Drawing Simple Text // Set the desired font if different from default font. Font font = new Font("Serif", Font.PLAIN, 12); g2d.setFont(font); // Draw the string such that its base line is at x, y. g2d.drawString("aString", x, y); // Draw the string such that the top-left corner // is at x, y. FontMetrics fontMetrics = g2d.getFontMetrics(); g2d.drawString( "aString", x, y+fontMetrics.getAscent());