If you have read this blog for any period of time, then you know that I’m all about dip pen calligraphy. That said, I think it’s important to give yourself a creative challenge by switching up mediums and styles! For that reason, I’ve recently been experimenting with new hand-lettering styles. One serendipitous day, I was doodling in my planner, and I came up with a dot-studded lettering style that “stitches” together.
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The other day, I was in Whole Foods, which is this sort of hip grocery store chain in the US/Canada and the UK. As I was perusing all the beautiful food labels and the advertising throughout the store, one thing stood out to me in a big way: hand-lettering. Whole Foods is big on ambiance, and a lot of their charm is thanks to hand-lettering!
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Every single day, you are confronted with hundreds of lettering styles in the form of logos, text in magazines and websites, posters, mail, and social media posts. And yet, when you sit down to make your own letters, inspiration can be slow in coming. This blog post will give you some direction in your lettering endeavors with three fresh, new lettering styles to try!
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“Breezy” isn’t an oft-used adjective, but it’s the word that comes to mind when I look at the pieces created for this hand-lettering tutorial. The white ink, playful font style, and creative colored pencil shading give a casual vibe; yet this lettering style is also impressively intricate. In today’s tutorial, I am going to teach you how to create this hand-lettering style using a series of photos, videos, and a free printable exemplar.
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Have you noticed how popular modern brush lettering has become lately? Everywhere you look, you’re likely to spot an example, from the H&M logo to artwork on Etsy. I think that brush lettering is popular now because of its spontaneity, contrast, and carefree look. It’s a refreshing style when a person is used to neatness and order in art and typography!
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In some ways, it’s more difficult to create modern calligraphy than traditional calligraphy. In traditional calligraphy, you have very specific exemplars and rules. In modern calligraphy, however, there are no concrete rules. The whole point is to create something new and innovative that pleases you as the calligrapher. At times, that freedom can be overwhelming — the possibilities are unlimited. That’s why I’ve compiled some ideas to help you in your next modern calligraphy project, whether it’s a little thing {a written quote, perhaps} or a 300-envelope wedding calligraphy undertaking!
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In a world where computer-generated type dominates, hand-lettering stands out in a beautiful way. If you want someone to notice something, write it out and embellish it! It doesn’t matter if you’re designing on a professional level {business cards, posters, billboards, etc.}, or if your goal is unique mail art. Either way, your lettering will get noticed! Today, I’ve put together three hand-lettering tutorials to inspire you; and more will follow in the next TPK blog post.
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There are few family heirlooms better than vintage photographs. Vintage photos have a hauntingly sweet beauty that deserves to be shown; yet, if you’re anything like me, some of your best vintage photos may be tucked away in a box somewhere. For today’s blog post, I resolved to develop a vintage photo project that would showcase old family photos and get them into the light of day. After giving the topic some serious thought, inspiration struck: embellished postcards!
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If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how to make a coat of arms — and surely the thought has crossed your mind if you’ve ever seen television shows like Game of Thrones — today is your lucky day. Historically, coat of arms were ye logos of olde; that is to say, they identified families and individuals. That identification was helpful if you were all suited up in your knight {or, as they used to pronounce it in Medieval times, “khu-nig-ghit”} gear. Nowadays, family coat of arms are essentially just cool family logos to print on custom stationery, frame in your house, have printed on a shirt for a family reunion … whatever. Oh, and one thing the internet just taught me that you should probably know, too: calling it a “family crest” is a no-no. According to Wikipedia, “The word ‘crest’ is often mistakenly applied to a coat of arms.” Up until today, I was referring to these as “family crests”. Oops!
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I’m going to be up front with you here: this easy watercolor art tutorial is only going to be easy if you are willing to obtain art masking fluid. The reason I am putting this in the first paragraph is I think it’s the worst when you’re lured to a blog post about making, I don’t know, the “easiest DIY coffee table ever”, only to find out you need a bunch of specialized and expensive tools.
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