Explorations of Hand Lettering

I fell in love with calligraphy and hand lettering techniques at a young age when my aunt gave me a Speedball calligraphy set for my birthday. The ink bottles from that set were used up many decades ago and the original pen nibs have long since been replaced, but I still have the original included Speedball booklet. It survives in tattered, ink stained form, but I cherish it still. It was my first introduction to lettering techniques. Since I made my own cartoons/comic strips in grade school, lettering seemed natural to me. 

However, by the time I went to art school, the art field had become highly subdivided and specialized. Whereas earlier generations of art students chose between "fine art" and "applied art" (sometimes called "graphic art" or "commercial art"), my generation had to choose from a variety of majors: illustration, graphic design, advertising art, product design, fashion illustration, etc. The lines of demarcation between these majors were not always clear to me, but as an illustration major, I focused specifically on drawing and painting (usually the human figure and environments). Hand lettering techniques were excluded from my course of study, the rationale being, I suppose, that lettering for any book cover or movie poster would be handled by a "typography expert"  - you illustrators stay in your own lane! Nevertheless, I collected books on calligraphy (including all the Speedball lettering books) and admired works of skillful lettering.  

In recent years, as my vision became too weak to draw portraits or sketch very much from observation, I turned to digital techniques, working on a Wacom Cintiq. I also revived my interest in lettering, since I could enlarge letters enough to see on my screen, and letters tend to have bold graphic shapes that are easy to see. I am not a professional letterer, typographer, or graphic designer, and I'm sure the shortcoming in my work are evident to the trained eye, but I did have a lot of fun working on the samples show here. All of these were executed in Photoshop on my Wacom Cintiq (although many began as sketches on my iPad). The "We the People" at the top of this post was my attempt to take the original lettering found in the Preamble of the United States Constitution, and push it in an edgier Gothic script style. I attempted the same approach with "1776" below.

For "God Bless the USA", I used the Photoshop pen tool to create each letter. I wanted to juxtapose formal, geometric letters against a more organic, cursive style. For the American flag, I actually drew and painted a perfect (straight edged) flag, then worked back over it to break up the edges and add the distressed effect (perhaps symbolic of the state of our republic today). 

"Fear no Evil" (based on text from Psalm 23:4) was my attempt to work in a brush script style. I used the Photoshop pen tool to keep the edges clean. I so wish I could skillfully paint each letter the way professional sign painters do, but I am limited to drawing out each letter in line and then filling in the shapes.

In this next version of "Fear No Evil", I aimed for an edgier, heavy-metal style. A splatter brush was used to create the texture effect.  

I was happy with the heavy-metal version, but wanted to take it a step further by adding an old rugged cross. I chose the blue and tan complimentary color scheme which seemed harmonious to me.

For Psalm 8:9, I used the Photoshop pen tool to create each letter. I juxtaposed bold geometric letters with the flowing hand written script of "Majestic". I used the polygon tool in Photoshop to create the background geometric pattern. A splatter brush effect adds a splash of energy.

I'll end with my attempts to create hand lettered titling for my website. In early versions, I really liked the idea of letters formed out of dragons or dragon scales. The thorny textured look was fun to draw. However, I realized that while the individual letters look good closeup, as a title design, the layout is uninspired. The letter forms don't overlap or interlink in a way that would create strong visual impact.

Eventually I scrapped the idea in favor of a flame effect with letters constructed from burnt embers. This version utilizes overlapping shapes, variety of size ("The" and "of" are kept small to better emphasize "Art" and "Starnes"), and strong directional lines (such as the contrasting horizontal strokes of the "T"s). I used a thick & thin brush to create the letter forms, and the airbrush tool to create the flame effect. You can see the final version overlaying the Amazon background on my website. Perhaps I'll come up with a better idea later, but for now this is my title design.   

As my vision heels, I am getting back to drawing portraits and other things, but I do not wish to neglect lettering - it's an art form unto itself, and one which fascinates me endlessly.