spells HELLO and HOME on door signs. A large bubble H makes a simple base for a heart pattern, because the two windows can each hold a small heart. For birthday banners, the capital H in bright colours pairs well with a lowercase h in a darker tone.
Printable bubble H sheet
Trace the outlines, then fill the empty rows with your own bubble letters.
Bubble letter H h Name: ____________________ · coolletteringgenerator.com
Bubble H you can copy and paste
Ⓗ and ⓗ are the circled forms, and the black-circled capital is 🅗, with no black lowercase. As a ring-bound glyph, H loses the open windows beside its bar, so the circled version looks tighter than anything you would draw.
Bubble H: questions
How do you draw a bubble letter H?
What does a lowercase bubble h look like?
Why does my bubble H look like a rectangle?
Where should the crossbar of a bubble H go?
Keep going
- Bubble Letters AlphabetThe bubble letters alphabet is the full A to Z of thick, rounded, inflated-looking letters, in uppercase and lowercase, with the numbers 0 to 9. Everything here is free to view, print and trace, with no sign-up. Pick a letter to learn how to draw it, or print the outline sheet to colour.
- Printable Bubble Letter GeneratorThis bubble letter generator turns your word into hollow outline letters in four fat fonts. Download the PNG, then print it to trace over or colour in.
- How to Draw Bubble Letters, Step by StepHow to draw bubble letters: write the word in thin capitals, draw a rounded outline around each as if inflated, ink it, erase the skeleton, then shade, highlight and colour. Round every corner and keep the outline thickness even.
- How to Write H in Cursive
- H in Different Fonts
- Graffiti AlphabetThe graffiti alphabet is a set of bold, connected letters that are deliberately distorted so they look fast, large and hard to copy. This page gives an A to Z reference, explains how graffiti letters are built in layers, and tells tags, throw-ups, pieces and wildstyle apart before you draw your own.