Attempting calligraphy & handlettering

Posted by on Sep 24, 2015 in Handlettering, Own Work, Typography Tags: , , ,

So it’s well into study mode and unfortunately for me, it means I spend most of my time stressing about my degree work and trying to make sure there are no orphans, widows or any other sneaky pieces of typography hell in my designs.

Sometimes though, it’s good to take a break from commissions and education briefs and do things simply because I enjoy them. I am really into hand lettering. It’s the IN THING at the moment and I love it. I like how expressive you can be and while I appreciate what can be done on a computer, sometimes it’s nice to break away completely and be a little less structured. More illustrative.

Someone told me the other day that the art of handwriting is dying out thanks to technology. I myself have never had great handwriting – you should see my dissertation notes, you’d need a highly trained codebreaker to decipher them but I have always been an avid admirer of nice handwriting and the other day I got a cool little book called Creative Lettering & Beyond. It’s a great little book with lots of tips and tricks on how to do various hand lettering styles.

To de-stress from uni and every day life, I like to be a mega type-geek and sit with my sketchbook, oblique pen holder, nibs and ink and have a practise with my calligraphy. I have a long way to go but I am trying to create the letterforms myself – it isn’t anything new and I am hardly reinventing the wheel. I’m not looking too much at other peoples work though so that I can focus on finding my own style with my own little quirks.

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