3-D Beveling

posted February 28, 2011 / No Comments

By Uncle Tim Heitkotter

This time I want to discuss beveling. This is the 3-D effect that makes things look like they are chiseled out of stone or wood or whatever. The Romans made this popular, as practically all their signage was chiseled out of stone. This effect creates the feeling of strength and formality. It’s a nice effect for tattoo lettering, as it has a serious yet elegant look to it. It also says MONEY! We still see it, today, carved into the lentils of most big city banking institutions. Beveling can be done to just about any lettering style, if you give it enough stroke width. Once again, I want to stress the need for simplicity to improve the readability of the piece.

As with any serious artist, I must point out the importance of light sourcing. This is the assignment of a light source, to create the illusion of depth. Putting the light source off to a corner creates more depth than just having it directly to the side or directly on top or the bottom. My favorite is upper left, as you will notice in the drawing I have provided. Simply if your light is coming from the upper left, logically the shadow or dark is coming form the bottom right. Normally, with this type of thick and thin block letter, a line is drawn down the center of the letters and a triangular shape usually ends the strokes. By connecting the crossing strokes with lines, you can create the desired beveled effect to complete the illusion.

Round letters are a little different, as the shadowed area does not end with a sharp angle. By looking at the “O” and “S,” you can see the reference lines I made to help you understand how the dark shading is blended off and where. The “R” shows the blending without the reference lines. As you can see, I offer a sample of how script lettering can be beveled, too.

Bear in mind that this also works well with color. For example, a monochromatic effect can be achieved by using varying shades of dark and light blue. Personally, I like to leave a bit of light against the centerline to finish it off, with a little white. Or, if , say, I’m doing a letter with varying shades of green, I might finish it off with a little lemon yellow to accent the sharp edge of the bevel. You can also add some cracks and chips, to make them look like granite. Add some wood grain and a few knots here and there and you have a rustic masterpiece! Make them transparent like they are made out of Jello! I have included some samples of my tattoos and banners to show you different ways of doing things. You can notice that I beveled the EDGE of the letters on my show banners (yet another cool variant!).

This month’s font is basically a “cheat sheet,” to show you where the lines go. Stash it for reference. Remember one thing: If you don’t know how to make needles then you can’t understand how they work and why. Learning how to form letters gives you a good idea on how they work, when you decide to modify and create your own. Tracing letters out of a book is okay, but you are only limited to what’s in the book, you know?

If any of you out there in cyber-land have any problems or suggestions for what you would like to see in this column, by all means, let me know. I’d love to hear from you!

Your faithful servant to the trade,