Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hey friends, I’m Jess and I’m a Graphic Designer, Illustrator, and Hand Lettering Artist located in Abbotsford, BC. Long before pursuing design as a career, I was highly interested in the creative arts. After years of learning, graduating from design school, interning, working, and navigating the industry, I began to take hand lettering a lot more seriously. I spent a season working at a paper store and before I knew it, I was certified and teaching hand lettering workshops. That experience opened up a whole new world of possibilities and in 2019, I decided to branch off, write my own curriculum, and begin teaching lettering independently. This online adaptation of my workshop is a result of that journey. So, whether you're a bride wanting to manage your own wedding design, an entrepreneur interested in creating custom brand assets, or a hobbyist looking to expand your repertoire—this class is for you! During this course, you will learn the fundamentals of hand-drawn type, beginning with basic strokes to composition. After taking a quick dive into type identification, anatomy, and classifications, we'll discuss the tools you should consider before getting started. From there, we'll practice brush pen calligraphy, advance to illustrating letter forms in pen and ink, then begin brainstorming and conducting research for our class project. In the end, you'll walk away fully equipped with the tools and confidence you need to continue learning lettering from home. What are you waiting for? Let's get started!
2. Class Project: In my experience, most people want to learn lettering for practical purposes such as invitations for a special occasion. However, for the purpose of this class we'll be making a card for a friend. Illustrating multiple words in one composition creates an opportunity for typographic exploration and stylistic consideration. In order to achieve the best results, we'll start with thumbnail sketching before illustrating, revising, inking, and finalizing our work. And of course, no card is complete without a simple, yet beautifully addressed envelope. In our final lesson we'll cover the essential techniques for envelope addressing so you can send your card out into the world. For the protection of others, please refrain from sharing your envelopes in the project gallery unless you hide the recipient's personal information. At the very least, you'll need a pencil, eraser, sharpener, ruler, pens, tracing paper, a blank card, and an envelope for this class. Make sure to print the workbook from the class resource section because we'll be working through the practice sheets together. I know it can be tempting to jump ahead or skip a step. But I highly encourage you to embrace the entire process outlined in this course and work through it at your own pace. Lettering is like music—you can't become a virtuoso until you master the warm-ups. As you complete the workbook and create your card, makes sure to record your progress in the project gallery to inspire other students and receive feedback. I'd love to see all of your practice sheets, creative lettering exercises, brainstorming and research samples, thumbnail sketches, and final designs. Next up, I'll be explaining type and lettering broken down into three parts, beginning with identification.
3. Type and Lettering Explained: Identification: Before we put pen to paper, let's identify the differences between cursive, longhand, calligraphy, lettering, and typography. Although cursive can easily be mistaken as script typography or calligraphy, it is simply a style of writing. However, cursive can easily be turned into lettering by illustrating variation in the strokes or adding ornamentation. Unlike cursive, longhand is how most people write on a regular basis. Again, when contrast is added, longhand can also become a form of lettering. You can practice turning your handwriting into lettering simply by adding more weight to the downstrokes of each letterform. This method is commonly known as faux lettering. If you choose to use this method, make sure to use it correctly. Some people mistakenly thicken the wrong strokes, which makes the lettering look odd and disproportionate. Next, we have calligraphy. The primary difference between calligraphy and lettering is the tools and method used to achieve contrast. For a style to be classified as calligraphy, it would require the use of a nib, brush, or similar device. Calligraphy is a traditional art form that relies on pressure to determine the contrast between each stroke. Just like the method we discussed with faux lettering, the upstrokes are thin and the downstrokes are thick. Hand lettering is a modern art form where each word is thoughtfully stylized to achieve a particular mood such as playful, elegant, or romantic, then illustrated into a unique composition. Although typefaces can be made from hand-drawn letter forms, typography is often digitally rendered and can be found in every form of graphic design, from web to print. Within each typeface is an entire font family that contains a variety of different styles and weights. For example, Adobe Garamond is the name of a typeface, but Adobe Garamond Pro Semibold is the name of a font within the Adobe Garamond font family. Now that you understand type identification, we'll discuss some notable anatomy in the next lesson.
4. Type and Lettering Explained: Anatomy: It's important to understand some basic principles of typography prior to learning hand lettering. Every typeface has a cap height, x-height, and baseline. The cap height meets the top of each capital letter, and the x-height meets the top of each lowercase letter, and all the letterforms rest on the baseline. Letterforms which contain strokes that extend beyond the cap height or below the baseline, are referred to as ascenders and descenders. When the conclusion of a letter form does not have a serif, it is referred to as a terminal. For example, the r in the word creative ends in a teardrop terminal. Every letter that has a bowl also contains a counter. The bowl is the stroke that's curved to a close and the counter is the white-space in the center. However, the center of an e is not called a counter but an eye. Arms are horizontal or upward strokes, whereas stems are vertical strokes on upright letterforms. Strokes that intersect horizontally through a lowercase t or f are called cross strokes, and strokes that intersect with letters such as the capital A are called crossbars. The dot of an i or j is formally known as the tittle. And the last piece of anatomy we'll address is the curve extension on letters such as an n—these are referred to as shoulders. Although there's certainly more to typographic anatomy, this lesson provides you with a handful of fundamental terms and the only ones you'll need for the purpose of this class. Stick around because in our next lesson, we'll be talking about type classifications.
5. Type and Lettering Explained: Classifications: When it comes to typography, there are four primary classifications, serif, sans serif, script, and display. Serif typography can be identified by the small lines that conclude the end of a stroke. This classification is often used for classy, formal, and luxurious purposes. San serif was invented as a cleaner, more readable alternative to serif typography. This classification is often identified as modern, trendy, and simple. You can tell a sans serif apart from a serif simply because the small lines that characterize serif letter forms are absent from sans serif letter forms. Sans serif and serif typefaces are commonly paired together for headlines and body copy. As I mentioned before, script type is quite resemblant to cursive as each letter form is connected to its neighbor in one visually unified stroke and occasionally embellished with exaggerated flourishes. Display typography is eccentric and exceptionally ornate, with characteristics that make it only suitable for artistic purposes or eye-catching headlines. A designer would never choose a display typeface for body copy because it would be challenging and distracting to read in that context. Within each primary classification, there are sub-classifications, and I encourage you to study those on your own time. If you want to take your knowledge of classifications to the next level, the Internet and library are incredibly helpful resources for understanding the principles of typography. I hope these last few lessons have provided you with a thorough introduction to the world of type and lettering. Now let's move on to the fun part and gather our supplies.
6. Tools to Consider: Now that you're well acquainted with the basics of typography, it's time to begin the lettering process. But first things first, we need some paper, graphite, and ink. As I mentioned before, all you need for this class is a pencil, eraser, sharpener, ruler, pens, tracing paper, a blank card, an envelope, and a printed copy of the workbook found in the resource section of this class. However, if you're in the market for lettering supplies and ready to invest in some quality materials stick around! My favorite paper comes in the form of a sketchbook. I just love having all of my process work and ideas in one place and I encourage you to do the same. When choosing a sketchbook, I've found that a hardbound cover is best for preventing the interior pages from getting bent or damaged. and I always make sure that the paper inside my sketchbook is thick enough to prevent bleed through. Although I rarely use one, the Rhodia dotPad gets great reviews in the lettering community due to its quality and barely noticeable grid. Depending on your budget, you may consider a Moleskine art sketchbook, which is another favorite of mine. Currently, I primarily use a large Pentalic hardbound sketchbook and it's honestly the best. If you're someone who doesn't want to commit their illustrations to a sketchbook, I've heard that the HP printer paper is a great alternative. In addition to your primary paper, I highly recommend having a pad of tracing paper, trust me, it's a lifesaver. I would also consider having some Clearprint drafting vellum on hand for inking final designs. Including translucent paper in your collection, allows you to easily refine mistakes and perfect your work. Some artists prefer to have a light table in lieu of tracing paper, so their original artwork can remain opaque, but I generally opt for the latter. Before inking your final designs, you may prefer to sketch them on pencil. There aren't really any rules when it comes to pencils— it's really just a matter of personal preference, so feel free to use your standard household HB or number 2 pencil. If you're looking for something better, I recommend investing in some Blackwing pencils. The graphite in these pencils is incredibly smooth and easy to erase. Careful though if you're clumsy like me, you may find that the Blackwings are pretty susceptible to internal breakage. Having said that, my absolute favorite pencil is the General Cedar because of its durability and simple design. Lastly, if you're looking for something that can achieve small details, I recommend the Staedtler Mars lead pointer and rotary sharpener. This mechanical pencil was once my go-to for thumbnail sketches because of its finely sharpened point. I could talk for days about pens, so in order to narrow down the options, I'll share the best pens I keep on hand. The first pen I literally never go without is the Pilot G-TEC-C4. Not only does this pen write with consistent ink flow, but it also has little to no bleed through, no matter what paper you are using. The tiny tip of the C4 allows less room for error and more room for details. Of all the pens I'll be recommending in this lesson, the Pilot G-TEC-C4 is by far my best kept secret. Ok, so I've tried lots of felt-tip pens, but they usually aren't my cup of tea. I find that the tips often break, burst, bleed, wear down, or dry out quickly, especially Le Pens and Microns. However, there is one felt-tip pen that I don't mind in that is this Staedtler pigment liners. For years, the 0.3 millimeter pigment liner was my first choice for all things lettering and design. Other brands worth noting are Muji, Posca, Uniball, Faber-Castell, and Tombow. When it comes to Uniball, I love their white Signo pen on darker paper. Even though the Signo has denser pigment that most white pens, it does tend to dry somewhat chalky and can smudge a bit if you're not careful. Lastly, we'll discuss brush pens. If any of you are purchasing a Faber-Castell brush pen, keep in mind that these contain in India ink, so they have a bit of a translucency and wash to them. Having said that, my absolute favorite brush pens are the Tombow Fudenosukes because they're perfect for lettering artists at any level. If you're a beginner at brush lettering, your best bet is the Fudenosuke pens. I love how their firm brushes allow for optimal control. Once you're feeling confident in your brush lettering skills, I suggest trying the Tombow dual tips or the Pigma MB professional brush pens. Other materials I like to include in my toolkit are watercolors, a laser level, a Lettermate, and a scanner. If you're incorporating analog lettering into your digital artwork, having a scanner is absolutely necessary. Even though there's scanning and auto vectorizing apps, they just can't replace a good old-fashioned scanner. Digitizing your lettering with the scanner will ensure that the hand-drawn integrity of your work stays true. I've been using a Canon CanoScan LiDE 220 for years and it's never failed me. I suggest selecting a scanner with a DPI of at least 600 or higher. If you love adding watercolors to your work, these metallic accents by Prima Marketing are a must try. When using watercolors, be sure to carefully avoid accidentally smudging your inked composition. Personally, I prefer creating a watercolor wash as a background, then allowing it to fully dry before lettering on top of it. Let's take a second to talk about the laser level and the Lettermate. These two go hand in hand because I use them both for envelope addressing. For basic addressing, I enjoy using the Lettermate, a six-inch ruler, or just free handing it. As for more advanced addressing, I usually set up my workspace with a mounted laser level that gives me perfectly straight baselines. I'll be talking more about these tools and demonstrating how to use them in greater detail throughout the rest of this class. Now, onto brush calligraphy. See you in the next lesson.
7. Brush Calligraphy Basics: So, you want to try your hand out brush calligraphy, but you don't know where to start? When learning calligraphy, it's best to start with the basics! In order to understand how a brush or nib pen works, follow the guides pictured on the first page of your workbook. Don't forget to hold your pen out at a 45-degree angle in order to achieve the greatest amount of contrast and avoid damaging the tip of your pen. The first set of strokes on your sheet are called entrance strokes because they are the start of script letterforms. After mastering the entrance strokes, take time to practice illustrating underturn and overturn strokes. Once you understand the rhythm, you'll combine overturn and underturn strokes into a single unit called a compound curve. As you move forward, you may find that the oval is the trickiest stroke to achieve. When drawing an oval start at a thin point, gradually move into a thick stroke, then finish by transitioning back into a thin upward stroke. Once you've completed, the ovals continue onto ascending stem-loops and descending stem-loops. In the last row of strokes, follow the guides to reinforce the pressure learned in the first set of strokes. Start by transitioning from thin to thick, thick to thin, and end with dense downward strokes. After you finish tracing the basic stroke examples in your workbook, you can practice them on your own, then turn to the following page and apply these techniques to script lettering. Once you've finished illustrating a brush script alphabet, experiment with creating words and connecting letterforms. If you decide to break the grid and try your hand at bounce lettering, you may want to practice on a blank piece of paper. Bounce lettering is achieved by varying the baseline of each letterform in a single word and can give a more whimsical look to your calligraphy. Pay attention to how you're applying ink to paper as you practice. Is the motion primarily in your wrist or are you using your whole arm? Do you lift the pen in between strokes or do you create the entire form in one stroke? Personally, I'm more comfortable picking up my pen in between strokes. How much variation are you able to achieve from the amount of pressure you are applying in your stroke? If you're struggling to see contrast, don't hesitate to apply more pressure on the downstrokes. I challenge you to try whichever techniques come most naturally to you. If you mess up a character, just draw it again. It's okay not to get it right the first time. I find that most people are better at brush calligraphy than they give themselves credit for. Feel free to print extra copies of the bonus practice sheets located near the end of your workbook. Then use these to expand your brush script alphabet. Next up, we'll be experimenting with some illustrative letterforms in pen and ink.
8. Creatively Illustrating Letterforms: When it comes to illustrating letter forms, you can leave them as outlines, create fills with texture, draw patterns, add inline strokes, the options are truly endless. Additional supporting elements you can incorporate are embellishments, ornamentation such as extensions, flourishes, ligatures, shading, dropped lines, florals, banners, and other illustrative elements. Using the guides below, practice illustrating the alphabet and various styles. As you can see on page three of your workbook, I created an example for today's exercise. Your task is to try and think of as many ways as possible to illustrate each letter form in the alphabet until you get tired or run out of ideas. Stretch your imagination as far as it will take you. You may use my samples as a guide, but try your best to come up with your own unique characters. Once you've completed the exercise, I have no doubt you'll feel inspired with so many new ideas for creatively illustrating letter forms. On the following page of your workbook, you'll find some examples of serif lettering along with a condensed all caps san-serif designed to practice whole alphabets with the same visual traits. Don't forget to submit a copy of your progress in the project gallery once it's complete, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Let's get those creative juices flowing and I'll see you in the next lesson.
9. Brainstorming & Research: Now that we've practiced some essential techniques, it's time to talk design. I'm going to a wedding next month, so I decided to make a card for the bride and groom. The quote I've chosen to illustrate is, "Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one." by John Keats. Before diving into thumbnail sketches, it's best practice to spend some time in the brainstorming and research phase. Whenever I approach a new project, I often start by making a word list or mind-map. Oftentimes my brainstorming sessions are paired with some in-depth research using keywords from my list and mind-maps. Word list and mind-maps aren't required, but they are excellent tools to push your creativity. As you can see, here's the word list I created for my card. I've chosen a selection of words that pertain a lot to the quote that I've chosen that inspire me. Then I've selected a handful of these words to use in my keyword search to find inspiration online that would best resemble the quote that I've chosen. In order to determine the best layout and stylistic choices for your card, you'll need to study how other people approach their designs. Make sure to consider structure, spacing, and typographic hierarchy when gathering reference material. You'll notice the use of typographic hierarchy when you see a design that contains a combination of words that vary in weight, scale, contrast, and style. Hierarchy determines which word should receive the most attention. I highly encourage you guys to collect as many of physical references as possible. It's great to be inspired by Pinterest, but nothing beats real life printed materials. I have a collection of postcards, business cards, greeting cards, with a variety of typographic and lettering exploration that really informed the decisions that I made when it came to my own illustrations. As you can see here, I have a really great book called "The Truth About Love". I actually ended up pulling my quote directly from this book, but I just want to show it to you guys because it also has a really great and inspiring cover as well. Once you've selected a quote, determine what emotions you'd like to convey in your work. Perhaps this piece should be elegant or playful - write those traits down in your word list or mind-map. Continue adding descriptive words such as whimsical, romantic, eclectic, elaborate, or calm to your list. Then practice styles that resemble the mood you're trying to achieve. What elements will you incorporate to reach your desired outcome? What story are you trying to tell? Feel free to trace your reference material for practice. But if you decide to share your tracings in the project gallery, you must give proper credit to the original source. As soon as you have enough research to go off of, feel free to move on to thumbnail sketching.
10. Thumbnail Sketching: Before diving into thumbnail sketching, write down your selected quote and highlight which words you believe deserve the most emphasis. This is how you'll establish hierarchy in your design. At this point, you can use the template on page 5 to sketch out your initial concepts. I recommend referring to the inspiration you gathered in the last lesson to help inform some of the design decisions in this space. Don't overthink this part. You can just use basic shapes to indicate the layout of your composition. Consider where you might add some ornamentation, but don't overdo it. These elements should support the composition. Here are all the thumbnail sketches I drew for today's project, I wrote my quote at the top of the page for reference along with the words I chose to emphasize. However, I also experimented with emphasizing different words throughout the thumbnail sketching process. This phase is great for evaluating different type pairings. I ultimately decided to combine two of my concepts into one. In my 7th sketch, I liked the way these lines create a good eye flow and added structure to the design. So I chose to move forward with that element. In my 14th sketch, the use of type on a curve added some extra visual interests, and I decided to stick with only three typographic styles. Sometimes more than three can overwhelm the composition. I also wanted to incorporate two Illustrated hearts because that's an important component of the quote that I believe is worth reinforcing in the design. As a rule of thumb, if you can't explain why it's there, it's just unnecessary decoration. Everything in your design should feel cohesive and flow together. Don't stop drawing thumbnails until you either run out of ideas or landed on the concept you'd like to move forward with. If you filled the entire page and you're still unhappy with the results, print another template and keep sketching.
11. Designing Your Card: Take a moment to examine your thumbnails, then choose the best concept to sketch onto your card. Make sure not to apply too much pressure during this phase, otherwise, it may leave an indentation on the paper that will still show after the graphite is erased, so remember to sketch lightly. Use any tools necessary, including a ruler, if you want your design to have more structure and accuracy. Also, consider using tracing paper if you'd like to experiment with embellishments before committing them to paper. After drawing the margins for my initial grid, I continue drawing lines to indicate how I wanted to lay out my composition. I also made sure to leave plenty of space in between each line of texts for leading. As you can see, I accidentally ended up meeting more room, so I was not able to keep my three-quarter inch margin on the bottom. Instead of starting over, I finish my sketch with improper margins, then inked my final design on vellum instead of on the card itself. It's up to you whether or not you'd like to ink directly on top of your sketch or use a translucent paper like vellum. If you do decide to use tracing paper or vellum and you accidentally mess up, you can restart the inking process without compromising your sketch. Trace your composition as many times as necessary until you're happy with the results. You can also use tracing paper to reduce certain parts of your design, then composite the best tracings together in a program like Photoshop. At this point, take a moment to examine the letter forms you've created and consider where there may be inconsistencies. Do the crossbars and bowls match? How's the kerning? My favorite explanation for kerning is to imagine that each of the spaces in between the letter forms is the container that should hold the same volume of water. Continue refining the sketch to your liking, but don't get too carried away. Practice makes better. When in doubt, ask someone to critique your work. Before inking your sketch, you're welcome to submit your project in the project gallery for feedback. Ask questions such as, "Is this piece too busy?" "Are these words readable?" "Do I have any visual stability?" "Is there enough white space?" "How is the hierarchy in my design?" When commenting on another person's work, try to refrain from saying, "I like it!" If you like their work, explain why and consider what is or isn't working about the composition you are critiquing. As soon as you are happy with your design, carefully trace it in pen and ink, then let it dry completely before erasing any remaining pencil marks. For the final inking, I purposely used the pen that was low on ink because a brand new pen lets out too much ink and takes longer to dry. I also skipped around the composition so I wouldn't unintentionally lay my hand on top of wet ink. You don't need to illustrate your letter forms in chronological order. Another way you can limit smudging is by placing a piece of paper underneath your hand as you draw. Regardless of your efforts, some smudging is inevitable, but just do your best to try and avoid it. Take your time during this phase. Remember that it's okay to lift your pen in-between strokes or even right in the middle of a stroke sometimes. It can be easy to get tunnel vision, so occasionally take a step back to look at your work as a whole. There were a couple of areas in my final inking that I wasn't happy with, so I used another piece of vellum to redraw the last "s" in the word "souls", and the "h" and the word "hearts". I decided to redraw these two characters because the extensions felt really forced, and I wanted them to flow better. Once I was all finished tracing my sketch, I scanned them onto my computer and edited them together in Photoshop. Not only did I decide to replace those two characters, but I also changed the layout of the author's name at the end. Having "John Keats" on a single line didn't feel like the best use of space, so I redesigned it to fit onto two lines, then staggered and tilted his name a bit. Editing your final work in Photoshop is a great option for those who wish to further improve their designs. Although we will not be discussing texture and color in this class, feel free to incorporate other media with your lettering such as watercolor. Now that we're all finished with our cards, it's time to move on to envelope addressing.
12. Envelope Addressing: When addressing envelopes, there are many different approaches, but I'll only mentioned three and demonstrate one. First off, if you are addressing a large quantity of envelopes for an event, such as a wedding, I highly recommend purchasing a laser level. Not only will laser help you maintain accuracy, but it will also speed up the process. For beginners, I always suggest trying a Lettermate. As you can see, the Lettermate is super convenient and serves as a guide for maintaining consistent leading, (which is the spacing in between each line of text), and justification (left, right, or center aligned.) This product can be purchased directly from the manufacturer's website, Paper Source, or on Amazon. Fun fact, the woman who invented the original Lettermate is located in Auburn in California, which is the area where I grew up. It was the local Paper Source that I used to work for that brought the product to the attention of headquarters in Chicago. Because of Paper Source, Lettermates are being sold all across the nation and many companies have created their own rendition of it. There's no limit to how many ways you can address an envelope. As you can see, I've made plenty of samples with different variations of styles to inspire you. I encourage you to go back to your research and explore sites such as Pinterest or Instagram to find more examples of hand-lettered envelope addresses. As you can see on page 6, I've included a couple of templates designed to the scale of a small envelope for those who would prefer to practice first. The technique we'll be using today only requires a ruler and a pencil. We can use these tools to create our guidelines. If you wish, you can also draw a vertical line to indicate your justification. I chose to center justify my texts, so my vertical line is drawn right down the middle. Next, draw the baseline for the recipient's name, then the rest of the baselines for the address. Don't forget to consider your cap height and leading during this part of the process. Now that your guidelines are all finished, you're ready to begin. If you intend for your lettering to look more free-form, you may find a ruler too constraining. One of my favorite books, Modern Lettering by Rebecca Cahill Roots, includes some great examples of playful, free-form envelope addressing. This book is chock-full of great projects, ideas, and alphabets. If you want to take your lettering to the next level. All right, and there we have it: a card for a friend, along with a simple, yet beautifully addressed envelope!
13. Final Thoughts: Now that you understand the fundamentals of typography, the right tools to use, and the proper techniques, I hope you feel empowered to take on more lettering projects in the future. Keep practicing your alphabets, developing your process, and sharing your work with the world. Don't forget to upload any images you have of your progress and final artwork to the project gallery. I'm sure you noticed that I included some bonus materials in the back of your book. The line, grid, and dot practice sheets can easily be used on their own or with tracing paper. Finally, the inspiration and resources section on the last page is full of great lettering artists you can follow. You can connect with me on Instagram @jessreneewilson. Check out my portfolio at jessrenee.ca and keep an eye out for future classes by following me here on Skillshare. Thank you so much for joining my workshop and I hope to see you in the next one.
Jess Renee, Illustrator & Hand Lettering Artist
