Basic Hand Lettering Practice That You Need To Know

Cover Artwork by Ricardo Gonzales

 

Have you ever seen those beautiful and gorgeous typography art on Instagram and Pinterest? Well, then you must have desired to learn this skill. Don't worry if you may not know what kind of pens and pencils, scripts, scribbles or any lettering tools you should use for this purpose.

Hand lettering practice is so inspiring for anyone who loves to see the words presented artistically. So, let’s make it clear first. This typography art involves the use of various drawing techniques to write the letters more effectively. You can use just any kind of pen, pencil, colour, or lettering tools that can help you in creating a stunning design. If you want to see the samples of these typography art, they are everywhere!

Created by Aurelie Maron

 

Today in this article, we will guide you on learning about hand lettering practice as a beginner. Keep in mind that you have to proceed with the hand lettering practice very carefully. Though you can stretch the words in infinite ways, learning how to maintain the artwork's visual balance and attractiveness is mandatory. 

Here are some main points that we are to talk about the basic introduction to hand lettering practice:

• Pay Attention to Minor Detail
• Focus On The Effect Of Your Lettering Tools
• Watch Plenty of Tutorials
• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Join The Better Lettering Course
• Give Yourself A Personal Challenge
• Join The Better Lettering Course
• Add The Element Of Fun
• Do Not Waste Time In Finding What To Write
• Create Your Own Personal Style

Now, let’s get started.

 

Pay Attention To the Minor Details

Hand lettering is the ability to write the words effectively to derive the true meaning. It involves the retaining of the visual element, which makes the given message more powerful. When you pay attention to the worlds and ideas near you, you can realise how people use its techniques for various purposes. For example, you can see the wonderful and eye-catching masterpieces of hand lettering on billboards, book covers, and magazine covers.

If you are a keen observer, you will realise that you feel strongly drawn to the typography art and various styles of hand lettering. If you want to know what kind of qualities you should look for in the perfect hand lettering sample, check what kind of fonts and style appeals best to you. Studying the impact of shadows and dimensions can also help you.

The pro tip?

Try to get some understanding of typography art as well. In-depth knowledge of printed letters' science can turn out to be the biggest clue in learning hand lettering.

Created by Typewize

 

Focus On The Effect Of Your Lettering Tools

What kind of vibe you get when you look at your favourite lettering tools will determine what type of typography art styles you should master.

Asking a few questions can be helpful, such as:

• Do you like the smooth letters created by the brush pen?
• What do you feel when you see the spiked works written using the half-tipped marker's pointy tip?
• Do you love the shaded letters or love the plain look?
• Do you prefer to use serif font with a pen or calligraphy font with a brush?

When you can give satisfactory answers to all such questions, now it is time to pick the right set of lettering tools to play with the lettering techniques.

Created by Victor Kevruh

 

Watch Plenty of Tutorials

If you are serious about typography art, you should not hesitate to invest your time and effort. As a beginner, various basic questions can pop up in your mind, and the simple and easy solution is to watch your favourite tutorial on the internet from start to end.

Only you know what kind of lettering topics and tutorials can be helpful for you, depending on the type of lettering tools you want to master. When you watch your favourite videos with interest, you come to know what you should do to excel in this field.

However, this is where many people get into trouble.

Why? Because they start copying the lettering techniques from the tutorials and forget to retain the element of uniqueness.

Keep in mind that you watch tutorials because you want to know what is the approach of other people (especially experts) regarding this art. But you have to develop your own unique style and use your creativity to excel. A good artist always has plenty of unique ideas and techniques that he learns with time.

Created by Mark van Leeuwen

 

Practice, Practice, Practice

After you have grasped some tutorials' ideas and have noted the minor details around you, now it is time to start honing your craft. The surest and the most reliable way to master the skill of this typography art is to practice it regularly. It will polish your creativity in using lettering tools, and you will soon feel that you have plenty of unique ideas that you can use to excel from others. Don't forget to give yourself time to look at some ideas that will help you go through the practice phase more productively.

 Created by Victor Kevruh

 

Give Yourself A Personal Challenge

Though you can keep practicing while watching tutorials, after you have stopped watching them, you should not miss even a single day without doing anything related to hand lettering practice. Set your daily goals and achieve them daily. Keeping yourself in a challenging state is something that will help you in mastering your skill instantly.

If you do not have enough motivation to keep practicing, another solution to take some mentorship. For this purpose, you can join any lettering or typography art courses. So our next suggestion is to take a better lettering course.

Created by Michael Moodie

 

Join The Better Lettering Course

No matter how many artists you approached, you should work on your own creative skills as well. The only way to find your voice is to learn and understand other artists' work rather than just copying and replicating. It will also help you build up your personal style instead of replicating other people's work.

Nowadays, various cheap typography art and lettering courses are available anywhere online. Those courses can help you along the way in maintaining regularity and doing your work without any pause.

Created by Julia Zhdanova

 

Add The Element Of Fun

If you the hand lettering practice in a dull and boring manner, you will soon get fed up. As discussed earlier, this typography art is all about playing with design, styles, colours and lettering tools. So when you mix the colours and test various amalgamations, you find it a more exciting skill. When you focus on the lettering ideas that give out quality and the feeling, you learn how you can add fun to this practice.

 Created by Jackson Alves

 

Do Not Waste Time In Finding What To Write

Remember that while practicing, you do not have to waste time finding out what to write. Thousands of quotes are available on the internet, and you can also opt for your favourite movie quotes. So there is no need to create your content for lettering. Just pick up 10 or 20 of your favourite quotes and start practicing.

The core of the matter is to spend maximum time in learning HOW to write and not WHAT to write. To add the element of joy, you can use song lyrics for lettering purposes.

It is all about creating your unique voice and not relying on others for everything. You do not need to copy the ideas and quotes of others; instead, you should work on your own ideas.

Created by Mark van Leeuwen

 

Create Your Own Personal Style

You can always create your own personal style, as you don't always have to follow people's rules. Your personal style also can significantly evolve over the years when you are focused on regular practice and persistence to achieve a maturity state of your personal style. I believe that regular practice will help you a lot in becoming a designer, artist, and hand letterer in no time. Three things that you need to keep in mind when developing your personal hand lettering style:

• Always Pay Attention to Your Style
• Consider About The Process Thoroughly.
• Practice Regularly of How It Can Be Evolve

It is for sure that when you pay attention to something and add the element of creativity, you will soon master this skill and become an inspiration for others too.

When you are accountable to yourself, no one can beat you, but this is possible only when you are very passionate about the skill you love and are ready to spend time in the learning process. When you do not have some sort of accountability, you do not learn as fast as you should. After tons of practices, your hand muscles will also get strengthened accordingly, and your brain will start functioning more powerfully in the respective area. You will become much more comfortable in using your lettering tools.

Created by Sergey Snurnik

 

Conclusion

Before diving into the dazzling world of lettering, make sure to figure out how you want to proceed. Give yourself a moment to think about it. Think about setting up a personal commitment. If you are just casually interested, then it is better not to go with it.

Keep in mind that the fruit of this typography art is ever-lasting, and the beautifully designed fonts of letters always have something more than the mere words.

Created by Tobias Hall

 

Are you ready to give some momentum to this fantastic typography art? How do you want to use your hand lettering skills for effective written communication? Do a quick comment right now, share your thoughts with us, and I hope our introduction can help you learn more about hand lettering along the way. Cheers!