STEP ONE   |   04 Aug 2015

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Hey Skillshare!

I'm excited to jump back into another project after a brief hiatus. I'm huge fan of Martina's work and thrilled to have the chance to learn her techniques.

I've spent the past couple days writing my name over and over again like I was back in grade school. I've explored some variations on the letterforms—good, bad, and ugly:

After lots and lots of frustration-fueled scribbling, I finally settled on a few that I like.

Out of those favorites, I'm feeling pretty good about this one:

What do you guys think? More to come shortly!

STEP TWO   |   07 Aug 2015

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Hey Skillshare!

I've spent the past couple days tracing and erasing. I've been exploring different combinations of flourishes, achieving a consistent slant/oval and—finally—adding a little weight.

I'm very pleased with teh result. I put together a little gif of the process—from my initial handwriting to my final sketch—to show the evolution of the piece. Looking back at the inital handwriting, it seems like quite a jump, but makes sense once you see the overall progression.

Now it's time to move to the final step—digitization. Stay tuned!

STEP THREE   |   14 Aug 2015

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Vectoring/digitizing is—without a doubt—my least favorite part of creating anything type related. Mostly because it always seems to look bad until you're about 99% done. Then that last percentage point is continually halved, so you never actually reach 100%. You just stick a fork in it.

Luckily, I'm fortunate enough to have repeated chracters in my name. This is something I hate when it comes to writing, but am very thankful for in the digital realm because it means I can use copy and paste.

I did numerous color studies because I'm just way to indecisive:

There are a few of these color variations I still really like, but with a little time I'll learn to move on.

I had fun with a little black & white variation. The script feels a bit like that of a title card used for early 20th century motion-pictures or tv shows. I just had to get it this of my system.

But after a whole bunch of color changes and some fancy anchor footwork I've finally arrived at my final, final, final:

That's it! Time for a celebratory drink. This project was a blast and I learned a lot. I can't wait to integrate more of this method into my own workflow. Thanks Martina for sharing your process!