Lettering Love by CT: New Year New Goals

Review of 2021
Happy New Year guys! It’s 2022 and I’ve been slowly preparing myself to do another deep dive into my lettering. I hope you guys have fresh goals and a vision regarding what you want out of this lettering discipline.

I purposely spent the end of ‘21 and the first couple of months of 2022 to purging my office. FINALLY ready to cut ties with clutter that had been holding me back from having a really functional studio. I have zero excuses now with a couple of clean desks, organized lettering tools and paper and sketchpads for days.

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This year, I’m no longer going to hoard supplies that go unused (if this is you too, then please heed my warning, stop buying things you don’t need). Nope, this year, I am determined to use the supplies I already have and fill up sketchbooks. The time is now. I let the solitude of the pandemic put pressure on me and also derail me from what was shaping up to be a great year of development for me.

Then ‘21 came and I was bogged down with a high volume of weddings because so many couples had to postpone in ‘20. Everything that was so diligently being built in ‘20 literally got abandoned because of the crush of orders in ‘21. I was super grateful, don’t get me wrong. It felt good to make money from my art again but it was also pretty overwhelming.

New Focus
This year I am being super judicious about the jobs that I take. I can do a lot of things, but at this point in my calligraphy and lettering career I only want to do things that bring me joy. So far that’s on-site lettering installations, watercolor painting, building up both of my Etsy shops and reviving my Calligraphy by CT YouTube channel.

I also scored an iPad (finally) on Black Friday 2021. That lovely piece of equipment is a whole vibe. I’m planning on taking a couple of SkillShare classes so I can get up and running on it. So many possibilities there!

So anyway I’m expecting to do great things this year and so should you. I’ll be back here soon more regularly. Right now, its all about developing habits that will set me up for success in this lettering game. I miss doing it daily and that’s really what you have to do if you’d like to see progress.

See you in the next blog!
—ct

Hand Lettering Basics Workshop

I can’t wait to teach it again. We went over how to approach lettering, the passion that you need to have about WHAT you are lettering… Short quotes, longer quotes, design solutions, etc.

I’m supposed to be teaching it again on May 2nd at a local library but with the social distancing that’s going on right now, I’m not sure if that will actually happen. Fingers crossed! I’ll also be releasing some freebies from this resource soon its so jam packed with info!

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Ahhh, a labor of LOVE! I taught my first (well really second) hand lettering class! I taught a holiday hand lettering class right before Christmas last year but it wasn’t laser focused on just lettering it was actually more about the “decor” and design elements that scream “holiday!”

THIS class I really wanted to simply say things that I hadn’t really heard in the classes that I previously audited but thought they should really KNOW! That’s it. That was my goal in putting together the guide and teaching the course.

Lettering Improvement + New Goals

Are you excited to begin a new year of lettering? I didn’t let my busy calligraphy/wedding schedule stand in the way of things I wanted to accomplish with my lettering and as a result I feel like I’m more confident tackling layouts and creative projects that I would have normally shied away from.

Examples of improvements I’ve been seeing (only TIME and being critical of your work can provide these results):

A collage that I did for Chicago’s South Side. It was tentative, kind of all over the place with a weak focal point. I was proud of some of the letter construction and thought I did a good job contrasting styles.

The re-do! I took another stab at it and really thought it came together in a more cohesive manner. Clear focal point, better sections for complimentary type. Better flow. Just an overall more pleasing creative solution.

Another design solution… Superbowl collage…

2018 Superbowl Sunday collage. I was super proud of this at the time and had been exposed to more and more collage design solutions by some of my favorite letterers. Again just some issues that I immediately identify now that I didn’t before. The complimentary words are done a little tentatively. Need better spacing and clearer sections for smaller type. “Touchdown” competes with “Superbowl Sunday” as a focal point… I could go on!

2020!!! What a difference 2 years makes… Again, I think I just PLAN these layouts better now. My “artist’s eye” is developing! Nothing competes. Clear focal point. Complimentary type has a home…

I want to encourage you as a letterer to simply KEEP GOING. Some things just come with time spent working on your craft and you learn something literally EVERY TIME you letter.

Have great years everyone and I will be back updating you on my progress and projects!

—ct

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Using Inktober to Improve Something / Make Inktober Work for You / Inktober 2019

What is Inktober?

Inktober is a month long art challenge created by artist Jake Parker that is focused on improving skill and developing positive drawing habits. Every day for the month of October anyone participating in the Inktober challenge creates an ink drawing and posts it online.

First off let me start by saying I can NEVER keep up with Inktober, no matter what year it is. 2019 is probably the best I’ve ever done with 13 prompts completed. I also did an override with the prompts and did my own thing (a lot of people do this). Kind of boring to actually LETTER the prompts i.e writing out the word “Ring” (a ton of letterers do just that), and I thought about something I wanted to get better at doing and the answer was: ding, ding, ding: Florals.

I usually do the same thing all of the time so this gave me more in my arsenal as far as “go tos” are concerned. I strongly suggest that you do the same for Inktober 2020. It will be here before you know it. 5 months from now, Inktober posts will be everywhere and its a safe bet that you will be caught flat footed…

Why not start thinking about what you will tackle NOW? Forget about the prompts unless you are a super talented illustrator. I definitely encourage letterers to dabble in illustration because high quality “illustration” vs. doodles coupling your lettering will help distinguish you from the pack. I’m still thinking about what I will tackle come October, but I recommend that it should be something you’ve been avoiding practicing.

Hashtags to use: #inktober #inktober2020 #inktoberprompts #inktoberlist #inktoberchallenge #inkonpaper #inktoberring #inktoberart

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Styling the Alphabet / Letter Archive / Hand Lettered ABCs / 16 Types of One Letter

I’ve been participating in the #StylingTheAlphabet challenge which is a more loose online challenge with no real deadlines, its just multiple iterations of the same letter til’ you get through all 26! Plan to do 16 of each letter… That’s a good basis from which to start.

Its always fun and profitable to do these drills because it FORCES you to think about letter construction BEYOND your normal “go tos.” We all have things that we normally do when its time to construct a certain letter.

Styling the alphabet not only makes you think outside the box, but if you DO come up with something interesting, you can take the next step of deriving an entire alphabet based on that solution. These drills help you to be creative and unique. Its all about making sure your work is standing out… Give it a try…

Hashtags to use: #stylingthealphabet #handletteredabcs #letterarchive #letterarchive_a #letterarchive_b #letterarchive_c #letterarchive_d #letterarchive_e #letterarchive_f #letterarchive_g #letterarchive_h #letterarchive_i #letterarchive_j #letterarchive_k #letterarchive_l #letterarchive_m #letterarchive_n #letterarchive_o #letterarchive_p #letterarchive_q #letterarchive_r #letterarchive_s #letterarchive_t #letterarchive_u #letterarchive_v #letterarchive_w #letterarchive_x #letterarchive_y #letterarchive_z

Some of what I did (I still need to finish!):

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Lettering Love by CT on Pinterest

I have FINALLY gotten on Pinterest and there are so many hand lettered goodies on the medium its hard to keep up. Follow me when you can. I'm slowly, slowly building my "lettering" vs. "calligraphy" following!