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Lettering Image Maker

This lettering generator draws your words in 16 display fonts, from bubble and graffiti to Old English and neon. Pick colours and effects, then download a sharp PNG.

  • Free
  • No sign-up
  • Nothing to install
  • Runs in your browser
Cool Letters
Preview of “Cool Letters” in Bubble lettering

Bubble letters · Rubik Bubbles

Lettering style
Letter colour
Background

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content

Key facts

  • The lettering generator draws text in 16 real display fonts, from bubble, graffiti and Old English to calligraphy, 3D shade, neon, pixel, glitch and horror.
  • Lettering is exported as a PNG at twice the on-screen size, and the size slider runs from 48 to 200 px; a transparent background keeps the PNG ready for layering.
  • Only shapes Unicode has encoded can be pasted as text, so outlined bubble letters, graffiti tags, 3D shadows and neon tubes need an image instead.
  • Every font is open-source (SIL Open Font License; Permanent Marker uses Apache 2.0), and both licences allow personal and commercial use of the images, with no credit required.
  • For Cricut or Silhouette cut files, turn off the drop shadow, use a solid colour and pick a bold style such as Bubble, Chunky or Block.
  • Words are drawn in the browser with the Canvas API and never sent to a server.

This lettering generator draws your words in 16 real display fonts, from bubble and graffiti to old English, calligraphy, 3D and neon, then downloads a PNG with the colour, outline and background you choose. Use it for thumbnails, posters, stickers and craft templates. Nothing is uploaded.

How to use the lettering generator

  1. Type your words in the text box. Press Enter to break a line.
  2. Pick a lettering style, then set the letter colour, background, outline, drop shadow and size.
  3. Click Download PNG to save the image.

Images, not characters

Most tools on this site produce text: Unicode characters that look styled and paste into any app. That approach has a hard limit. Only shapes Unicode has encoded can be produced, so chunky outlined bubble letters, graffiti tags, 3D drop shadows and neon tubes are impossible as text.

This maker draws your words with real lettering fonts instead and gives you a picture. Use it when the destination accepts images: a YouTube thumbnail, a poster, a classroom display, a sticker, a cake topper template, a Canva design, or a reference for drawing by hand.

You want… Use
Styled letters in a bio, username, caption or chat Cool lettering generator (text)
A picture of lettering for a design, print or video This image maker (PNG)
To learn to draw the letters yourself Cursive letters A–Z and what is lettering

Six words written in chunky bubble letters in different colours.

The lettering styles

Each style is a carefully chosen open-source typeface that represents a lettering tradition people actually search for.

Style Typeface Feels like Works well for
Bubble Rubik Bubbles Puffy, inflated letters Kids’ posters, birthday signs, stickers
Chunky Bagel Fat One Heavy rounded display Thumbnails, bold titles
Graffiti Sedgwick Ave Display Spray-paint tag Street-style designs, album art
Marker Permanent Marker Hand-drawn felt tip Notes, casual signs, memes
Old English UnifrakturMaguntia German blackletter Certificates, tattoo previews, band logos
Calligraphy Great Vibes Formal pointed-pen script Wedding signs, invitations
Retro script Pacifico 1950s surf brush script Shop signs, logos, merch
Bold script Lobster Heavy connected script Headlines with personality
Handwriting Dancing Script Casual joined handwriting Personal notes, cards
School cursive Playwrite US Trad Traditional US school cursive Worksheets, teaching cursive
Block Bungee Vertical signage capitals Labels, game titles
3D shade Bungee Shade Letters with a built-in 3D shadow Retro posters, titles
Neon lines Monoton Multi-line neon tubes Night-club, 80s, arcade looks
Pixel Press Start 2P 8-bit video game Gaming channels, retro art
Glitch Rubik Glitch Sliced, distorted letters Tech, horror, music
Horror Creepster Dripping horror title Halloween, spooky invitations

Six words written in graffiti-style lettering in black and indigo.

Getting a professional-looking result

Contrast first. A coloured letter with a dark outline reads on almost any background. If you turn the outline off, pick a letter colour that contrasts strongly with the background you’ll place it on.

Outline thickness scales with size. The outline is set automatically as a proportion of the letter size, so it stays balanced when you resize. For a thin, elegant script like Calligraphy, turning the outline off usually looks better.

Shadows add depth, not clarity. The offset shadow gives a classic sign-painter look on bold styles (Bubble, Chunky, Block). On delicate scripts it can muddy the letters.

Keep it short. Display lettering is designed for a few words. Long sentences become wide images that shrink to unreadable sizes on phones. Press Enter in the text box to break lines.

Transparent for layering. If you’re placing the lettering onto a photo or into another app, export with a transparent background so there’s no box around it.

Six words written in Old English blackletter lettering.

Privacy

The preview and the PNG are both drawn in your browser using the Canvas API. Your words are never sent to a server, and we don’t keep copies of what you make.

Drawing bubble and graffiti letters by hand

The image maker is also a handy reference when you want to draw lettering yourself. Type a word, set it large in the Bubble or Graffiti style, and copy it onto paper:

  1. Lightly sketch the plain letters with space between them.
  2. Draw a rounded outline around each letter, about the same distance all the way round. That’s the “bubble”.
  3. Erase the inner skeleton, then thicken the outline on one side (bottom and right is traditional) to suggest a shadow.
  4. Add a highlight: a small white curve near the top-left of each letter makes it look glossy.

Four panels showing the letter B being drawn as a bubble letter: sketch, rounded outline, shadow added, then a highlight.

Three panels showing the letter S drawn as graffiti: skeleton, outlined shape with arrow ends, then filled letter with a highlight.

For handwriting rather than display lettering, the cursive letter guides break every letter into numbered strokes with a printable practice sheet.

For the picture version of fancy lettering, this lettering generator is the one to open; for text you can paste, go back to the main generator.

Frequently asked questions

Basics

How do I make a lettering image?
Type your words, tap a font tile, then choose a letter colour, background, outline or drop shadow. Set the size with the slider and press Download PNG. The preview updates as you change each option, so you can compare fonts before you download anything.
Which lettering styles can I choose?
There are 16: Bubble, Chunky, Graffiti, Marker, Old English, Calligraphy, Retro script, Bold script, Handwriting, School cursive, Block, 3D shade, Neon lines, Pixel, Glitch and Horror. Each tile shows its own look, and all of them work with the same colour, outline and shadow controls.
Can I make colouring-page letters here?
Yes. Switch on Outline only and the letters become hollow shapes you can print, trace or colour. Turning it on changes a transparent background to white so the page prints cleanly. Line colour and line thickness (1 to 8 px) are adjustable. Bold fonts such as Bubble and Chunky leave the largest areas.

Where it works

Is the lettering image maker free to use commercially?
Yes. Every lettering style uses an open-source font (SIL Open Font License; Permanent Marker uses Apache 2.0), and both licences allow you to use images you make in personal and commercial projects: posters, stickers, thumbnails, merch mockups. You don't need to credit us, though we appreciate a link.
How do I get a transparent background?
Choose Transparent under Background before downloading. The PNG keeps an alpha channel, so you can place the lettering over photos, in Canva or in a video editor without a white box around it. If edges look rough on a dark background, try a larger size.
Can I use this with Cricut or Silhouette?
You can import the PNG into Cricut Design Space or Silhouette Studio and use their trace tools to make a cut file. For clean cuts, turn off the drop shadow, use a solid colour, and pick a bold style such as Bubble, Chunky or Block.
Why can't I paste these letters into Instagram like the other tools?
This tool makes pictures of letters drawn with real fonts, which is the only way to get looks like bubble outlines, graffiti or 3D shadows. Instagram bios and names accept text, not images. For pasteable text, use the cool lettering generator, which builds styles from Unicode characters.

How it works

What resolution are the downloads?
Images are rendered at twice the on-screen size for sharpness. At the default 96 px letter size a short word comes out around 1,000–1,600 pixels wide. For bigger prints, raise the size slider, which runs from 48 to 200 px. The largest setting gives letters about 400 px tall in the file.
What do the outline and drop shadow switches do?
Outline draws a line around filled letters in a colour you choose, and Drop shadow adds a soft shadow behind them. Both are for filled mode; with Outline only switched on, the letters are hollow and you set line colour and thickness instead. Skip the shadow for cut files.
How does the lettering image maker draw the text?
Your browser draws the words onto a canvas using the selected font, then saves the canvas as a PNG. No server is involved, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. The fonts are self-hosted on this site and loaded only on the image-maker pages, not across the whole site.

Tips & limits

Can I download the lettering as an SVG or vector file?
No, the tool exports PNG only. If you need vector artwork for a large print, recreate the design in a vector editor with the same open-licence font, or use a cutting machine's trace tool on the PNG. The font name is shown with each tile for that purpose.
Do I need to credit the fonts or this site?
No. The open-source licences on all 16 fonts (SIL Open Font License, and Apache 2.0 for Permanent Marker) allow personal and commercial use of images made with them, with no credit required. A link back is appreciated but not needed. If you redistribute the font files themselves rather than images, the licence terms are different, so read them first.
Is the text I type saved or uploaded?
No. The preview and the PNG are created on your device, and the words never reach a server. You do not need an account, and no data about your text is collected by the image maker. Download the PNG before you leave the page.

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