See the Pen Drop L by Chris Lowe (@alltimelowe) on CodePen.

Lickity Split. Set in Oleo Script Swash Caps, an Open Font License typeface, this script has a playful nature that seems to say “candy store.”

A variation on the effect used on the E drop cap, I am using the text as a mask for the background gradient. Applying an animation on the background position achieves the desired “corkscrew” effect you see in progress bars and barbershop poles.

To get the shadow I had to go about it counter-intuitively. The animated portion is actually a pseudo element positioned on top of the letter, while the letter itself is the shadow.