3 Rules of Bounce Lettering for Beginners

Learn bounce lettering for beginners! But wait, rules of bounce lettering? Isn’t bounce lettering supposed to be breaking the rules? Short answer: yes. The long answer is the rest of this post.

Bounce lettering is my absolute favorite style because you get to express yourself uniquely and there’s no wrong way, you’re creating it yourself.

Check out my video about Bounce Lettering here:

What is bounce lettering?

So first of all what is bounce lettering? To describe it simply, bounce lettering is when you make your letters dance by varying the baseline. So how do you actually do that without making it look messy? That’s where the 3 rules come in. But wait… rules?? Didn’t you just say we’re breaking the rules? Yes.

Bounce lettering is the ultimate breaking-the-rules style because you basically get to do what you want. Everyone’s bounce lettering is going to look a little different. The point of bounce lettering is not to put your letters all over the place. The point of bounce lettering is to create some movement in your words so it looks like they’re dancing.

3 Rules of Bounce Lettering for Beginners

So to help you get started, here are the 3 rules of bounce lettering. I’ll admit, they’re probably more like guides. Either way, they’ll help you while you learn so you can have intentional bouncing instead of messy bouncing.

rule 1: Changing the baseline.

This is probably the one you know right? To get bouncy lettering, you just change the baseline of some letters. But I get a lot of questions like how do you know which letters to bounce? The answer is tricky because it depends on the word and what letters you’re connecting. Your goal is to make it still look balanced. So start out by drawing a baseline below your main baseline and extend every other letter to your second baseline. I usually don’t extend vowels like e, i, or o. I like to leave those small.

rule 2: changing the size.

Besides just adding another baseline, the next level is to change the size. To stay consistent, you can draw more lines. This helps your letters to still be in the same line so it doesn’t look messy. It also helps you to know how far above or below the baseline. The goal is to have a few different sizes for your letters for even more of a bouncing effect. So now, not all of the bounced letters will be on the same line, but it will still be consistent with other bounced letters. This might not be for everyone. Maybe you really like one look but not another. That’s the great part about bounce lettering, you get to make it your own.

Rule 3: Change the spacing.

This is my personal favorite. To make your letters look like they’re dancing elegantly, we’re going to add some space in between the letters. You’re still changing the baseline and size, but now you are spreading them apart. It looks like elegant dancing because of the thin stroke curving into the next letter. This is an easy way to make your bounce lettering really flowy. It involves all of the previous techniques so it might help to practice those first.

Bounce lettering worksheets for beginners

Maybe now you’re excited about bounce lettering, but you’re trying it and you’re not quite getting it. I asked my email subscribers what they struggle with when bouncing their letters and I got a lot of similar problems so I created this brand new Bounce Lettering Workbook to solve those problems.

Maybe you’re struggling with balance or what letters can be bounced. Or maybe it looks messy and rushed. And sloppy instead of intentional. Maybe it looks like someone who doesn’t know how to letter, but you do know how to letter, just not bounce lettering. In this Bounce Lettering Workbook, you’ll get guide sheets to practice so you don’t have to draw your own guides when you start. It also includes a bouncy alphabet in lowercase and uppercase and 50 bouncy words as well as bouncy quotes to practice.

Get the Bounce Lettering Worksheets here. You can get 20% off when you use the code: “BOUNCEWITHME”

Want to know what pens to practice with these worksheets? I recommend small brush pens for these bounce lettering worksheets. You can also see my post: 5 types of pens for beginners.

I know this can be a really helpful resource if you want to create intentional bounce lettering. I’m excited to see what you create!