Overview

Martina Flor is one of my favorite letterers. For many years I’ve been following her work and when I found out she was teaching at Skillshare I was extremely happy to learn from her. I approached this class to gain insights into her process and design thinking. The techniques shared gave me an understanding of what goes through her mind when working on personal projects and client commissions. Creating a hand-lettered postcard is an overall very fun idea, after watching a few of the class videos I got my tools out and got to work. The following images showcase my process.

Sketch Development

After brainstorming a few ideas and phrases for the postcard I decided to go with “Hey Beautiful”. For me, the messaging was simple, elegant and perfect to try out a clean script lettering style. My first round sketches were created with a pencil, drawing each letter at a time and tracing over tracing paper to correct and refine the sketch. (Same technique Martina Flor uses during class). I worked on creating a natural rhythm and ways to make my lettering feel very organic. I introduced additional swatches to make my design more personal and unique. Showing qualities of love, value and care.

Hey Beautiful - image 1 - student project

The final sketch was scanned and edited in Photoshop. This included resizing some characters and adjusting the letter spacing. After the final edits, my sketch was printed and traced over one more time with ink (Microns Pens) I took the time to draw some flourishes and shadows around the lettering.

Hey Beautiful - image 2 - student project

Hey Beautiful - image 3 - student project

Hey Beautiful - image 4 - student project

Digital Version

The final inked sketch was scanned, placed into Adobe Illustrator and manually traced using the pen tool. I paid particular attentions to the letterforms’ weight and spacing. At this stage, I was ready to add color. From the beginning stages I knew I wanted convey a sense of love, so Red and Purple were my go to choices. Note: It was essential for the design to have vibrant colors to work well with the friendly lettering and unique messaging.

Hey Beautiful - image 5 - student project

Hey Beautiful - image 6 - student project

Hey Beautiful - image 7 - student project

Printing

With the digital version finalized I sent the files for print at Printful, a shop located in California. The final design was printed on Heavyweight stock Matte Paper using an Epson Stylus Pro.

Hey Beautiful - image 8 - student project

Hey Beautiful - image 9 - student project

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the class, nothing better than learning from a lettering master. Martina Flor is and will always be my hero. I recommend this class to any students looking to gain an understanding of how to draw letters, perfect your skills and learn the process to create hand lettering as commercial art.

Thanks!

Leo Gomez

PS: Gracias Martina Flor!!! Full review and feedback coming soon.

Leo Gomez

Designer and hand lettering artist.

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