S graffiti letters

Use this printable tutorial to learn how to draw the LETTER S bubble letter step by step. Bubble letters are a graffiti-style art that allows the reader to still identify a letter, but it appears puffy and bubbly!

This capital bubble letter tutorial is so easy kids of all ages can get in on the bubble letter fun.

Capital S Bubble Letter

To make a capital letter S in bubble letter graffiti, we have some simple step-by-step instructions to follow! Print out the 2 page bubble letter tutorial pdf so you can follow along making your own bubble letter or even tracing the example when necessary.

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Supplies Needed for Drawing a Bubble Letter S

We have also created the 2 page printable bubble letter instruction sheets as coloring pages.  If desired, start by coloring the steps and then try it on your own!

Printable Bubble Letter S Instructions

Follow these simple steps to write your own bubble letter uppercase S! You can print them below by pressing the button.

Step 1

First, start by drawing a circle shape.

Step 2

Add another circle shape across the first one.

Step 3

Draw a smaller circle shape at the left of the last one.

Step 4

Next, draw another small circle shape across the last one.

Step 5

Connect them on the top and bottom, erase any extra lines. Good job! You finishing writing your graffiti letter.

Download & Print pdf for Bubble Letter S Instructions:

More How to Draw Printable Tutorials

More Letter S Fun from Kids Activities Blog

How did your letter S bubble letter turn out?

More Alphabet Resources

Big Book of ABC

Take a whistle-stop tour through the alphabet from amazing aardvarks, big brown bears and crazy cats, via dancing ducks, invisible imps and naughty narwhals to yawning yaks and zooming zeppelins.

This big, sturdy book that introduces the alphabet in a large, unique format, perfect for little learners.

Wipe-Clean Alphabet Cards

There are thirty wipe-clean cards and a wipe-clean pen in a pretty gift box with a clear acetate lid. Each card shows a picture to represent a different letter of the alphabet with opportunities to write the words and practice writing the letters in lower case.

There are also cards showing the whole alphabet with pictures and letter formation cards for lower case letters and a card for parents/teachers/carergivers with ideas for how to use the cards to reinforce letter sounds.

The Alphabet of Peculiar Creatures

Move aside horses and tigers, and make way for hyrax and tarsiers! Learn weird and fascinating facts about an alphabet of unique, unusual, and underappreciated animals who at last get their chance in the limelight.

Alphabet Learning Wrap-Up

Knowledge of the alphabet is an essential reading readiness skill. As children learn to recognize different letters and learn the sounds represented by those letters, their readiness for decoding and reading words will be strengthened. These cards also provide practice in ABC order and important study skills.

Includes 144 challenges: 12 cards with 12 challenges on each card. Each card is SELF-CORRECTING.

These cards give children practice in:
• visual discrimination
• letter recognition
• ABC order
• letter-sound correspondence

The activities on the cards progress in this order:
Card 1 – Matching letters that are exactly the same
Card 2 – Matching letters that are exactly the same
Card 3 – Matching letters that are exactly the same
Card 4 – Matching lowercase to uppercase a-l
Card 5 – Matching lowercase to uppercase m-x
Card 6 – Matching lowercase to uppercase y-z and review
Card 7 – Identifying ABC order
Card 8 – Identifying ABC order
Card 9 – Identifying ABC order
Card 10 – Matching pictures to letters a-l
Card 11 – Matching pictures to letters h-s
Card 12 – Matching pictures to letters o-z.

To be used in conjunction with the Learning Palette Base:

• Remove the small colored disks
• Position card, question side up, on the Learning Palette
• Answer questions by placing their corresponding colored disk in the slot containing the answer
• Upon completion, turn the card over to check the answers. If done correctly, the colors on the card will match those of the disks. For more review, the questions and their correct answers are also shown on this side.

Graffiti Letter S Drawing

This is a great drawing exercise to work on coming up with original lettering ideas. The more variations you can come up with the better. Learning how to draw graffiti letter S artwork will help you work on developing your artistic style. As well as work on your creativity.

Graffiti artwork is a great way to practice your drawing and art skills. And it’s a great way to work on improving your art techniques. There’s really no limit to what you can come up with. And it’s the perfect way to experiment and try new things.

Learning to draw, or create artwork, is a learned skill that anyone can master. It just takes persistence and practice. The more you practice something the better you will be at it.

This holds true for drawing. So, if you want to learn how to draw a cool letter S you need to practice.

Let’s gather up some supplies and get started.

* Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Art Supplies

Get Your FREE Graffiti Drawing Guide

Quick Sketch Letter S

The first thing you want to do is make as many quick sketches of the letter that you can come up with.

You can use a piece of scrap paper for this and just brainstorm as many ideas as you can. It doesn’t matter if they are good or not.

Just draw the letter S as many times as you can, changing it a bit each time. You can add a tail or arrow at the end. Or maybe loop it around.

When drawing your letter consider the basics of letter structure like serif or sans serif. And then use a mixture of both in your sketches.

From there you can add all sorts of extra bits and pieces.

Get crazy and have fun with it.

How to Draw Graffiti Letter S

Look at all of your sketches that you drew out and find the one you like the best. This will be the basic shape you’re going to use to make your graffiti S drawing.

Draw your letter out again or use the one you already drew and add lines all the way around it on all sides.

Draw your lines light and let them overlap. You can go back in later and erase the lines you don’t need.

If you want to add some extra flare at the ends of your letter, now is a good time to sketch that out.

Decide which lines you want to keep and which ones you want to get rid of. Then after you have your drawing cleaned up you can ink it with a black pen or marker.

You can also add in some extra details such as paint drips, bubbles, or add a 3d effect to your drawing.

How to Color Graffiti Letter S with Markers

When adding color to your graffiti letters you want to make sure you create a sense of harmony. So choose your color theme before starting.

If you’re not familiar with color theory and how to choose colors that go together, we have a full lesson on Color Theory for Artists.

Markers work really well for graffiti art and the colors look bright and can be blended together. There are several brands to choose from but I personally have been using Bic markers. 

When using markers be sure to layer your colors to add some depth. 

Background Drawing for Graffiti S

If you want to add a background to your drawing you can do that now. Sketch everything out and then go over your lines with your black pen or markers. 

There are a lot of options for adding a background to your graffiti letter S drawing. Brick walls are always a good option. Or you can draw in some abstract shapes or simply color the background in a solid color.

You can add shadows and highlights using colored pencils, paint pens, or Gelly Roll pens.

How to Draw Graffiti Letter S for Beginner Artists

The only thing left to do is to decide what you’re going to do with your drawing. You could use it for a bookmark or create some artwork for a friend.

It’s good to practice the same type of drawing multiple times to help you develop your artistic style and help with your creativity.

Not to mention the practice you’ll get with drawing and using markers to color your graffiti letter S drawings.

Let us know how you did with the lesson and if you need any help with anything you might be struggling with, just drop a comment and we’ll get back with you.

More Graffiti and Lettering Art Tutorials

Roshanda

Roshanda is an art education blogger who is on a mission to coach and encourage as many aspiring artists as possible through the use of her blog. Learn more about her on the About Me page and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Graffiti symbol

A drawing of the Cool S and the corresponding four-step guide to drawing one

The Cool S, also known as the Stussy S, Super S, Superman S, Universal S, Pointy S, Middle School S, Graffiti S,^[1] and by many other names, is a graffiti sign in popular culture that is typically doodled on children's notebooks or graffitied on walls. The exact origin of the Cool S is unknown,^[1] but it may have originated from geometry textbooks^[2][3] and has appeared around the early 1970s as a part of graffiti culture.^{[4][page needed][5]} Contrary to popular belief, the symbol has no ties to either the U.S. clothing brand Stüssy or to the character Superman, though Stüssy did conduct an interview in 2010 with Jon Naar, a pioneer graffiti photographer with many works including this S, dating back to the 1970s.^[3]

Shape[edit]

The Cool S consists of 14 line segments, forming a stylized, pointed S-shape. It has also been compared to the infinity symbol.^[6] The tails (pointy ends) of the S appear to link underneath so that it loops around on itself in the same way as the infinity symbol does.^[7] The Cool S has no reflection symmetry, but has 2-fold rotational symmetry. As illustrated, a common way to draw the shape begins with two sets of three parallel, vertical lines, one above the other.

History[edit]

Photographic evidence of the Cool S in 1973. It is located under the cross at centre right and is significantly faded.

The origin of the Cool S is unclear.^[8] In the 1970s, photographer Howard Gribble took many photos of Los Angeles, many of which feature the number 8 in a similar style to the Cool S. In one of them, a very faded Cool S can be seen graffitied on a pavement. As the photo was taken in 1973, the S itself could date back to the 1960s, making it the earliest photographic evidence of the symbol.^[3] Also in 1973, Jon Naar's famous photographs of graffiti in New York featured the symbol many times, here identical to its modern form. Jean-Michel Basquiat's artworks occasionally had the symbol hidden somewhere, and in the one titled Olive Oil from 1982 it is labelled as the "classic S of graff".^[9]

Basquiat artwork with the Cool S located in the top left corner

The name "Superman S" comes from a belief that it was a symbol for Superman, whose costume features a stylized S in a diamond shape, but that shape is quite different. Although frequently referred to as the Stüssy S, Emmy Coats (who has worked alongside Shawn Stussy since 1985) has stated that it was never a symbol of the Californian surf company.^[10] A possible origin for this is that in 2010 the company uploaded a video to Vimeo^[11] and later to YouTube^[12] in which one of Jon Naar's 1973 photographs of the symbol can be seen. However, accounts of attribution to Stussy precede the video by at least 20 years.

Swedish YouTuber David Wångstedt, better known online as LEMMiNO, studied the topic for 5 years and attempted to find the origin of the Cool S, and he concluded that the 1890 book Mechanical Graphics^[13] which was written by professor Frederick Newton Willson could most likely be the origin. Frederick taught geometry at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he could have shown students how to draw the S.^[2][3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]