How to Draw 3D Letters in One Point Perspective

How to Draw 3D Letters in One Point Perspective

The One Point perspective is probably the most realistic and best looking way how to draw 3D letters.
This perspective takes into account that three-dimensional objects become smaller and smaller, the farer away they are from the observer.

Arrange your 2D letters in a way that fits your purpose. I placed them in a circle to demonstrate the 3D effect, which occurs later, from all possible angles.
Choose a point on your paper and make a little cross there. This cross is your vanishing point, towards which the letters will become smaller and smaller.

Take a ruler and connect all edges of your letters through a line with the vanishing point (these lines are called perspective lines).
But don't draw any lines that would cut through a letter.
In some cases, like at the bottom of the left 'E', you can draw the lines for a short distance, until they touch a letter (a 'T' in this example). This gives the impression that the three dimensional shape of the 'E' continues behind the 'T'.
But all lines, no matter how short you draw them, have to point directly towards the vanishing point.

In the case of rounded letters, like the 'S' or the 'D', you don't have any edges from which to start your perspective lines.
Draw tangents to the sides of the letters in this case.
(A tangent is a straight line, which touches a curve in one point, without crossing it.)

And with that your 3D effect is already achieved.
Now you know how to draw 3D letters that beam into infinity.
But if your letters are supposed to end somewhere, you have to cut them off at one point.
Below I use a 'T' to demonstrate how to do this.

 

Place a little mark on one of the perspective lines, where you want your letter to end. The closer you place this mark to the vanishing point, the thicker the letter will appear to be.
Use this mark as the starting point to draw a line that runs parallel to the front side of the letter. In our example this line is the top of the T's back side.
From where this line touches the next perspective line, you continue to draw the back side of the 'T' parallel to the front side.
In this case, it is the right edge of the 'T', which runs straight downwards.

Now you have completed the upper part of the 'T'. But where you have to cut off the trunk is not immediately visible.
To solve this problem, you can draw in the whole backside of the 'T' with dotted lines:

 

First you can draw in the whole rectangle of the T's upper part.Since you know, that the trunk of the 'T' lies exactly in the middle of this rectangle, you can use this knowledge to draw in the whole trunk with dotted lines also.
And on the right side, where the trunk is not covered by the top of the 'T', runs the line we were looking for.

Erase your dotted lines afterwards, and you have successfully constructed the back side of your 3D letter!

Now use the same method for all of your letters. For some this will be easier than for others. Especially rounded letters are difficult, because you don't just have to draw parallel straight lines, but parallel curves.

In the picture above you can still see the dotted line, which I used to construct the back side of the 'D'.
Note that I placed the ends of the '3' and the 'D' very close to the vanishing point, so that these shapes look thicker than the others.

Finally you can erase all perspective lines and the vanishing point, as well as any other dotted lines you may have drawn for additional orientation.
And there you have your 3D letters, floating in the depth of space!

Side Note
This method is a generally good way how to draw in perspective. You can use it to draw any sort of objects in 3D, not just as a way how to draw 3D letters. First you draw your object in 2D. Then you connect its edges with your chosen vanishing point. Afterwards you draw in the backside and erase the superfluous lines. That's it.