Improve your lettering work by doodling

Getting snail mail would be more fun if the mail carrier were also a chimp. It would make receiving utility bills a bit more exciting, right? Of course it would! Well...in reality I'd be a little worried that said chimp would also throw poop at me along with my mail, but the idea made for a cute lettering piece. Heehee.

For this reason (cute lettering piece), I want to encourage you make it a habit of doodling when doing your lettering drills. Also, because...

1. Doodling will help you create smoother lines. So if you don't want to be disappointed with your first lettering exercise of the day, begin by drawing a few stick figures, some hearts and flowers or anything else that comes to mind, to warm up the hand.
2. It helps expand your creativity. When doodling about a topic, let's say apples for example, you can draw a whole apple, an apple tree and a sliced apple. Each of those will trigger different memories and make you visualize a lettering piece or a word that you can letter based on those memories. My first thought for "sliced apples" was "Yum!" That's a short word, but perfect for a beginner! You can style it up by using bouncy letters and adding so flourishing to the letters.
3. Doodles add interest and fill in any awkward gaps in your lettering piece. Imagine how boring my lettering piece above would have been without that cute little chimp throwing mail at you. I originally wasn't thinking about adding the chimp, but I noticed I had a lot of open space around my words so I took it as an opportunity to add some visual interest. I must say, surprised myself with this piece as I've always had trouble drawing monkeys. Now, this is one of my favorite pieces so far because I can see my own improvement.

And that's what it's about. Practicing, loving the journey toward improvement and embracing the surprises.

By the way, are you using the free lettering workbooks I made for you? If you haven't gotten them already, go to letteringworkbooks.com and download your free copies. I also have weeks and weeks worth of lettering prompts for you inside letteringbootcamp.com along with tutorials and flourishing worksheets that are sure to ignite your creativity and accelerate the pace of your lettering journey. 

Ciao, Bella! Have a great day. 😊
Your lettering coach,

Dio (@paisleyinparis)

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