Enhancing letters

Have you ever been working on a project with text and/or image, such as a wood sign, and just when you think you are finished, you look at it and think it needs something else but can't figure out what? Sometimes, just shading the letters or image a little bit can bump the project to finished status.

Shading is simple, just remember to go darker to create a shadow. Realistic shadows are going to be gray of sorts. But sometimes it's cool to add a color for a little something extra. I will include pictures of each letter of the alphabet to give different effects. I will show just a plain letter, and then the letter with an enhancement below to give you some ideas. Keep this in mind: it's art. . . It doesn't have to be realistic. It will also be different from artist to artist to give your product something to stand out from the rest. 

I cut my letters from vinyl using my silhouette cameo. It's just a basic font on a basic piece of card stock paper for the purpose of this tutorial. The shading is done with just a tiny bit of acrylic paint and small brush. I played a little with color. 

ABC- Shaded very simple. Just to raise it from the surface a little bit. The 'C' is a little more messy than the 'A' is. It still has the same effect but adds just a tiny bit of character. In order for this to be most effective, shade all parts you would see if there was a 3d letter sitting in front of you. If you look at the 'A', notice all surfaces on the right side are shaded, and all surfaces on the top side are shaded. 

DEF- Just playing here. Still has that raised look but isn't so realistic looking. Just fun. I'm not too thrilled with the 'D' but that's how it turned out on a whim lol. 

GHI- Not realistic but has that 3d feel to it. The dark outline of the 'shadow' makes it look almost sketched. Good for a project that would be given to kids or teachers? 

JKL- Not realistic but still brings it out of the page a little. Adds just enough color to not be overbearing. 

MNO- So, I got a little carried away with these ones lol. I added white paint to the letters themselves and played with shading my blues and yellows together. I personally like a lot of texture on my projects. I love to blend colors and make it so the viewer wants to touch it. That's what happened here lol. I had somewhat of a space/sky background in mind. 

PQR- Not so much raised off the paper but it helps break up the light background from the light letter. 

STU-Sometimes I get bored with straight up vinyl. So, I added a tiny bit of paint and smudged it with my finger to break up the white. What's also fun is adding just a tiny bit of another color. Yellow, which is blues compliment, would be fun here. 

VWX-Same as pqr concept. Just helping separate the white letters and lighter background. Kind of has a rustic feel to it. 

YZ- I dabbed the brush here. I think it looks like it would feel fuzzy. I like to create surfaces that look like they would feel like something if you touched it but it all feels the same. 

See, adding some color and shading to letters can make them pop out. There are endless possibilities here. Play and have fun with it! You will be surprised with what you can accomplish and how different it will look with a small personal touch. 

Also, you can use this method like a reverse stencil. Just make sure to put color around the whole thing, or at least enough to tell what the letter is and remove the vinyl after ;)