• 60 ideas

Name Art Ideas

Deal one way to turn a name or a single letter into art, with the lettering style, the materials and the minutes printed under it.

Name Art Ideas

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  1. A street sign door plate: your name, then Road or LaneSans-serif capitals, ruler and marker, 20 min. White letters on one flat colour; sans-serif means no serifs at all.

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All 60 ideas

Lettering styles 12

  • Your name as stencil letters with bridges left in Stencil capitals, pencil and marker, 30 min. Bridges are the uncut strips that hold the middle of an O in place.
  • Your name built from cotton-bud paint dots Dot letters, paint and cotton buds, 25 min. Pencil the name lightly, then dot along it as a pointillist would.
  • Your name echoed by rainbow outlines to the page edge Echo lettering, crayons, 20 min. Write the name once, then trace round it in a new colour until the paper runs out.
  • Your name in 3D block letters aimed at one vanishing point Block capitals, pencil and ruler, 40 min. Rule every corner back to one dot; the receding edges meet there.
  • Your name in balloon letters tied with string Balloon letters, coloured pencil, 35 min. Pinch each stroke at the joins and add one curved window highlight.
  • Your name in blackletter, tall and narrow Blackletter, chisel-tip marker, 60 min. The forms are narrow and tall; keep the tip at one angle throughout.
  • Your name in bubble letters with a shine mark on each Bubble letters, markers, 20 min. Draw stick letters, loop a sausage round each stroke, rub out the sticks.
  • Your name in isometric cube letters Isometric blocks, isometric paper, 60 min. Follow the printed grid; its three directions sit 120 degrees apart.
  • Your name in pixel letters on graph paper Pixel capitals, graph paper and felt tips, 20 min. Make each letter five squares tall; M and W need five across.
  • Your name in slab serif capitals like a poster Slab serif, ruler and marker, 35 min. A slab serif is a foot about as thick as the letter's upright stroke.
  • Your name on a ribbon banner with folded ends Banner capitals, fineliner, 30 min. Draw the wavy ribbon first, then tilt each letter to follow the curve.
  • Your name with a drop shadow down and to the right Plain capitals, two markers, 15 min. Copy each letter a few millimetres down and right, then fill the gap dark.

Name pictures 12

  • A calligram of your name shaped like your favourite animal Small handwriting, fineliner, 50 min. A calligram arranges words into a related picture; pencil the outline first.
  • A rebus of your name made from small pictures Picture writing, pencil and markers, 30 min. A rebus swaps sounds for drawings: a bee plus the letter n reads been.
  • An acrostic poster with your name down the left edge Large capitals, markers, 25 min. Each letter starts a word about you; draw a small picture beside every word.
  • Your name as a caterpillar, one letter per body segment Round capitals, crayons, 15 min. Overlap a circle for each letter, put a face at the front and feet beneath.
  • Your name as a city skyline at dusk Tall block capitals, black marker and watercolour, 40 min. Each letter is a tower; cut lit windows into the strokes.
  • Your name as a racetrack seen from above Joined capitals, markers, 35 min. Keep the road one width all the way; add a start line, kerbs and tiny cars.
  • Your name folded and mirrored into a symmetrical creature Joined writing, wax crayon, 25 min. Write along the fold, shut and rub to print the mirror half, add eyes and legs.
  • Your name growing as garden letters with leaves and buds Botanical capitals, fineliner and watercolour, 45 min. Draw stems as the strokes, then hang leaves off the outsides.
  • Your name hidden in a landscape of hills and trees Hidden capitals, pencil then watercolour, 60 min. Let hills make M and N, a tree an l and a pond an O.
  • Your name repeated round a circle like a kaleidoscope Radial lettering, tracing paper and markers, 45 min. Draw one wedge, trace it into all eight, colour matching parts.
  • Your name turned into a row of friendly monsters Bubble capitals, markers, 25 min. Give each letter eyes, a mouth and feet; the holes in A and O make good mouths.
  • Your name with each letter drawn as an animal Animal alphabet, coloured pencil, 60 min. Bend one animal per letter: a snake for S, a flamingo neck for J.

Single letter 12

  • A monogram of your initials overlapping as one symbol Monogram, pencil and fineliner, 30 min. Overlap or combine the letters; set side by side they are only a cypher.
  • An illuminated initial with gold pen and a vine border Illuminated capital, gold pen and paint, 60 min. Make it several lines tall, as the first letter of a manuscript page.
  • An inhabited initial with a small animal climbing inside Decorated capital, fineliner and pencils, 45 min. Inhabited initials hold figures that are there purely as decoration.
  • Your initial as a 3D block casting a shadow on the floor Block capital, pencil, 50 min. Pick one light direction, shade the sides facing away, stretch the shadow flat.
  • Your initial as a drop cap starting a sentence about you Drop cap, pen and one colour, 20 min. The big letter runs several lines deep and the writing wraps round it.
  • Your initial as a varsity letter patch Varsity capital, felt tips, 30 min. Real ones are chenille and felt, four to eight inches tall; add a stitched rim.
  • Your initial as an interlaced knot of over and under bands Knotwork capital, pencil then pen, 60 min. Double every stroke into a band; swap over and under at each crossing.
  • Your initial built from things that start with it Object letter, coloured pencil, 45 min. For B: buttons, bananas, a bee. Pack them tightly so the shape still reads.
  • Your initial filled with a new pattern in every section Outline capital, fineliner, 30 min. Split the letter with curved lines, then fill each part: stripes, scales, dots.
  • Your initial in white crayon under a watercolour wash Wax-resist capital, white crayon and watercolour, 15 min. Press hard; the wax resists the wash and the letter appears.
  • Your initial left white in a page of doodles Negative-space capital, fineliner, 40 min. Draw only what surrounds the letter; the empty paper becomes its shape.
  • Your initial stamped from fingerprints Fingerprint capital, washable ink pad, 15 min. Pencil the letter, print along it, then turn a few prints into bugs.

Door and desk signs 12

  • A bedroom door sign with your name on a wooden plank Carved capitals, brown pencils, 25 min. Draw the grain first, then darken one edge of each letter so it looks cut in.
  • A cartouche door plate, your name inside an oval with a bar Picture letters, gold and black pens, 35 min. In Egypt an oval with one end ruled off marked a royal name.
  • A chalkboard door sign in white pencil on black paper Chalk lettering, white pencil or chalk pen, 20 min. Thicken every downstroke and add a swirl at each end of the name.
  • A desk name tent with your name on both sides Plain capitals, folded card and markers, 15 min. Fold first, then letter each side with its top towards the crease.
  • A door hanger with your name stacked top to bottom Stacked capitals, card, scissors, markers, 25 min. Trace a cup for the handle hole; keep every letter one width.
  • A door plate with your name in Morse code round the border Print plus code, fineliner, 30 min. A dash is three dots long; leave a three-dot gap between letters.
  • A door sign cut to the silhouette of your favourite thing Fitted capitals, card, scissors, markers, 45 min. Stretch and squash each letter to fill a guitar, ball or cat outline.
  • A jigsaw door sign with one letter on each piece Block capitals, card, scissors, markers, 40 min. Draw the knobs before cutting so every pair of neighbours locks.
  • A licence plate door sign with your name as the number Embossed capitals, markers and white gel pen, 30 min. Rounded rectangle, four bolt holes, a highlight on each letter.
  • A street sign door plate: your name, then Road or Lane Sans-serif capitals, ruler and marker, 20 min. White letters on one flat colour; sans-serif means no serifs at all.
  • A theatre marquee door sign with your name in lights Marquee capitals, markers and gel pen, 35 min. Ring the sign with evenly spaced bulbs, each with a pale yellow glow.
  • A two-sided door hanger: come in, and busy drawing Bold capitals, card and markers, 30 min. A green side with your name and come in; a red side for busy drawing.

Sketchbook covers 12

  • A black sketchbook cover with your name as a constellation Dot-to-dot capitals, white gel pen, 30 min. Put a star at every corner of each letter; join them with thin lines.
  • A bookplate for inside the front cover, reading ex libris Small serif capitals, fineliner, 50 min. Ex libris means from the books of; add a border and a badge of your own.
  • A sketchbook cover lettered like a book title page Serif capitals, fineliner and ruler, 45 min. A serif is the small stroke on the end of a larger one; add the year.
  • A sketchbook cover of overlapping graffiti-style letters Overlapping bubble capitals, paint markers, 60 min. Each letter tucks behind the one before; one outline wraps the lot.
  • A sketchbook cover of sticker letters with white borders Sticker capitals, markers, 40 min. Give each letter its own theme, a thick white rim and a grey shadow.
  • A sketchbook cover of your name in rows like wallpaper Plain print, felt tips, 30 min. Rule light lines, write the name edge to edge, change colour every row.
  • A sketchbook cover sampler, one letter per square Mixed capitals, your whole pencil case, 60 min. Grid the cover, then give each letter its own medium and pattern.
  • A sketchbook cover with a masking-tape name under paint Tape-resist capitals, masking tape and paint, 35 min. Stick the letters down, paint straight across, peel when dry.
  • A sketchbook cover with chrome letters reflecting a horizon Chrome capitals, blue and brown pencils, 50 min. Blue fades down to white, then a dark line, then brown below.
  • A sketchbook cover with magazine cut-out letters Collage letters, old magazines, scissors, glue, 30 min. Take every letter from a different headline and mix the sizes.
  • A sketchbook cover with one giant initial run off the edges Cropped capital, paint or markers, 30 min. Run the letter off three sides; the leftover shapes are the design.
  • A sketchbook cover with your name as a comic title burst Comic capitals, markers, 40 min. Tilt the name uphill, add a thick outline, a spiky burst and rows of dots.

How it works

These name art ideas hand a child one project at a time: a lettering style, a name bent into a picture, a decorated initial, a door sign or a sketchbook cover. Each of the 60 lists the style, the materials and a rough time, from 15 minutes to an hour. The filters combine, so Door and desk signs plus Easy holds six.

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Five kinds of project

Lettering styles holds twelve ways to write the whole name, from bubble letters to blackletter. Name pictures bends the letters into a skyline, a racetrack or a caterpillar. Single letter is the group for letter art ideas, where one initial carries the page, such as An inhabited initial with a small animal climbing inside. The last two groups make signs and covers to use.

What the hint under each idea tells you

Every hint opens with the lettering style, what to gather and the minutes to allow, then the move that makes it work. For Your name in bubble letters with a shine mark on each, that move is looping a sausage round every stick stroke. The 22 easy name art ideas take 15 to 35 minutes. The 13 hard ones run 45 minutes to an hour and want a ruler, a grid or a steady pen.

  • Pencil the name lightly and space it from the middle letter outwards, so the last letter is not squashed against the edge.
  • Hints say when an idea needs scissors, paint or glue. Set those up with an adult nearby.
  • Warm up with the five-minute timer: write only your first three letters, as large as the page allows.

Questions and answers

Which ideas suit a short name?

Three or four letters suit name drawing ideas where every letter gets a lot of work, such as Your name with each letter drawn as an animal. Long names suit ideas that repeat and flow: the racetrack, the caterpillar, the cover with rows like wallpaper. A nickname or initials work with any of them.

Which idea works for a whole class?

The letter drawing ideas under Single letter scale best. Give everyone their own initial with one shared idea, for example Your initial filled with a new pattern in every section. The sheets hang together as an alphabet frieze, and nobody has to fit a long name on the page.

What makes a monogram more than two initials?

The letters have to join. A monogram overlaps or combines them into one symbol, and set side by side without touching they are only a cypher. For A monogram of your initials overlapping as one symbol, try three small pencil versions first: stacked, interlocked, and one letter sitting inside the other.

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