Use a Sketchbook to Explore Letterforms

The biggest challenge you might face after you get accustomed to creating lettering layouts may be what lettering styles to use where… Victorian, faux calligraphy, serif, sans serif, etc.

I believe that between creating lettering layouts, the process of letterform exploration should be ongoing. I recommend designating a sketchbook JUST for this task.

This is my sketchbook that is restricted ONLY to explore letters… No layouts, no drawings, just letters and letter decoration…

This sketchbook will give you an opportunity to do three things:

1. Help your hand/eye coordination as it pertains to letter construction.

2. Take lettering inspiration that you find and create alphabet exemplars from them. The more you do it, the better you’ll become.

3. Have a library of lettering styles to refer to where you can go for inspiration as you pull together lettering layouts/compositions.

I’ll see you guys next time, happy lettering!

—ct

Fox Themed First Birthday Chalkboard

I did my first birthday chalkboard! I really, really wanted to do one of these, they are so adorable every time I see one. This job was referred to me because the calligrapher that was slated to do it wasn’t into illustration. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do so I started looking up fox photos and came up with some “lockup” logo options that I would use as a focal point for the board.

The client wanted a “Foxy One” theme…

After the client selected the lockup she liked, I got all of Gabriel’s information… All his “firsts”. I’ve seen boards PACKED with this info but you have to be careful that each block of type/info is neat and legible or it can quickly turn into a mess!

I do it with powder chalk and there is a LOT of erasing involved!

After this I ink the board with Posca chalk markers. There are a ton out there and I can say I like Bistro brand as well but Posca’s are absolutely perfect for chalkboard surfaces. I’ve yet to try some of the newer brands but I would say that I’ve tried Versa Chalk and Chalk Ink brands and they dry out much too quickly. If there is a remedy to this, I’d love to know, let me know in the comments!

The thing with Posca brand markers is that they dry quickly so you need water and a small roundhand brush if you’d like to blend the inks like I did with the leaves. You can really get some nice effects with this method.

…And this is the final. I was pretty proud of this one since it was my first of this kind! Hope to do more of these!

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!