5 Tips to Enhance and Define Your Lettering Style

As summer comes to an end and the cool autumn breeze begins to make its appearance early mornings and at night, anticipation for the holiday season begins to take place. With the holidays upon us, all I can think of is "more." More work, family gatherings, shopping (blegh), pumpkin flavored everything (yay!) and more opportunities to fulfill the many stationery needs that come with the season (double yay)!

Fuel up!
Over the last few years as we've become more dependent on our electronic devices, I've noticed a longing for the simple days. People trying to unplug, trying to revive the art of the handwritten note and an increased demand for wedding stationery featuring hand written fonts.

Thanks to the many amazing font designers out there, you don't have to learn the art of calligraphy or hand lettering, but if this is something you're interested in, use this trend to your advantage! Let it fuel your desire to enhance your current lettering skills, which will allow you to further customize projects for your clients.

Invitation by Liz Maute Cooke

5 Tips to Enhance and Define Your Lettering Style
The nice thing about hand lettering is that anyone can do it and you don't need any expensive tools to get started - any old pen or pencil will do! You can also write on any piece of paper that crosses your path, including junk mail from your mail box. Write all over it before you toss it in the recycle bin, and if you like the way a particular word or phrase turned out, simply cut it out and attach it to a journal for future reference.

Below is a short list of 5 other things you can do to get started: 

• Find your style: The only way to find your style is by practicing. Start by writing your name over and over again. Try to make your name look different each time you write it down by adding artistic features to each individual letter. After a few pages, you'll notice you like the way it feels when you write a particular letter in a certain way. The more you practice, the better it will look and you'll naturally gravitate towards using this new style each time you come across this particular letter. You'll eventually go through this process which each letter of the alphabet, and before you know it, you'll have a style of your own that people will be able to recognize as yours only.
   
• Practice daily: It doesn't have to be a big hassle. You don't have to pull out all your art supplies and sketchbooks to practice – it's much easier than that! Simply work your lettering exercises into your daily activities. For example, get creative when jotting down your to-do lists, or when entering events into your calendar. You'll be amazed how easy it is to jazz up the pages of your weekly planner with just a regular ball-point pen.

• Get excited about writing: I have always had a thing for pens, more so ever since I began lettering. I tend to treat myself to a new pen every couple of weeks, usually right after pay day. Hey, some people get manicures and massages, I get pens, which are equally therapeutic! This has without a doubt, been the one thing that has kept me excited about lettering and doodling. Each pen gives the same word an entirely different personality based on the ink color and the thickness of the strokes. It's been fun to explore the same words over and over again with new writing tools and comparing the different results.
• Control the pressure: One of my most recent successes is finally being able to write comfortably with a brush pen. The trick is to control the pressure of your upward and downward strokes. It takes a lot of practice, but once you get the hang of it, you'll feel like a champ! Simply apply more pressure when drawing lines going downward and lift the pressure on strokes going upward. The results will look something like this...

• Forget what you learned in school: Hand lettering is a process in which each individual letter is treated as a piece of art on its own. The most difficult part about this process when you're first getting started is unlearning everything you were taught in grade school. Once you throw all those penmanship rules out the window you'll feel free to explore the surface of the paper with your pen, and you will begin to notice a huge improvement in your abilities. Draw letters at different angles, alternate caps with lower case letters in the same word, add swirls and exaggerate each of the letter's features. Remember, you are not writing, with each stroke you are drawing letters. Yes, you're drawing letters with personalities that are meant to shine on their own and not blend in with the rest of the alphabet.
  

Have fun with it!
Once you get comfortable with your lettering skills, you'll discover doors that will await wide open for your creative genius to walk through. You'll be lettering on walls, making greeting cards without having to power up your printer, making cute little gift tags on the fly and so much more. Have fun with it and remember to tag or mention me on Instagram so I can "heart" your creations.

Hope you've enjoyed today's lesson. If you have any questions regarding graphic design, stationery or illustration, please feel free to leave me a note in the comments section below. I would LOVE to hear from you! ~ Wishing you a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. 

All the best,