The Art of Lovely and Legible Lettering – Lauren Hom
Do you ever scroll through images of beautiful lettering on Instagram and think to yourself, “Wow, I wish I could do that!”…but don’t know how to get started?
Maybe you adore lettering and have been practicing for a while, but your work isn’t where you want it to be? Even though you’ve been improving slowly on your own, you still don’t feel confident about your letterforms and layouts. Something always looks off or feels like it’s missing, and it frustrates you that you can never quite figure out why. How the heck do all of your favorite artists make their work look so perfect, polished, and most importantly…effortless?
Or perhaps you’re working as a professional designer but haven’t been feeling very inspired by the work you’re doing at your job? It pays the bills, but you’re in desperate need of creative fulfillment outside of the office. You loved the typography classes you took in college, and lately, you find yourself lettering on your notes to pass time in long meetings (that definitely could’ve been emails).
Maybe you’ve already started building an online following around your lettering work and perhaps even picked up a few freelance jobs? You LOVED the feeling of getting hired for lettering and want to work on more. You’ve seen other lettering artists working on cool campaigns with big brands, but you don’t know how to give your lettering that professional polish that seems to attract those dream projects.
Bottom line?
- You’ve admired hand lettering for a while and dream of getting really good at it one day.
- You want to be able to fully understand letters, composition, and spacing so you can stop making the same mistakes that you know are holding your lettering back.
- You’re ready to *finally* feel confident in your lettering abilities, feel motivated to practice (because it can be so frustrating to keep going when you’re not seeing any improvements), and make work that you’re proud to share online.
If you found yourself nodding along to any of those bits, you’re definitely not alone.
Back in 2012 before I started lettering, I used to look at other lettering work and think to myself, “HOW?! I need to learn how to do that.” but didn’t have any friends who were lettering yet and felt unsure of where to start. Then one day, I decided to just go ahead and give it a shot with the basic tools I had in my dorm room (a pencil, a Sharpie, and graph paper), and I’ve been lettering ever since.
In the beginning, most of my lettering decisions were just me….taking my best guess? I looked at SO much lettering online and knew what I liked, but whenever I sat down to try and do it myself, something would always look wrong. But I could never quite figure out why! (Psst…If you don’t understand the source of the problem, it’s kinda hard to figure out how to fix it.)
Nevertheless, I loved lettering and continued to do it constantly and awkwardly, but I was never confident that any of the design choices I was making were correct. But as I practiced, I learned by trial and error, and things slowly started getting better.
Course Curriculum
Introduction
PreviewHello + Class Overview (1:47)
PreviewWhat You’ll Need – Supplies & Materials (2:51)
PreviewFinding Lettering Inspiration (2:11)
Class Workbook
StartPencil and Paper Users: Download & Print the Workbook
StartiPad/Tablet Users: Download the Workbook
Type Basics + Warm Up Exercises
StartType Terminology (2:25)
StartBecoming a Lettering Detective (1:48)
StartExercise – Sans Serif (11:49)
StartExercise – Serif (9:28)
StartExercise – Slab Serif (14:25)
StartExercise – Script (7:17)
Before You Begin – Pro Tips and Common Mistakes
PreviewThicks, Thins and Tricky Letters (12:06)
PreviewA Little Space is Healthy (1:12)
PreviewDecorating Without Distracting (1:11)
PreviewOh Shoot, Overshoot! (2:02)
Crafting Your Letters From Scratch
StartSetting Up Guidelines for Basic Letters (8:14)
StartItalicized Letters (3:38)
StartLetter Spacing (6:54)
StartScript Letters (9:56)
StartLettering with Playful Guidelines (9:15)
Embellishing Your Letters
StartSwashes (5:05)
StartShadows (5:02)
StartFlourishes (2:16)
Composition – Putting it All Together
StartPlanning Your Visual Hierarchy (2:34)
StartThumbnail Sketches (4:54)
StartLaying Out Your Final Sketch (13:40)
StartRefining Your Sketch (11:13)
StartAdding Shadows to Your Sketch (3:57)
StartFinal Adjustments and Embellishments (4:27)
StartInking Your Final Artwork (8:50)
Digitizing Your Lettering
StartGetting Your Artwork into the Computer (1:46)
StartBasic Photoshop – Preparing Your Lettering for Editing (9:56)
StartBasic Photoshop – Refining Your Lettering (10:56)
StartBasic Photoshop – Adding Color to Your Lettering (7:03)
Option to Upgrade to Lettering Feedback From Me
StartClick here to learn how to get feedback on your work
Bonus Videos!
StartBonus Critique – These Heels Don’t Hurt (19:37)
StartBonus Critique – I’m Almost Ready (18:53)
StartBonus Critique – You’re a Cream Come True (29:34)
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