THE ART OF HAND LETTERING

Broke My Paw

2012-01-22T12:08:00.003-06:00

This is the first time I have lettered since breaking a metacarpal bone in my hand this past week. I'll be getting this fixed in a couple days and plan to be lettering full time in a few weeks.

Open Your Mind

2012-01-03T21:24:00.005-06:00

I had this though earlier today. As a result I am finally beginning to understand how to hold the pen and turn the nib while lettering. Such a simple thing that has eluded me for decades. I know the structure of this lettering is crude but the technique is spot on with something I have been pursuing for countless years.

No Photoshop retouching or redrawing in vector format with this one. Just movement of my hand, pen and nib in a brief moment.

Time to drink some Coffee

2012-01-02T20:25:00.004-06:00

Another quick practice study with a Condor fountain pen. When I attempt this style with a Speedball C4 nib I end up tearing the paper with the nib or getting a stray stroke. I may have have too heavy of a hand for Speedball nibs. With the Condor fountain pen I can push into the surface of the paper or barley touch the surface

It Takes Mucho Practice

2012-01-02T01:46:00.003-06:00

Finally had some free time to play with a Condor fountain pen again. My goal was to create a lettering script for print production within 1 hour. I wrote on top of a quick pencil sketch with the fountain pen. No time for creating vector lines with this practice study.

The lettering was scanned, imported to Photoshop, blurred slightly to reduce some of the stray pen marks and drop out the pencil lines. The levels were adjusted to hold a textured edge. Had this been for an actual print project the file resolution would have been adjusted for higher dpi to create a streamlined vector path.

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T17:29:00.003-06:00

My New Year greeting to everyone.

Holiday Wine Lables

2011-12-30T11:15:00.008-06:00

Toast the Holidays is wine label lettering created for a client I have worked with for many years. This was a rather challenging project due to a rush deadline with very complex lettering.

I drew the rough sketch on the left within a few minutes. No details, just a basic concept to show my client what was possible. After showing the rough concept I was asked to provide to provide a tighter sketch the following afternoon. I spent the next morning creating refined drawing and got the approval to proceed.

All the lettering was hand drawn from scratch and at times I had to change areas of the design on the fly due to contrast and legibility issues. What might look great in a sketch may not work when reduced as clean vector letter forms. One of the problems I ran into was the script for UP. What I originally sketched for UP was off balance with the overall design and did not tie in with the embellishments throughout the wine glass. I spent many hours redrawing thos two script letters till I had a visual solution.

The final labels were printed in two different color schemes for both red and white wine bottles. This was some of the most beautiful lettering I had created in 2011 and a nice project to end the year with.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T20:15:00.004-06:00

AKL Final Logo

2011-12-19T21:27:00.006-06:00

I had some more free time to continue working on the AKL logos. My 3rd logo attempt was OK but I wanted something more complex. I did some additional sketching and picked a few roughs to refine. However, none of the roughs held my interest until I began playing with a spencerian style. I did approximately 50 quick spencerian sketches and ended up with only one decent version to import as an Illustrator template. While drawing in Illustrator and zooming out to view the lettering at small scale the overall contrast was not the best so I reworked the composition over and over until I had something that held up visually.

The 3rd logo in the project.

The AKL Logo

2011-12-13T20:11:00.006-06:00

AKL is a logo I created for Arno Karthollnig Lettering. Basically a fun little lettering project to do while enjoying a break from recent commercial deadlines.

My first logo attempt turned out OK but I had some reservations about the legibility with a close lockup of all 3 letters.

The initial sketches were studies of 3 combined letterforms A, K & L. I used a PITT brush maker and knocked out a bunch of roughs. I taped them to my office wall for review and selected several to scan and import for use as a drawing template. My intention was not to duplicate the rough letter shapes in Illustrator. The template was nothjing more than a visual reference starting point.

I posted the logo on Dribble and a fellow lettering artist commented the logo read as "AIR". At that point I thought it best to separate the K & L and redesign the piece with perhaps more elegance. I drew another rough and and started over in Illustrator. The second logo attempt turned out rather nice compared to my first effort.

Ink Butter Logo Design

2011-12-13T01:12:00.009-06:00

Last March I was contacted by Ink Butter to develop a logo for a skin care product they planned to launch this year.
The original logo concept Ink Butter sent to me was a good starting point but rather difficult to read. As modified set
type it had no unique identity.

Knowing the logo was to be printed on a small 2 oz. bottle I began sketching concepts with minimal flourishes and a lockup of the cap I & B. The sketches were produced with pencil and Pitt marker brush. As with most lettering projects all the concept sketching is a trial and error process best defined as making many visual mistakes to find answers and solutions.

After the first series of sketches I had to concentrate on letter specific flourishes and additional development of cap IB lockup.

A series of 5 concept sketches were selected for presentation. The 2 versions on the right of this image were selected and elements of each were combined to create the drawing template for Illustrator.

The Ink Butter logo is currently in use on both the product bottle and website. It looks beautiful and is one of my all time lettering career favorites.

If This Be Not Calligraphic final

2011-12-05T15:10:00.003-06:00

This is the full color version. The background was created on a gesso texture image file with multiple layers of all the preliminary sketch studies. Every pencil line I drew to create the lettering was used. The composition changed 5 times during the process of creating this piece in an attempt to make the lettering readable.

If This Be Not Calligraphic

2011-12-04T21:50:00.005-06:00

I created this one to work out my frustration of not being allowed to enter any of my lettering in a exhibition as digital lettering is not allowed. From my POV, it makes no difference if lettering is made with a stick, spray can, piece of chalk, brush, marker, fountain pen, crayon or a Wacom pen. It takes more than a writing instrument to make lettering as heart, soul and personality are the real ingredients.

Taste of the Nation update.

2011-11-21T16:22:00.005-06:00

I received 3 images this afternoon and I am so pleased to see my No Kid Hungry Taste of the Nation lettering in use.

I am very fortunate to work with such talented people at this time in my lettering career. The following images are courtesy of Marco Escalante, design director for Wallace Church. Marco provided me with the sketch concept for this project. It all turned out beautiful and for a great cause.

No Kid Hungry Taste of the Nation logo.

2011-11-21T09:17:00.005-06:00

A while ago i was asked by a designer I have worked with for many years to letter a pro bono logo for a charitable cause. This was a project that I gladly accepted.

The lettering was drawn In Illustrator from the designers sketch. Quite a challenge as all the letters had to be drawn in an arced configuration. I was not able to use the envelope distort filter due to the extreme distortion of x-height and curve for every letter. A lot of trial and error in vector drawing to make the logo readable. Sometimes there are no easy vector software tricks to depend on when hand lettering a logo. It becomes a matter of drawing, more drawing and a lot more drawing to get the overall color working properly.

Typo-Graphical logo

2011-11-17T16:30:00.006-06:00

I recently created a new logo for Typo-Graphical. An article showing the process can be viewed here. John also included a brief interview following the logo development process.

One of my favorite logo projects in a while and definitely an improvment from what John initially had oh his site. This logo will hold up aswell designed lettering for many years ahead.

My thought for this morning.

2011-11-16T09:45:00.002-06:00

Beautiful Stuff

2011-11-15T20:22:00.003-06:00

Beautiful Stuff is a lettering piece for the opening image of an upcoming article featuring my work. Lot of overlays with translucent paper to figure out the flow and compostion. Additional changes happened while lettering in Illustrator.

Personality

2011-11-06T23:01:00.004-06:00

Just some late evening practice in the hope of getting good at writing fluent letters and words some day.

Yes Sir

2011-11-03T17:50:00.008-05:00

Yes Sir is my attempt at a formal script sample. Something a bit more commercial than a freeform gestural script.

I started with a loose pencil sketch to set up the basic vector lines. As the compostion progressed I strayed from the sktech to make all the letters readable. Eventually I toned down the flourishes and added a inline give the letters some depth. The initial vector draft was a bit too complex.

It's all good!

2011-10-28T01:36:00.004-05:00

Versy long day and my thought about it all.

Passion

2011-10-26T19:40:00.004-05:00

Passion is my script practice for today. A few quick rhythm studies and one overlay sketch for use as a template in Illustrator. Even though I start with a template everything changes as I draw in vector. Its the process of drawing live in Illustrator and going with what feels natural. Quite different than previous attempts at this style a number of years ago. All of the swash lines are naturally happening in the same manner as when I sketch with a marker on paper.

The overlay sketch used as the drawing template.

I Be Lucky Today

2011-10-20T22:03:00.002-05:00

Just something I was thinking about today.

My Alphabet Practice for Today

2011-10-19T15:03:00.005-05:00

This lettering piece is my abc practice for today. Even though I started with a sketch composition everything changed as each letter was drawn. At times I turned the template layer view off and drew by intuition and flow.

The initial sketches.

The composite image created from the sketches. This was the drawing template.

This image shows the difference between finished lettering and the drawing template. The drawing template is just a starting point. It's good to let things happen along the way that are not planned.

Mission Accomplished for Today

2011-10-10T00:29:00.003-05:00

Mission Accomplished is a piece I started while on a Metra train commute last Friday. I had to take care of a chore I had put off for a while which required a trip to the city.

I was glad to have accomplished the task at hand and began sketching my thoughts on some scrap paper. The sketches evolves into exercises to learn the flow of the letters for the composition. I used one of the sketches as a drawing template and taped the others to my office wall for reference notes while lettering.

Too Much Coca Cola

2011-10-06T02:20:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time I was told that my lettering is "too much Coca Cola". I have not been able to figure out that comment but it makes for an interesting lettering piece.

The lettering was drawn in Illustrator with a clean edge using a quick PITT brush marker scan as the template. The clean edge was roughened with the pencil tool. Two of the preliminary sketches were scanned in Photoshop, posterized, turned into paths and copied into Illustrator for use as the background image.

Lettering for Pam Cooley

2011-10-04T21:38:00.003-05:00

Earlier this year I was contacted by Pam Cooley to create a lettering for her photography business. Very beautiful high end photography.

As with many lettering projects I created a series of sketches with a pointed marker brush. One of the sketches was created as vector art and additional refinements were requested. The final lettering is now on display at her website.

What I find interesting with this project is the final lettering was drawn in a manner that followed the thicks and thins of the pointed marker sketch. I basically followed the shape of the marker brush instead of drawing a line and offsetting the path. This is happening quite often in my recent projects. It is less technical method of drawing. More free form and natural.

This image shows how close the vector lines match the brush sketch template.

The Trust Your Soul Poster

2011-09-22T21:48:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since my last lettering update. I basically took some time off to get a fresh perspective on my method of showing a gestural lettering piece in public. For many years I've been showing samples of white lettering reversed out of a black background which goes back to the ad arts studio days of the mid 80's. About 5 months ago I began to think about all the preliminary sketching and brush work that goes into a lettering piece. Somehow it should be included in the final piece.

This giclée print is my first attempt to combine the preliminary work with the finished lettering. I now see a lot of possibilities for creating some interesting promotional posters for clients or anyone else interested.

Trust Your Soul

2011-08-11T00:12:00.006-05:00

Trust Your Soul is something I thought about for the past 6 months. With a couple of free days this week I decided to letter the composition.

First step was to draw some quick sketches and use one for the drawing template.

Even though I had a drawing template nothing was set in stone. Changes were made as the lettering progressed. The goal was to create something less commercial, more personal and not repeat the letterforms.

Slow Down You Crazy Child

2011-07-22T21:29:00.009-05:00

Slow Down You Crazy Child is a recent tattoo lettering project. I was so pleased to have received a photo from Vicki showing her inked wrist.

This project began with a series of quick little compositions to show what was possible.

As with all projects I began with a template sketch starting point. Adjustments were made for the lettering to read properly at a small size. Words and letters had to be reshaped, resized and altered to create the composition.

After the composition came together I embellished to the letters to provide Vicki with something unique to enjoy for a long time. I am amazed her tattoo artist was able to recreate all the details of my lettering at such a small size. What a pleasant surprise!

Carpe Diem

2011-05-22T00:33:00.005-05:00

Carpe Diem was a cool project and the lettering is now on apparel at Random Objects.

This Project was recently featured in InPrint showing all the concept sketches. When I letter in vector format I start with single weight strokes to develop structure of the letters including spacial relationships. This is no different than drawing with a pencil or marker on a sheet of tissue paper. A lot of trial and error happens in this stage.

Once the composition reads properly I will shape each letter with bezier curves to create the desired thicks and thins.

The Annie Mulz Logo Script

2011-05-21T23:44:00.005-05:00

The Annie Mulz logo script is a recent project. I had a lot of fun with this one all the way from the concepts to the finished lettering.

After review of the concepts this version was refined with a PITT brush marker and used as a template in Illustrator. I decided to alter the cap M shape slightly for better visual match with cap A.

The logo can be viewed at the website along with some very cool stuff.

Recent Projects Featured at InPrint.

2011-05-03T20:02:00.010-05:00

I have several lettering projects featured in issue #02 of InPrint. Another visual treat for all to enjoy from Elo.

Thanks Elo!

The 2nd Charles Pearce Workshop

2011-05-02T10:01:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was the 2nd Charles Pearce Roman Caps workshop. More brush practice and study of letterforms. The goal for the weekend was to create all the caps with a brush and trace over the the brushed letters with a marker to refine the letterforms and learn the proportions. A lot of cut and pasting was involved to fine tune the letters. Very similar to the layout process in the pre digital days when I was working in the ad arts studios. Charles mentioned that drawing was an important step to intimately learn the letterforms. I definitely agree.

The next assignment due for the 3rd workshop is to letter a Roman text composition based off the refined caps drawing. The composition will be transferred to canvas and lettered with a brush.

My Flat Brush Holder

2011-04-29T10:43:00.004-05:00

I finished the first Charles Pearce workshop assignment yesterday. I had no experience using a flat brush prior to the workshop with only one month to figure out how to hold and manipulate a flat brush to paint letters. The major obstacle I encountered was holding the brush while twisting and turning the bristles at a consistent height to the paper surface. With literally thousands of practice attempts with no success at flatbrush lettering I had to think of a solution for my hand to hold and paint with the brush.

A very simple design. However, it took 50 versions of this design to make it simple. It originally started with a chopstick attached to the brush with a rubber band and evolved into the current brush holder shown in the photos. With the device in my hand it is very easy to change the width of the brush stroke by rotating the barrel. Best of all this is very easty on the hand and wrist.

The letters in these examples are not perfect by any means but a significant step ahead of my early workshop attempts to letter with a flat brush. Prior to using the brush holder I was not able to paint a stroke with any control while twisting and turning the barrel. After lettering with the brush holder I began to understand the basics of the flat brush. Perhaps after time and more practice I will no longer need to use the brush holder. For the time being it is definitely something I want to continue lettering with when a flat brush is required.

Roman Caps Study with Charles Pearce

2011-04-20T23:20:00.009-05:00

I'm taking a 3 month Roman Caps workshop with Charles Pearce organized by Karen Ness of the CCC. Charles is one of the most well know and respected calligraphers in the world. He is truly amazing. The first weekend of study took place March 26th at the Burnham Fire House. My objective of the course is to learn the structure of Roman Caps and how to use a flat brush. Prior to this workshop I never used a flat brush to create any lettering.

All participants of the workshop have an assignment to letter 3 lines of text with proper proportions and spacing. Definitely the most complex lettering project I have ever experienced. I am not working digitally to create the letters. The tools for this one are a pencil, gouache and a flat brush. The letters require a lot of brush manipulation.

This image courtesy of Karen is my critique with Charles. He was kind enough to explain how to improve my spacing and letter proportions of the first lettering draft. Fortunately there were no fires in Burnham at the time as I borrowed a fire dept. vehicle for the lettering critique.

Over the course of a month I have been at work on my assignment and have lost track of the hours put into it all. I am finally having some success with a flat brush but I've got a long way to go. My studo is now filled with countless sheets of practice letters. Best of all my schnoodle LittleDude is taking a keen interest in Roman Caps. Maybe someday I will teach him to use a flat brush and we can letter together.

I have one week to finish the assignment.

A Cool Marker Technique

2011-04-19T11:28:00.003-05:00

While deleting images from my iMac this morning I found this one. Might be of some interest to show for a dry brush marker technique. I rubbed the tip of a PITT marker in some quick dry varnish sprayed on a piece of cardboard. After a few minutes when the varnish semi cured I got some cool effects. Eventually the varnish cracks off and the marker tip has to be recoated. The varnish will eventually ruin the tip of the marker but its a lot of fun till that happens.

The Albanese project

2011-04-06T10:42:00.009-05:00

Albanese was a lettering project for a local client at the beginning of 2011. This was a project which required a lot of sketching in a quick time frame to develop a brandmark for a chocolate product.

I often tell people that that drawing skills are essential. When I start a project I do a lot of preliminary studies to learn the letterforms. I am not creating detailed drawings as all the precise draftsmanship happens while drawing in Adobe illustrator. I rarely spend more than a couple minutes per sketch. Basically a lot of quick investigation of what may work for readability.

This series of sketches was done with a PITT marker on sheets of 9" X 12" layout paper. I drew these studies while sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch. Only had a couple hours get some ideas together on paper for a quick presentation with the art director. After all the trial and error studies I picked versions which had some potential for further development, traced them while adding notes for the AD to read. After sacnning the layouts I e-mailed the files for presentation.

These are the images sent to the AD. After he reviewed everything we discussed which versions to develop in Illustrator.

This image shows the vector versions created from the sketches.

After sending the vector art files to the AD I created one more version that had nice flow and contrast. Something extra as another option for the AD.

Overall, this was a very successful project. The images show that drawing is an important part of the lettering process. Sketching is the way to find out in a very quick time frame what will and will not work. Concept sketching also allows the opportunity to show a client what is possible instead of guessing what finished art might be.

HeadStrong

2011-03-22T11:15:00.006-05:00

Headstrong is a project I worked on for an art director in Belgium. A good example to show the amount of preliminary sketching involved when creating a lettering piece from scratch.

Having done some 40+ sketches I let the client choose which version to proceed with. The version selected required additional development.

After setting up the initial character lines I decided to proceed with additional sketches. Initially there were too many irregular overlapping lines with no consistent baseline or X-height. I did some quick studies with a Condor pen and choose the version on the bottom to scan and use as a revised template in Illustrator.

With the new template image everything fell into place with weights, B/W contrast and visual clarity. Big difference from the initial attempt.

This was one of those rare projects in my lettering career in which a client loved the progress sketches including the final lettering, had full knowledge of pricing and payment responsibility but decided to not pay for any of the work I produced for unknown reasons. Regardless, this one is a very cool lettering piece to show which I believe will lead to something positive with more opportunities for interesting lettering projects in the future.

A Long Night

2011-03-12T16:30:00.003-06:00

This sample sums up what happens towards the end of every night in my lettering life. I have never found an easy method or solution to create a lettering treatment. Probably never will.

The Beauty of Imperfection

2011-03-05T02:56:00.002-06:00

There is something about mistakes and the beauty they create. This is another lettering piece done with a Condor fountain pen on rough texture paper.

This One Is A Keeper

2011-02-18T21:41:00.005-06:00

At this point in time I continue to practice gestural writing skills. When I have free time from commercial project this is what I focus on. For every 20 sheets of paper I practice with I get maybe 1 or 2 lettering compositions worth refining. This lettering example is one of them.

I wrote "This one is a keeper" a number of times trying to develop a good flow of letters. I scanned the inked lettering for template use and started with single lines which turned into outlines.

The shape and placement of the thicks and thins changed constantly while drawing in Illustrator. The final is quite different than the initial inked lettering. I just let the letterform shapes happen along the way in a natural manner.

Practice With A Condor Nib

2011-02-16T20:25:00.005-06:00

I continue to practice my gestural lettering skills every day. I've got such a long way to go with this style. In the past several weeks I have tried a variety of nibs with very limited success. With a Speedball C4 nib I feel as if I am carving into stone and scratching the paper surface. I have better luck with Brause nibs as no surface scratches occur. Within the next week I plan to try some Tachikawa C and Mitchell Roundhand Square nibs.

At present the only nib that glides on the paper surface when I letter is a Condor fountain pen. I recently asked Richard Binder to make a custom nib for me that produces finer thicks and thins than a standard Condor. It works great! I hope that after a number of CCC calligraphy workshops I will have better success with dip pens and nibs. My goal is to float every pen over the paper surface like a Condor nib.

Lettering For The Hundreds

2011-02-13T15:22:00.005-06:00

This morning I had to pleasure to see lettering I created in 2010 embroidered on apparel at The Hundreds online shop.

This was a really cool project to work on with the opportunity to draw a lot of concepts in addition to creating finished production lettering. A very good example to show what is involved when developing custom lettering from scratch.

Of all the concepts submitted a few of them were selected for final art.

The End Result

2011-02-13T01:28:00.008-06:00

Ever since the workshop with Yves I have been thinking a lot abut what he told me as we discussed digital lettering. "The end result is what matters not so much the process".

As a result of that experience I decided to post some detailed screenshot images of the process I use to create a lettering piece. This one being a gestural script.

First I start with a pencil. I actually wrote the words a dozen times and used the best composition as an underlay.

I placed the sketch under a sheet of semi transparent layout paper and lettered the words with a extra fine Condor fountain pen. This became my rough lettering reference which was scanned and used as an Illustrator template. In order to create vector lettering I have to look at inked letters to understand the thicks and thins of the script.

When I start in Illustrator I fist create single line paths to follow the shapes of the letters in my layout. I then create outlines of the paths and begin to reposition and refine the lines. I must mention that things change along the way as I shape the letters based on contrast and flow of the forms. The final lettering is never exactly the same as the pencil or inked letter reference.

With vector lines and bezier curves I can fine tune details as the lettering in my Illustrator file is rather large at about 60 inches wide. I can zoom in and refine curves with precision and zoom out to see how changes effect the overall composition.

This is just one way of creating lettering and there are many other methods available. As time progresses want to increase my skill with traditional writing tools and pens in combination with digital format.

A Gestrual Sample

2011-02-10T20:28:00.004-06:00

I have not posted any new lettering in a while as I have been practicing my gestural writing. I was fortunate to take Yves Leterme workshop a couple weeks ago. I was in awe of the beautiful lettering Yves has produced throughout his career. In addition, I got to watch a group of amazing CCC calligraphers produce a lot of amazing stuff with a variety of writing instruments. So much talent to experience for 4 days.

After the workshop I have been paying more attention the shapes of the letters I write instead of placing random strokes on paper. This sample was produced with a Hiro nib and oblique holder. Prior to the workshop I never had any success with a dip pen. This is the first step in a long way to go.

Cap X for LetterCult AlphaBattle

2011-01-16T10:37:00.004-06:00

X is a letter created for the AlphaBattle. I have been working on this illustration style for the past year. Something loose with a rough visual as a change from precision lettering for commercial projects. A lot of the early B/W lettering was uplaoded on letterPLAYGROUND early in 2010.

Now that I have spent a year sketching letters of this style I am starting to think about color and offset layers on a larger scale. This lettering and illustration style will evolve into more complex lettering illustrations and eventually prints.

Though the illustration has a unplanned appearance a lot of preliminary sketching was required to develop the letter shape.

The Illustrated Ampersand

2010-12-31T00:38:00.006-06:00

This ampersand illustration is a practice session. I plan to use this effect of rough surface and off registered inks on the next promo poster currently in the works.

This ampersand version is the one I decided to use for a 7.5" x 8" Giclée print on cold press watercolor paper.

Cap W for LetterCult AlphaBattle

2010-12-26T14:58:00.003-06:00

arlier this year I uploaded some cap letters to Alphabet Playground. As the year progressed I got swamped with commercial work and the cap letter projects had to be put on hold. Now that I have some time available I will be uploading new cap letters to Letter Playground. and AlphaBattle.

The screen shot shows a sketch of the W as a drawing template. The vector lines were imported to Photoshop and filled in several layers. Various 3rd party filters were used to create the surface texture, offset shapes and distortion of the illustration.

Old Dudes Rule

2010-12-25T23:27:00.005-06:00

Happy Holidays to everyone out there!

The past few weeks have been rather hectic with many rush deadlines and little free time to experiment with alphabets. Lately I have been thinking about printing a series of 13" x 19" posters. This one is the first and was created for a friend I worked with for many years. His creative mind gets better as the years progress.

This is the quick layout sketch used for the drawing template.

The Beginning Phase Of A New Promo Poster

2010-12-14T21:02:00.005-06:00

These two photos represent the preliminary sketch process and layout for my next illustrated promo poster.

When discussing the lettering process I often mention the importance of drawing and to do a lot of it. All the sketches on my office wall are basically rough concept studies to learn how elements of the illustration may or may not work together. No fancy or refined sketches in the beginning of a project. Just a lot of quick thoughts and ideas to scribble on paper.

The layout I will use for a drawing template took only a few minutes to sketch. However, I had to sketch all the preliminary studies to create a layout for my intended use. I now have the information I need to begin drawing vector art. As this project progresses I will probably do additional sketching for the complex areas of the illustration.

The Embroidered Logo

2010-12-13T19:25:00.005-06:00

Finally finished the RA logo embroidery project. This was an interesting project and my first attempt to produce a large size embroidery logo for a jacket.

The RA Music CD Art

2010-12-05T01:22:00.003-06:00

Finally got the CD art ready to go for my brother Rick who requested that a dragon nano be included in both his CD design and logo. The next step of this project iwill be the embroidered jacket which I will pick up from the stiching shop early next week.

Confidence

2010-12-04T22:31:00.006-06:00

Last week I was asked to write the word Confidence in a loose hand writing style for use on a large size banner about 6 feet long. To produce this lettering style I first had to understand how to compose the letters in a fluent manner.

I wrote the word a number of times on a small note tablet with pencil and pen. No matter how many years I have been lettering I never have an immediate answer. I go thru a trial and error process and eventually everything falls in place.

After the initial roughs I understood the rhythm and flow of the letters. I grabbed a PITT big brush pen and wrote the word at a larger size on a piece of 11" X 17' layout paper which was scanned and imported into Photoshop. I used the gaussian blur filter to smooth the letter shapes, posterized the image and saved the image as a 40" X 25" 75 dpi B/W bitmap file. The bitmap file was imported into Illustrator as a template to create the vector art.

The Healthy Choice Logo

2010-11-28T20:39:00.006-06:00

Healthy Choice is a lettering project I was involved with approximately 2 years ago. I worked with a group of designers at Brandimage - Desgrippes & Laga refining their concept sketches including some of my own.

These are some of my rough sketches used to produce a closed in series of logos.

During a late night sketching session I started to think about the combination of sans serif with semi script letter forms. Specifically the e, a and c. By including letters that had a open script style the logo got some personality it lacked in previous attempts.

With a solid sketch I produced the vector version and sent it to the creative director. The logo was accepted and some versions were later produced that enclosed the letters in an oval. The final logo of the product line was the version with no oval enclosure.

Several months after working on the project I saw the product line when I was in the grocery store. I noticed that 2 small changes were made internally by the CD with a curved cross stroke of the cap H and a longer ligature of the lowercase y. Both excellent improvements to the logo.

This was a unique project to work on and one that gave me the chance to design a sans semi script type style for a logo printed on an extensive food packaging line.

Vintage Mechanics of Type Illustration

2010-11-28T11:15:00.002-06:00

This morning I had the pleasure of finding a magazine cover that I illustrated back in 1990. This is a 20 year old illustration and it still holds up as a solid design. I used both Illustrator and Freehand at the time to get the effects for the gearing gradations. With all the advances in Illustrator at present day the gradations are no longer a time consuming process to create.

Marie Meier Lettering

2010-11-28T00:36:00.005-06:00

This evening I was archiving a bunch of job files from the past year and I noticed some lettering for a Marie Meier project a while ago. This was some of the coolest lettering iI worked on at the beginning of the year. Its always interesting to letter with some tattoo influence for inspiration.

These are the quick sketches. This was one of those projects when I drew the lettering and embellishments freehand in Illustrator. Just winged it. I had a general idea of what I wanted the lettering to look like and used the sketches for a rough template guide.

I drew the lettering for one version on a set of arced guidelines as I needed to produce it for use on apparel.

When drawing the embellishments I started out with smooth curved paths. The paths were offset and I moved the bezier points to change the thickness of the stroke.

Fight Back Tee Lettering

2010-11-20T14:48:00.008-06:00

Earlier this year I had the pleasure to work with Benjie on some apparel lettering for The Hundreds. A tee with the Fight Back lettering I created is now available in the winter collection at: the online store

Concept sketches for the project.

I Can Letter Any Style You Imagine

2010-11-18T15:25:00.013-06:00

Several weeks ago I began to think about designing a printed promo poster for clients. Something nice to hang on their office walls. The end result is a Giclée print in 19" X 12" format on cold press paper. The print quality is beautiful on a textured surface. I plan to submit this lettering piece to the Type Directors Club call for entires this December.

This project involved a lot of drawing and I filled up one of my studio walls with sketches. I had to figure out how to create a easy to read complex lettering design. My preliminary sketches had too much going on but the basic idea and structure was good.

I scanned the most toned down sketch for template use in Illustrator. Next step was to render a number vector versions as reversed B/W to determine what areas needed to be refined for contrast and legibility.

The major obstacle of this design was the cap L . For nearly a week I tried different shapes with interior fills and nothing worked. I found a visual solution when I looked at the scroll carving of an antique chest in my hallway. I took a photo, sketched some more and got the details I needed.

After finishing the B/W art many color versions were created with Illustrator and Photoshop. Quick screen comps to figure out the color. I wanted a visual that resembled printed matchbook covers from the 1930's. Initially a textured background existed but did not fit in with the overall design. A cutline gradation was produced to pop the lettering off the background and lead to my logo mark in the bottom right corner.

New Piece for the Handlettering Cite

2010-11-17T00:06:00.005-06:00

This is a new piece for the Alex Savakis Handlettering Cite. Afer a few quick studies with a brush pen I scanned one of the practice sheets for templated use. The scan was nothing more than a rough template image and I winged it while drawing in Illustrator.

I had a lot of inspiration today after viewing work of master lettering artists. I'm just touching the surface of what is possible after decades of commercial lettering work. Many thanks to Jane Farr and Julie Wildman for information about seminars with the Chicago Calligraphy Collective including of people to contact and sties to view.

Another Day Searching for the Ultimate Pen

2010-11-12T23:34:00.005-06:00

I have been searching for the ultimate pen for B/W script lettering a long time. Today I found one that is nearly perfect for my handwriting style. The pen is a PITT artist pen with a bold tip. It has the flex of an antique fountain pen that produces a large thick to super fine stroke weight. Previously I tried the PITT big brush pen and I was not able to hold a super fine line with the tip. The PITT bold tip is truly amazing for an affordale writing instrument.

This script sample was produced from 3 quick writing exercises with the PITT bold tip. The version on the right was scanned, imported as a template and refined in Illustrator.

RA Logo Embroidery

2010-11-08T20:18:00.005-06:00

This is the next phase of the RA logo project. This image shows the thread pattern that will be used for the jacket embroidery. There are over 200,500 stitches in this logo which will fill the back jacket panel. Prior to converting the original B/W art to a CAD file I redrew the logo to add more impact to the letters.

Say It Ain't So

2010-11-05T09:45:00.010-05:00

Say It Ain't So is a piece I created for the Handlettering Cite.
http://handletteringcite.wordpress.com/

The preliminary sketches were drawn with a PITT artist pen big brush, ultra fine Sharpie and pencil. The PITT big brush is an amazing brush pen for fast writing with flex.

I worked on 2 versions of the lettering at the same time as I wanted to try both a simple and complex script. While drawing the embellished version I eventually gave up following the template image and drew the flourish lines freehand. The final touch was to cite Rivers Cuomo who wrote a song with the words.

Bursh Pen Practice

2010-11-03T12:26:00.001-05:00

A morning wrist exercise with a Pental brush pen on a sheet of layout paper. Lot of fun to write with a brush pen.

How BOO was created.

2010-11-02T20:25:00.009-05:00

BOO was used for e-mail greetings as a low resolution JPG file. This was a quick little wrist exercise that I did while drinking a cup of coffee before my work day started. Since posting BOO I have received some inquiries asking how the lettering was created. FIrst step was sketch some quick rhythm studies in pencil and marker on tissue paper.

One of the sketches was imported to Illustrator as a template. I began to draw the basic letter shapes with the pen tool. The line paths were offset by 9 points to create the letterform outlines.

Next, I shaped the outlines to the desired widths.

After drawing and adjusting the letters and flourishes I imported a screen shot to Photoshop and inverted the color. I blurred the image to soften the letters.

Final step was to apply the Alien Skin Snap Art Impasto filter. I played with a number of settings to get the ghost like appearance and voilà.

Belated Halloween Greeting

2010-11-01T12:36:00.003-05:00

My Elegant Mess

2010-10-31T23:55:00.004-05:00

Another hand writing sample from this afternoon.

Sweet Dreams for Now Little One

2010-10-29T19:03:00.003-05:00

I wanted to write something beautiful with a pen last night. I had thought about this compostion for a couple weeks prior to lettering the words.

RA Logo Project

2010-10-17T15:26:00.007-05:00

This logo was created for my brother Rick who requested the R and A initials of his name interlock and connect to a dragon icon. This is the first phase of the project. The logo will eventually be embroidered on a jacket, printed on a music CD and as a web site element. The next phase will be color development.

This is the sketch sheet of RA letterforms The version in the lower left corner was chosen and developed into a tighter sketch while drawing the dragon icons.

Late Night Rhythm

2010-10-12T02:15:00.003-05:00

More loose brush at a very late hour.

Type Boy

2010-10-11T20:59:00.004-05:00

TypeBoy was created with a pencil, a hand carved bamboo reed and a stiff bristle brush. I did this one after a long session of tightly controlled letterforms. I'm going to continue playing with loose writing for a while to get back my rhythm.

This is the sketch prior to brush strokes.

Jimmy D's Lettering Project

2010-10-04T23:39:00.011-05:00

Jimmy D's is a recent project and a good example to show lettering variations created in the development of a brand mark. The design team on this project sent me a series of roughs to refine and develop for comp presentation. A variety of comp lettering was produced for presentation.

As the project progressed a new comp was sent over with a request that I fine tune the concept.

In order to fine tune the comp I printed a screen shot of the image and used it for a tissue underlay. I drew new letter shapes with consistent hook serifs on the left and right sides, adjusted vertical angles including wieghts and smoothed out the loop of the cap D. The tissue sketch was scanned and pasted on the screen shot image in Photoshop.

The image was saved as a jpg file and imported to Illustrator for use as a drawing template. With new letters drawn a grouped interior tone shape was added to give the lettering some depth.

The final art of the Jimmy D's lettering is now in use on TV commercials, packaging and at a really cool website.

http://jimmydean.com/jimmyds

The Soulless logo

2010-09-29T22:58:00.012-05:00

Early in 2010 I was contacted by Sam Bailey located in the UK and asked to design a new logo for his band. The group was changing their name to The Soulless. After discussing style ideas with Sam I researched a lot of Black Letter typography.

Initially I intended to create a logo with flourishes trailing from the top and bottom of the double L. I drew a series of pencil sketches including brush studies and fountain pen writing with a 1900's Swan eyedropper. I was looking for a way to interlock the letters using vintage writing instruments. As the project progressed the style changed as flourishes made for too complex of a read. I toned down the logo by using swashes instead of flourishes.

For the finished logo two versions were produced. A clean edge and a deckled edge effect. The logo can be viewed on The Soulless twitter page. http://twitter.com/TheSoullessBand

While in Illustrator I drew the letters by combining elements I liked from a couple of the sketches.

Jordas Summer Fruits

2010-09-16T11:05:00.006-05:00

Jordas Summer Fruits is a recent lettering project for a client in Helsinki selling smoothies during the Finnish summer months. The project request was to create lettering with an illustration of fruit for use on stickers, banners and T-shirt. All items were to be printed with a red background. As with most projects, quick preliminary sketches were created for presentation, a design format was chosen by the client and final art was produced in Illustrator.

Fresh Taste Challenge

2010-09-09T20:37:00.006-05:00

Fresh Taste Challenge is a commercial lettering project form March 2010. This was a rush project with very limited time to develop roughs into finished reproduction art. Final art was to be printed at a small size. The rough sketches are a perfect example of the amount of detail required for a presentation approval. Due to the quick time frame each sketch was drawn within a few minutes with notes to explain details. All the lettering was created in Illustrator with a combination of custom drawn and set type.

This image shows the steps of creating the lettering. TAKE THE and GET BACK are set type. FREAH TASTE CHALLENGE and $5 are custom drawn. ALL the letters are set up on a straight baseline then arced while using only B/W tones. Proportions are adjusted, letters are grouped accordingly and color chips are established to use for color fills.

While drawing this version I decided to place GET BACK in a curved ribbon which allowed better visual fill of FRESH TASTE CHALLENGE.

The FR Logo

2010-09-07T21:25:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year I received a request from a client in France to create an interlocking logo mark for his company. I enjoyed this project as it allowed me the chance to design an elegant mark with only 2 letters. After drawing some quick roughs the client selected 2 versions to refine. B/W art was created in Illustrator, imported into Photoshop and rendered with a gold effect.

Sometimes Good Guys....

2010-09-07T11:00:00.003-05:00

This is a recent tattoo lettering project. Though it may look like a easy freehand script to create I spent quite a bit of time learning the rhythm and flow of the words. I wanted to find an interesting way to tell a story with a line of script. Something with a bit of an edge for a person involved with crafts and tools.

Mott's Medleys Lettering

2010-07-12T22:59:00.014-05:00

Motts Medleys is a lettering projects from 2009. This one is a good example to show the process of refining designers concept sketches and the end result of finished lettering on the package.

These 4 concepts are the original sketches sent to me by designers at Brandimage - Desgrippes & Laga.

The lettering was to be stylized for use on a kids healthy drink product. With that in mind I created a series of lettering studies that were sent to the designers and they picked the style direction to go with.

Drawing templates were created from the selected sketches and vector art was created in Illustrator.

After vector art was sent to the designers some additional tweaks were requested. The version on the bottom of this image is the one that ended up on the consumer package.

Simply Balanced

2010-07-05T11:13:00.006-05:00

Simply Balanced is a project from 2009. Below are the sketches used for drawing templates. Even though the rough drawings are loose with no precise measurements, they provide plenty of information needed for letter shape, curvature and weight.

While in Illustrator the single weight letters are created by drawing one line strokes which are outlined and adjusted as needed. I have created a number of type fonts using this method. In the pre computer days all the weights had to be drawn and measured using circle templates to keep the weight consistent. In Illustrator all that is required is a stroke weight selection which is quite amazing.

This image is the lettering sent to the client for use in the design comps. Its beneficial to include variations such as the loop in the N, the curved cross stroke of the E and the rounded E. Small details always make a big difference when creating letters that are not from a set type font.

Raisin Bran Lettering

2010-06-29T00:14:00.010-05:00

Raisin Bran is a lettering project from 2007. This is the original logo lettering prior to the package update.

Two different styles were created based on sketches sent by the project designers at Schawk!

All the letters were drawn on a straight baseline. Each letter was skewed to match the curve of the layout. The holding line was created with an offset path filter, united with the pathfinder filter and cleaned up by removing unnecessary bezier points and line irregularities.

Interior highlights were added and rendered with a gradation that was softened with the gaussian blur filter. A drop shadow filter was applied and an offset path was added for the thin yellow outline. The yellow outline eventually changed to white.

The second logo version was bold italic with a pin serif. The letters were drawn on a straight baseline and skewed to match the arced guidelines.

Highlight shapes were added with the same color and filters as the first logo.

Of the 2 styles created this is the lettering used on the current package design.

Custom Script For A Packaging Line

2010-06-24T22:10:00.009-05:00

I am showing this project as a example of what is involved to create lettering for a packaging line. The design director requested several different styles of lettering based on samples from my website. After the styles were created the project was put on hold due to product manufacturing and flavor issues. Sometimes beautiful design work does not make it to the shelf due to legal issues.

When I develop custom scripts I do a lot of quick practice writing to learn flow of letterforms. I often use many sheets of paper to get something that I can scan and use for drawing templates in Illustrator. The 3 images below are what I used for drawing templates on this project as they provided the information needed for a starting point.

This screenshot is a good example of what happens while drawing in Illustrator. I first start with a single line, create an offset path and refine the letter shapes by adding thicks and thins. Next I will do variations of the letters so the client will have different versions to choose from.

This image shows variations for the word Truffle including the difference between the template image and the vector art. The drawing template is just a starting point. Sometimes what may look good in the template will not work when creating the finished lettering. I am basically using the drawing templates as layout notes so I understand where to loop a letter, bend or connect it.

These are the first 2 styles created for the project. After reviewing these styles the client requested a less traditional style.

This is the 3rd style created and the series that ended up on the comp packaging.

Nut Harvest Lettering for Frito-Lay

2010-06-05T15:54:00.011-05:00

While grocery shopping this morning I saw the Nut Harvest lettering I created back in 2004. I was pleased to see my lettering still in use on a Frito-Lay package after 6 years.

This is the series of rough sketches used as drawing templates. The sketches I work from are always rough as refinements happen while drawing in Illustrator.

Whenever I create lettering with an arced baseline I usually start by drawing the lettering on a straight baseline. This method allows me to keep the letter weight, height, drop lines and highlights consistent. When all the elements are properly drawn I will draw an arc and turn it into a locked guide. I will then skew each individual letter to match the baseline arc. I have used the envelope tool in Illustrator to bend letters but occasionally I end up with too much distortion at the ends of the arc. Hand skewing allows me better control of the letter form.

This version was based loosely on a baseball style script. The key element that made this lettering pop was the interior drop shadow shape as shown in blue.

The rough edge effect for this lettering was created with the distort roughen filter. All the white deckled texture was made with the brush tool while using a Wacom pen to stipple the texture. When finished with the texture effect I closed all the small shapes with a pathfinder filter. Back in the pre Mac days I would have used a rapidograph pen and marker to texture a photostat of the lettering. Much easier to do this in present day with a Wacom tablet.

Sinply Orange

2010-06-01T11:15:00.006-05:00

Every time I am at the grocery store I see the Simply Orange lettering I created back in 2000. This is a unique script as it has been in use for over 10 years. I was fortunate to work with a team of excellent designers on this project when it first arrived on the consumer market.

This is the original sketch for the lettering. Like most sketches I use for drawing templates it is a loose reference to use as a starting point.

This image shows all the lettering that was created for the comps of the Simply Orange project. What is amazing is that all the lettering treatments with variations were produced in a 2 day timeframe. I drank a lot of strong coffee back in those days when I was under tight deadline pressure to produce a variety of styles.

This is the lettering as used on the current package design.

Stockman & Dakota logo script

2010-05-20T09:41:00.007-05:00

While watching the morning news today I saw a commercial for Stockman & Dakota with the logo script I created. This project goes back to 2008. The creative director at Brandimage sent me a sketch with the printed logo. The script was difficult to read with too much visual distraction of the loops and off balance structure with compressed letterforms. This logo was going to be reproduced at small size for web and print. My goal was to make the script readable.

The first step was to do some rough brush scripts for study of lettering flow. I created several sheets of quick roughs with these versions used as drawing templates.

Using the template as reference I started drawing the letters with a thin line and adjusted the thicks and thins. I decided not to
pursue the loop of the t and the continuous loop of the double k.

Another screenshot showing a thin line starting point altered for proper thick to thin weight.

The 3 final versions sent to the creative director who requested the lettering to have a rough deckled edge treatment.

The finished logo script as used on the Stockman & Dakota website.

Another Day in AlphabetVille

2010-05-13T19:21:00.003-05:00

This is a late night script created with a 1920's Swan pen I was fortunate to find on ebay a while back for only $10. I had to replace the components to make it functional. I put in a new ink sac, jbar and found a beautiful replacement mint nib from Max Davis in France. It has the smoothest flow imaginable.

Eden

2010-05-11T09:51:00.008-05:00

Eden is a lettering project from 2008 that I worked on for the design director at Ionic Communications. This is a good example to show concept sketches, refinements and lettering used for comp presentation.

My responsibility for this assignment was to create lettering with reference to nature. This image is the first stage of concept sketches sent to the design director. Several sketches were selected for further development to be created as vector art.

Scanned concept sketches I use for drawing templates in Adobe Illustrator are no more than quick visual reference guides. I have a tendency to change letterform shapes while drawing the vector art. A lot of script lettering I create starts as thin lines drawn over the template image. The line weight is altered to a similar thickness as the template image and changes occur along the way with small flourishes or swashes.

This screenshot shows the difference between the sketch and the vector art. The "en" combination of the sketch is too condensed and was changed while creating the vector art. Lettering has to be readable or it fails. It is very important to adjust the black and white contrast of letterforms to allow the human eye to read them.

This final image is the lettering as comp presentation created by the design director at Ionic.

The Kineda logo

2010-05-05T01:05:00.011-05:00

I recently was contacted by Terry Ng of Kineda to develop a new logo for his fashion and lifestyle website. The goal for this project was to create lettering with a retro look and a modern, fun, hip feel. After viewing some logo style examples Terry sent to me I began sketching a series of quick, rough concepts with a Sailor brush pen.

The next step was to select several versions with potential, draw them in Illustrator and show a screen image to get client feedback and direction for style.

As the project progresses, the cap K was refined along with the lowercase letterforms. In all phases of the project I was fortunate to have open communication with Terry to fine tune all the details needed to create a unique logo.

The final phase of the project was a screen image with the final logo at various sizes in both positive and negative format. Minor tweaks were made and the final art now resides on the Kineda website.

http://www.kineda.com

A Modern Day Pen With Vintage Line Quality

2010-04-05T21:51:00.004-05:00

In my search of flex nib pens I discovered a modern day pen that can produce similar line quality to some of my vintage flex nib pens. The pen is a Bexley Poseidon Magnum with a stub nib that actually flexes while writing. This pen has a lot of potential for fast rhythmic writing and can produce some very cool handwriting styles.

The script on top with was written with the Bexley and Vintage Flex was written with a 1930's Swan.

Still Playing With Pens

2010-03-29T11:10:00.007-05:00

I am still playing with pens and looking for rhythm and flow in letter forms. I find that letters with the most visual interest happen while writing very fast with no plans or layouts to follow. Of the 40 different pens I practice with, some nibs glide over the paper and others require hand pressure to flex the nib. This sample was created with a semi flex stiff nib from a early 1900's Swan eyedropper.

Lettering with an 83 year old Mabie Todd Swan

2010-03-03T00:15:00.006-06:00

I have not been able to post any new lettering samples lately due to long hours of commercial projects. I still finish the day with some quick handwriting samples while trying a variety of vintage fountain pens. This lettering piece was created with a Mabie Todd Swan pen manufactured in 1927. It has a flexible nib and writes with a featherweight touch. Its an amazing 83 year old pen. Very enjoyable to create lettering with vintage writing instruments.

More fun with the Condor nib

2010-02-24T01:35:00.003-06:00

This is another example of the brush quality I can get with the Condor nib. This pen is wonderful lettering instrument. The line thickness changes depending on the angle the nib touches the paper surface. Rather amazing that a fountain pen can produce wet brush strokes.

Playing with this pen is a nice way to end the day after a long stretch of deadline work.

A Really Cool Pen Nib

2010-02-23T00:14:00.004-06:00

I continue to experiment with fountain pens during short breaks in the daily schedule.

Today I received a Condor nib from Richard Binder at: http://www.richardspens.com/
Its quite amazing. The nib is curved down. Writing with the nib right side up produces a very fine line. Writing with the nib upside down produces a brush like calligraphy stroke. The Condor nib requires very minimal hand pressure to vary the stroke weight. This is one of the most interesting lettering tools I discovered in recent days.

A Lettering Practice Session

2010-02-16T15:12:00.004-06:00

This photo is a typical evening handwriting session with fountain pens. I'm currently using 8 fountain pens and each nib has different flex from full to stiff including various line weights. Some have been modified to allow increase in flex. I plan to try a vintage pen from the 1930's later this week with a needlepoint nib and full flex. I continue practicing with fountain pens as they offer much more precision than design markers I used in the past.

A handwriting session usually happens late night after finishing daily project deadlines. Script writing with no restricions is an excellent method to learn different styles form loose to formal. Some styles from the past month have already been used on commercial lettering projects. Of all the practice sheets from lat night I about a dozen beautiful loose rhythmic scripts that will make for good portfolio samples and generate new projects in the future.

Letter Playground Alphabet Experiment Taking Shape

2010-02-10T13:54:00.008-06:00

I recently uploaded a series of uppercase letters in 2 styles at Letter Playground. All the letters have been quick sketch studies at low resolution with a lot of opportunity to experiment. Playing with ideas and style concepts always leads to something good.

The cap "I" letter upload last night was rendered is a much cleaner style than the rough sketch versions. After rendering a letter this way I now want to create a complete uppercase alphabet in this style. I plan to use shapes of jewelry and fountain pens with a lot of bright toy colors when designing the letters.

A Cap Letter Project

2010-02-06T22:18:00.003-06:00

This weekend I started a series of cap letter color illustrations for upload to Letter Playgorund. These are fun to do and anything goes. Very small size with bright color and a pleasant break from the technical demands of a commercial lettering project.

More Fountain Pen Writing

2010-02-04T23:31:00.009-06:00

In my spare time I have been handwriting with several fountian pens. They all have different nibs, thickness and flex. The pen I enjoy the most is a Namiki Falcon 2 with a fine point. I can use slight presure for thickness and lift up for a very thin return stoke. This is turning out to be a fantastic experience as I am now able to control shape of the letterform compared to writing with a design marker which did not prvide precise control of thicks and thins.

A Sketchbook Page with SuzieQ

2010-02-02T22:02:00.008-06:00

I write with fountain pens every day and this is what a typical page of my gestural writing looks like. Anything goes. I tape words from other pages, add tissue overlays that I write on and continue to look for flow of the letters or an interesting way to loop and connect. With all the random words and letters I find nifty little visuals to create.

For this piece, I cut Rolling Stone off the page, taped it over SuzieQ and wrote "is a" on another tissue overlay. The small tissue was scanned and I did a quick redraw in Illustrator trying to maintain the loose quality of the original fountain pen writing.

The Best is yet to Come

2010-01-31T19:32:00.005-06:00

This lettering piece started as a series of rhythm studies with pencil, pen and marker on a tissue pad. I eventually got a sketch to use as a starting point after several pages of studies. My intent was to combine a formal script and mix it up with Spencerian style characters. I plan to continue creating letters of this style and in time the best is yet to come.

Gotta be Bad to be Good

2010-01-30T16:38:00.008-06:00

Gotta Be Bad to be Good is a freeform script style I have been developing for the past few years. This style is a loose mix of upper and lowercase letterforms. When the piece was only 3 words it needed more interest and was changed into a play on words. After getting the rhythm and flow worked out for Gotta be Bad to be Good I decided to change the visual read to something a bit more complex with flourishes and swirls. The final result is quite different than the initial sketch and definitely more interesting to view.

You Call the Shots

2010-01-26T01:04:00.005-06:00

Another quick wrist script exercise with a Lamy calligraphy pen on graph paper. I made the strokes thicker with a Sharpie marker and scanned the lettering for use as a template.

Little Dude

2010-01-24T01:13:00.007-06:00

Here are some preliminary sketches for the Little Dude lettering design. This project is another example of how I change letterforms and structure while drawing in Adobe Illustrator. The tight sketch was a good start but was out of balance and the cross stroke of the double t did not read properly. All in all I am pleased with the final result and plan to continue developing this lettering style.