Chronic Doodler by haybails19

Chronic Doodler By: Baleigh Bradley

ÂŠ 2019 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission. The opinions expressed in this book are those of the author only and not those of York College of Pennsylvania. This book is an experimental class project for purely educational design purposes. Design By Baleigh Bradley. Printed by www.lulu.com

Chronic Doodler By: Baleigh Bradley

Preface This book is a semester long project from my junior year Publication Design class. I chose to research and explain my personal relationship with hand lettering because it has been something so special to me throughout my life. The title of this book was created by one of my best friends Amanda Andreucci. I would also like to thank one of my professors, Mel Rodgers for conducting a wonderful lettering class and teaching me so much throughout my college years. Lastly I want to thank my mother for having patience with me through this process and helping me recall some lettering memories from the past.

Table of Contents Introducton Section One Research Famous Letterers Tools

13 17 18 20 29

Section Two My experience Hand Lettering Class

33 34 42

Section Three Interview

53 54

References

This is a documentation book about my experience with hand lettering. I document my own personal work as well as my work from hand lettering class. Inside is also a plethora of research regarding hand lettering origins, different types, styles, tools, processes, and letterers I look up to. Section three includes an interview with Mel Rodgers, my lettering professor, who is very knowledgeable about the art. Doodling has always been my comfort. No matter what situation I am in, there is pretty much always some sort of writing utensil around. Sitting in class, at home, in the car, I always have the ability to doodle. There are so many thoughts that go on in our heads daily

and doodling is my way to get a fraction of them out. When Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m stuck in some place where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d probably rather be somewhere else, doodling is my savior. It is there to clear my mind. I am always in the moment when I get to doodle. Learning more and more about this art over the span of the semester has truly strengthened my lettering skills. The key to becoming proficient in any skill is practice. The same goes for lettering. The only reason that some of the top tier letterers are who they are today is that they practiced. But why did they practice? Because of their sheer love for it. From what I have learned, it is a combination of passion and practice.

introduction 1

section one:

research 5

Hand lettering is defined as drawing letters as opposed to writing them, and are often very decorative. As opposed to calligraphy, one often has more control over letterforms with hand lettering. Hand lettering is one of the major subgroups of text. The three main groups of text are calligraphy, hand lettering, and typography. Out of these, there are even more specific styles. Some of them are serif, sans serif, gothic styles, calligraphy/script styles, block lettering, graffiti, and there are a few other substyles. [3] Hand lettering can be drawn with a pen or a pencil. Some of the main principles include thick down strokes and light upstrokes. This is not a set rule, but with most fonts, it is a common trait. Sharpies, brush pens, and gel pens are often used. As with any art, discipline is required. As opposed to calligraphy, hand lettering gives the artist more control and freedom. There are five main steps to hand-lettering. [3] The first step is very basic. The artist must choose their pens and pencils. Having the right supplies will make a huge difference for the final piece. Next, the artist must choose their paper. Sketchbooks or lettering books are always great to have around. I personally prefer a notebook with grid paper. Tracing paper, Bristol, and a media paper pad are other common papers letterers use. [3] The next step is the most crucial in my opinion. On any paper, the artist should practice warmâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;up exercises. I always find my best work happens when I have been practicing for a few hours. Practicing on the right paper and with the same tool you will be using for the final product will enhance the end result. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hand lettering gives you the freedom to do anything you want with your letters, so experimentation really helps me come up with new ideas.â&#x20AC;? [3] Practicing beforehand will really make for a

better piece. After having practiced, one is ready for the next step, to start lettering! The last step is to produce a finished piece. Lettering can turn something so lifeless into a completely living piece. Once one hand letters for a while the artist finds out what kinds of fonts they may like to letter the best. Some people may confuse hand lettering, calligraphy, and typography. [2] This is for two main reasons. One is evident, they may be unfamiliar with these subgroups of art. They may simply be uneducated and not know the difference. The second reason basically follows under this but is slightly different. This is digitization. The computer may confuse someone. Hand lettering and calligraphy are often scanned into a computer and eventually made into typography. This can make lettering or calligraphy appear to be a font when it was really made by hand. It is important to know the difference between these mediums interchangeably because one may look unprofessional otherwise. It could discredit someone as an artist. Hand drawn text originated in the Middle Ages. Back then, all books were written by hand. Often these books included elaborate drop caps and accompanying illustrations. This helped the storyline. They were written by scripts. These books were called illuminated manuscripts. Illuminated manuscripts contained religious material and were written by monks. As opposed to back then, today hand lettering is primarily used to create both unique and expressive text. It can perfectly fit a specific style that typography is not able to do. Each letter can have its own style within one word. Letterers can actually use a variety of materials other than pens and pencils. Paint, ink, chalk, food, and even makeup can be used. [4]

Paradise Murral by Jennet Liaw [9]

Uber Gift Card Campaign by Jennet Liaw [9]

From the Lettered Bandana Collection by Jennet Liaw [9]

Something that truly gives me hope when lettering is that even the best of the best started somewhere. Even the masters were once just beginners. Some people may look at the masters and get discouraged because it could make one feel insecure. But in reality, it should just give us all something to strive to become. If they can do it, so can I, and I believe that has to be the mentality of anyone who will become a master of hand lettering. Researching other talented lettering artists shouldn’t make one feel insecure, instead, it should motivate someone to try even harder and be inspired. After my research, I found a plethora of letterers that truly have inspired me. I strive to one day have the skills they do. They not only excel at the most difficult, classic lettering, but also they think outside the box. They have outstanding compositions, one of a kind writing, and use unconventional materials. Some make logos with their lettering, some even decorate cakes with their lettering. The lettering from these designers appears perfect but at the same time can be so personal and quirky in the same way.

Jennet Liaw One of the first-hand letterers I encountered and fell in love with immediately is Jennet Liaw. Her Instagram feed caught my eye and it’s still hard for me to look away. Her work is absolutely beautiful. Aside from a letterer, she is also a designer. She brings true design into her letterforms. In each and every one of her pieces there is just so much to look at. In one of her interviews, she gave plenty of words of advice that I found to be moving. To begin, she explains that to be successful one has to be both stubborn and persistent. She wanted to make her passion be something that could also support her. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, so she just decided to continue progressing her skill levels. Next, she said to pinpoint a focus. One has to pick a focus to improve at that and then eventually move on. Something very interesting about Jennet Liaw is that she didn’t go to

art school. She didn’t get a degree for design. She learned by doing. Her work is all self-motivated, she was gifted the skill of lettering, she didn’t learn it. [2] Jennet Liaw also preaches to know the world around you, and that your niche will find you. You have to please your audience if you want to become known. Hand-lettering didn’t always have a large audience, not too many people were interested in the art. As it grew over time, people like Jennet Liaw were about to gain a name for themselves. [2] Jennet also questions every decision she makes when lettering. She works with intent. Even the littlest line she makes, she questions it. She is very picky. She refuses to have the same style for every project but takes one at a time. Each project is put into context. This goes along with the medium. Whatever medium is required for whatever project it may be, it is necessary to have the correct one. Pencil, paint, pens, marker and other existing utensils all appear differently on one sheet of paper. Bringing in a different type of paper adds even more of a difference. [2] Jennet Liaw explains that it is crucial to post artwork on social media. This is how I found her! Companies have reached out to her directly from Instagram. She says that she finds that people can be more connected to her on a more casual and personal level. I totally agree with this. She also says Instagram is easier to look at than a resume. The Instagram community even gives her inspiration. With the feature of posting multiple photos at a time, she can even show her process. She really is lucky that in the current day and age Instagram is so commonly used. [2] Lastly, Jennet Liaw says it is absolutely necessary to take your time when creating this type of work. It is not all sketches and doodles. She has to be her own secretary, legal team, HR department, and business manager. Doing all of this work, the artist cannot just do the job for free. They deserve to make money for their craft. It is the same as a lawyer, all the hours they spend they get paid for, so then so should a designer. All in all, Jennet Liaw's final piece of advice was to use the world for your inspiration. [2]

Victoria Rushton Victoria Rushton designs and develops beautiful fonts, with the help from the Font Bureau. She currently has her very own foundry at TypeNetwork. Her fonts are available at TypeKit Marketplace as well. She is very interested in helping students and recent grads become more educated in the type world, and even on her website, she explains how she is willing to give anyone free trials. [13] As far as type goes, Victoria Rushton would not be where she is today without her hand lettering abilities. [13] Most of her work is black and white. Some appear to be ads, and others appear to be simple doodles. Some of her work is even vectored. Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in vector form, drawn form, or advertisement form, she puts just the right spin on it. The simplest doodles are in Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) which truly makes them pop. Her website has a compilation of many of her pieces together. They are truly beautiful.

Sondre by Victoria Rushton [13]

Verse by Victoria Rushton [13]

Jordan Metcalf Jordan Metcalf is a designer from South Africa who now lives in Portland, Oregon. He started his work in book design. He then began working on animated commercials. Now he currently is running his own studio specializing in custom lettering and designing artwork. On his website, he has a tab that is strictly his sketchbook and some of his drawings truly look like finalized pieces. He primarily works on black sketchbook paper, with lighter colors on top. There is a large contrast between the background and foreground in his artwork. [8] Some of his projects have been used for National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and many more places. His ads are truly breathtaking. [8]

Design Indaba Mural by Jordan Metcalf [8]

No Love Lost by Jordan Metcalf [8]

Products by Louise Fili [1]

Louise Fili Louise Fili was the former senior designer for Herb Lubalin. She designed close to 2,000 book jackets while she was the art director of Pantheon Books from 1978 to 1989. [1] She has received a plethora of medals and awards for her work. Louise Fili has work displayed in the Library of Congress, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, and the Bibliotheque Nationale. She is a co-author with Steven Heller, of Italian Art Deco, British Modern, Dutch Moderne, Streamline, French Modern, Deco España, German Modern, Design Connoisseur, Typology, Stylepedia, Euro Deco, Scripts, Shadow Type, Stencil Type, and Slab Serif Type. [1] She also wrote a book called Elegantissima, Grafica della Strada, Graphique de la Rue, Gràfica de les Rambles, The Cognoscenti's Guide to Florence, and Italianissimo. [1]

Some may argue that most importantly of all, as a member if the Art Directors Hall of Fame she received the medal for Lifetime Achievement from the AIGA and the Type Directors Club. Louise Fili Ltd was founded in 1989 and is a graphic design studio specializing in brand developments for restaurants and food packaging. This company has a specialty in updating logos. Although some logos can function for an entire life of a company, most often they could use a little tweaking. Refreshing old logos can definitely enhance a brand. They have a number of clients that have benefitted from their work. Some of which are Cynthia White, Crane and Co, Gelato Fiasco, Goodnight Charlie’s, Honolulu Coffee Co., Italienne, Metro Grill, Tate’s Bake Shop, and Yes We Can. [1]

Matthew Tapia Matthew Tapia is a lettering and graphic artist from Honolulu, Hawaii. His designs are all around this city. He has done street murals, signings at restaurants, pieces at the Honolulu Museum of Art, and the widely known pool at the Surfjack Hotel & Sim Club. Inside of this beautiful pool, Matthew Tapia lettered the phrase, ‘Wish You Were Here.’ His design appears to be truly elegant, the white, jumpy, script-like letters contrast with the rest of the blue tiled bottom. They pop out and the font itself appears to be perfectly fitting for a tropical, outdoor resort. [7] I find Matthew Tapia to be so interesting not only because he is so talented, but because he had also worked very interesting jobs before his career really took off. He was both a security guard and a stock clerk, nothing having to do with hand lettering or let alone in the art field at all. [7] One day while at work he was discovered by the head of the company Ecko, which is a clothing brand. He then

worked in New York City for about four years developing his design and lettering skills. When he returned home, his name was out there and he has been able to work freelance for others ever since. This includes with Nike and other large brands. [7] As previously mentioned, one of the projects Tapia is most known for is the pool at the Surfjack Hotel and Swim Club. He chose the phrase ‘Wish You Were Here’ to paint because guests would see it from their balconies and feel kindly invited to enter the communal area at the pool. [7] This creation is one of the reasons I truly love hand lettering. Although it can be seen on a normal 8.5”x 11” sheet of paper or on a computer screen digitally, lettering can truly be done beautifully anywhere. He expresses having had difficulties making this piece. There was construction during the time he was making it, pool cleanings, and other events that got in the way of his lettering. He says, in the end, it was truly worth it. [7]

Surfjack Hotel Pool by Matthew Tapia [7]

Ken Barber

2016 Fall Lettering Workshops [12]

Spencerian Lettering Workshop at Cooper Union [12]

Ken Barber is a letterer, type designer, and type director. He works for House Industries, a type foundry that is extremely talented and successful. The studio makes fonts and creates products. Ken Barber has work in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institutions Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. [12] Doyald Young is someone that truly inspires him. In an interview with Ken Barber, he explains how Doyald says drawing is huge when learning to letter. Learning the spatial relationships between and within figures is so important. One has to be sure of the letters and elements fit together. [12] In my experience with Ken Barber, I found he was just so knowledgeable in the lettering world. He really just understands it. In his workshop, Ken had lecture sections and working sections. The lecture sections were so to the point and helpful. During the working periods, he actually walked around to every single student and was able to tell them minor things to fix. For me, these small minor things made huge differences.

2017 Fall Lettering Workshops at Cooper Union [12]

The fact of the matter is that no one needs any special tool to be a hand letterer. [6] No one needs something specific to make beautiful lettering. It can come down to only the most basic pencil and the most basic piece of paper. Sure, special tools can be fun and change any outcomes of the final project, but it's not very necessary to have them. This source breaks hand lettering down into eight different segments of tools that can be used. In this section, I will discuss these eight different types of tools.

T Square

The first tool mentioned is the pencil. A plain old mechanical pencil will work, but there are some drawbacks. Unfortunately, as most of us have experienced, when writing or drawing with a mechanical pencil, the tip of lead sometimes breaks off. Instead of using a mechanical pencil, this source gives the advice to attempt to use what is called a lead holder. Similar in appearance to a mechanical pencil, a lead pointer lets out a thicker piece of lead. At the tip of the utensil, there is what is called a lead pointer, which sharpens the tip of the lead. This is usually just used for a base layer because it lets out a fine line of lead. On the source, there is a lead holder that is less than $10.00. [6]

Ink pens are the next tool discussed on this website. There are truly infinite types of ink pens to use. Micron Pens are the most popular pens used, at least for beginners. These are especially useful because they have varying tip widths. This way, letterers can use different pens to come up with a final product. When considering which type of pen to use, the most important thing to remember is the ink flow. For example, a ballpoint pen might skip and leave blank spaces in the drawing. When starting out, it is recommended to use blank ink. [6]

The third item to consider is the paper. When starting out, it is clear that a lot of paper will be used. Avoiding any expensive sketchbooks may be smart for someone just starting out. When one becomes better and increases skill, that is when they should consider spending money on a better quality paper and sketchbook. Printer paper is often used because so many people have it on hand at a surplus. It is also rather inexpensive. Also, it is recommended to purchase a cheap spiral bound sketchbook from a local grocery store or Target. When choosing any paper, the most important thing to consider is the thickness or porousness of the paper. The thinner and more porous, the more likely the ink is to bleed through. [6]

Inks

Ink

Ink Mixer

The next set of tools are relatively fancier than the pencils, pens, and paper which most people probably just have laying around their house. The first is erasers. Although this may seem basic, there are so many types of erasers. In my lettering class, we even used a mechanical eraser. But, in general, erasers can be just as important as laying ink down. [6] As humans, we are not perfect. We make mistakes. Erasers are here to fix this. This source recommends using fine point eraser pencils as well. This type of eraser is great for getting rid of small detail. In contrast, block erasers are very helpful as well, especially when trying to remove stray pencil marks. Once you go over a pencil sketch in ink, these become even more helpful.

Ink The next tool discussed are brush pens and water pens. As the source discusses, these tools truly bridge the gap between calligraphy and lettering. These are recommended for their fluidity and lack of drying out. The source gives two main recommended brushes which are the TomBow Dual Brush and the Pentel Aquash Water Brush. Each of these are around $15.00. These give one the mix of fine and marker-like tips. The Pentel Aquash Water Brush allows one to dip in water or even use paints like watercolor, ink or gouache to create beautiful lettering. [6]

The next medium discussed is gouache and calligraphy ink. Gouache has been defined as â&#x20AC;&#x153;opaque watercolorâ&#x20AC;? because of its opaque nature. [6] It is composed of a high ratio of color pigment. It has a consistency somewhere between watercolor and acrylic paint. As I have attempted painting with watercolor, I find it truly does create a beautiful outcome. The paint dries so opaque and if executed correctly, one cannot even see brush marks. Calligraphy ink gives great texture on most papers. It is easy to see a depth within letterforms, as it is fairly more transparent than gouache. The source gives an example of gouache and calligraphy ink for less than $15.00. [6] However, I purchased a pack of gouache from A.C. Moore a few weeks ago for about $21.00. Winegeart discusses two more crucial tools on this website. The second to last tool is digital programs. With this tool, simple drawings can turn into completely different illustrations. Applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, and other digital tools like the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil Stylus are just a few tools to bring some sketches to life. [6] I know for myself, I have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription with all of the Adobe apps. This costs me $20.00 a month. I have had it for a year, which has cost me $240.00, not including tax. For the excessive amounts of apps I now can access, it is truly worth it. This also gives me the huge student discount, originally the price per month for all of the adobe cloud applications was nowhere near this. Although digital tools can be pretty expensive, they are truly worth their price in my opinion. Brushes

section two:

my experience

My experience with hand lettering goes way back, even if I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what the heck I was doing then. My sketchbooks used to just be words written in what I thought were interesting fonts. I knew even back then that hand lettering was good for me for three reasons. he first is that each and every time I get to drawing out words and letters, I find myself having improved the next time. I become more comfortable drawing certain fonts and certain letters. Improving is inevitable when one keeps up at any task. My second reason is that like most other arts, hand lettering gives me so much gratification. Drawing and finishing a word gives me the capabilities to hang it up, show it to others, and possibly even use it for a project in the future. It is always so pleasing to see a finished product after working on it for so long. Lastly, hand lettering is my number one stress reliever. Sitting in class one will find me doodling in my notebook, paying attention of course, but simply to relieve some of the stress of that class. It not only relieves the stress of that certain course, but also just general life stressors. Improving, gratification and stress reliefs may be some of the major reasons I love hand lettering, but a plethora more exist. Back when I was in middle school I recall absolutely falling in love with lettering words in a certain font. I used a sharpie and computer paper. I would draw out the letterforms first, and then add extreme ball terminals at the end of each letters edge. Once this was done in black sharpie and the whole word was written with the ball terminals, I would then add a red accent to the finalized word. I would outline the ball terminal and make them pop even more. I soon found out I was obsessed with writing words like this. The more I did it, the better I got, and the happier I was with the end product.

Soon my notebooks were filled with words written like this. I would write out words of things I enjoyed. For example, I can recall a big poster in my room back in the 8th grade of the word ‘lacrosse’. I would write out my hobbies and have the motivation to hang them on my wall. Some of the other examples were my family members, music bands and lyrics, and the sports I had played (soccer and lacrosse). My Mom began to become angry with me because I would use all of her new sharpies and eventually they were all dried out. That didn’t stop me though! I took art classes all throughout high school. Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, Photography, Methods and Materials, Computer Graphics, and two years of a Portfolio class. I had a decent understanding of art and design from this but never was I lucky enough to take a lettering class back then. I would continue to try to bring lettering into my projects, as one of my portfolio pieces was a self-portrait with my brain popping out and the word, ‘Bamboozled’ lettered. As I came into college I knew I loved to letter, but I wasn’t sure that was my favorite part of the Graphic Design world. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I decided this, but I’ll get to that in a little. Freshman year I took courses like Intro to Graphic Design, Typography I, Elements of Computer Graphics, Art History courses, and Drawing I and Drawing II. After high school and these foundation art courses at college, I truly was gaining an understanding of art and good design. One of my favorite projects I completed my freshman year was a one-page spread about Herb Lubalin with lettered words. I was very happy to bring my own style to a spread and make it seem not as scholarly as some spreads can be.

Taking a class involving Typography was something I was truly excited for. In Type 1 I was introduced to how to use typography intelligently and effectively. Who knew there was anatomy to type? Learning this was so exciting for me. It was one of the first things I had to truly study for at college, learning all of the specific parts to the letterforms. The difference with learning this versus studying for another class was I actually loved studying for it. It is when I realized Graphic Design was absolutely the right major for me. Something so many people would not be interested in learning was something I found myself totally fascinated by. We also learned type classification, having to memorize and learn specific technical aspects of letterforms. After learning this, we were expected to make our own typeface on the website Fontstruct. I used the aspects of pointillism with mine, working with many dots to create one whole image. We also learned about the history of typography and the effect on typography today. Having this under my belt, I went into my sophomore year even Print Production, Painting, Printmaking and Screen Printing, Digital Image, Intro to Film, History of Graphic Design, and Typography 2. In Type 2 we really firmed up our knowledge of letterforms and type in general. We did large scale projects, such as making huge, projectable artwork to display on the side of a building. We truly had to know how to work with type to make it function at such largeâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;scale. I used hand lettering in this class with my Typorama project.

This was the final project of Typography 2. I had a decent amount of experience with pointillism in the past, in high school and when creating ‘Bespeckled’. Because of my experience, I based my Typorama project on pointillism. I was and still am highly interested in Georges Seurat’s neo–impressionist work. For my project, I began to letter the word pointillism over and over again. I tried in many different styles, attempting to replicate different fonts. After selecting one, I enlarged it. Deciding what sort of canvas to depict this on was easy, as I had a large piece of wood leftover from my Printmaking press. I painted my canvas white. I next transferred the word onto my canvas. I decided to paint my word on with a light blue. To add aspects of pointillism, I used a bunch of tacks I had from the previous semester in Print Production. I painted the tips of these magenta. I placed push pins inside of my blue lettering. The magenta and the blue, when looked at from afar, appeared to mix and combine to make a shade of purple. The eye illusions of pointillism even work with hand lettering!

I have to rewind slightly before the Typorama project. It wasn’t until I was sitting in my History of Graphic Design class that I started to really, really letter again. My professor would lecture about the history and show specific examples on a projector. In the past, before things were really digital, things were made all by hand. We were introduced to Illuminated Manuscripts, old bibles, and other letter based artwork that truly left me stunned. I was attracted to this artwork from the start. It was just beautiful. Pages upon pages were filled with handmade words. The drop caps is what totally blew me away. I found myself sitting in this class and my notes slowly turned from boring line after line of notes to becoming notes with occasional hand lettering. I would attempt to replicate something that was shown in the presentation that I liked. Because there were so many styles, I eventually just began to fill pages of my notebook with all sorts of words being said around the environment I was in, with use of different fonts and styles.

At this time, right after my History of Graphic Design course, I had Creative Writing. We were forced to buy a journal and write in it every day. For some reason, early in the second semester, I just really wanted a notebook with grid paper. I ended up getting my grey grid paper notebook. I truly don’t know what I would have done without this notebook. Even though I had no idea when I was buying it, journaling became very second nature to me. It wasn’t just an activity for class anymore, it was a stress relieving activity. The best part was that I got to letter in it too. For my Printmaking and Screen Printing class, my professor required me to buy Faber Castell black artist pens. Again, I didn’t know it at the time, but I eventually began to use these at every possible free second that I had. Eight artist pens came in the case. Each was labeled XS, S, F, M, B, SC, SB, and 1,5. These pens almost became so familiar to me from using them so much that they were like people. I knew exactly which pen I wanted to use for which type of font. If I would draw something I wasn’t fond of sometimes the reason was due to using the wrong pen size. They range from .1 mm in diameter to 1.5 mm

in diameter. The combination of my grid paper notebook and my Faber-Castell pens truly enhanced my love for lettering. Bringing them both to class every day gave me the opportunity to keep lettering with the right materials! All semester I found myself improving and improving. As they say, practice makes perfect! But I believe no hand lettering can be too perfect, and that’s almost the beauty of it. It is not supposed to be perfect, like typography. It is human–made and produced. It will have its flaws but that’s what makes it so wonderful. Eventually, around March there was a word that Ken Barber would be coming to York for a workshop. Keep in mind, Ken Barber is a famous hand letterer. His work is phenomenal. Not just anyone could go to his workshop. Students who were interested had to submit a poster stating why they wanted to attend, that also had to be aesthetically pleasing. The poster had to finish the phrase, “I wanna work with Ken Barber so that…” and each artist had to finish the phrase. I completed the phrase with “I wanna work with Ken Barber so that I can use hand lettering on a poster like this!”

I do feel so very fortunate to have been chosen to attend his workshop. I believe it has made me more confident to put my own hand lettering on a poster now. He truly knows the ins and outs of hand lettering. In the workshop, he would lecture and present information to the selected students, and then set them free to work and try out new skills. This was an all day affair. When we arrived he handed us a small sheet of paper to follow with the basic guidelines of how he wanted our lettering to look. Each sheet had different classifications on it for us to follow. He also gave us words to write, and mine so happened to be the word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Atlas.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; From this training, I took with me not only a new understanding of hand lettering but also five pages of notes (along with a sore hand). Ken Barber started out by telling us that letterforms can be made in a number of different ways. The first is writing. Writing is made with single strokes and it is unaltered. This means no editing is made. It is also rather quick. The second type is Typography. Typography is made with pre-made systematized forms. Lettering is the third way

letterforms can be made. Lettering is drawing. It is executed by using multiple strokes and being revised. This art requires time, patience, and focus. This editing process can evoke mood, according to Ken Barber. With hand lettering, the style is the content. Lettering cannot feasibly work as a typeface and a typeface cannot possibly work as something hand lettered. Writing, Typography, and Lettering have all influenced one another. (For example, the first typefaces emulated writing.) Like what I was beginning to love to do in my History of Graphic Design class, Ken Barber said that he references typefaces to hand letter. This was similar to how I continuously used old pieces of Graphic Arts from the past in my journal. Understanding classifications for typefaces is important because then the artist can bring this into their drawing. With classification, everything comes back to color or volume. Unlike math where everything is absolute, lettering can simply be eyeballing the forms to get the correct color and volume.

When I began hand lettering class, I was so excited. Walking in the first day I couldn’t wait to start lettering, even though it was just syllabus week. Mel Rodgers, one of my favorite professors and one of the best letterers I know, was the professor. She discussed the syllabus and also the first project. Throughout the semester, we were going to have six projects in total. The first would be calligraphy, the second a word of our choice in drafted lettering, the third a composition between the letter ‘H’ and an ‘&’ with gouache and a ruling pen, the fourth to be our ‘media name’, the fifth a project using one word of advice lettered in Victorian script, and the sixth and final to be a final project. As the semester has progressed, I still wake up and am honestly excited to attend hand-lettering class. It is calming, relaxing, and gratifying. Although some projects have been extremely stressful, they are worth it because the end product usually appears aesthetically pleasing. I truly do look forward to class every day. The calligraphy unit lasted about the entire first month of the semester. Previous to this unit, I had never even attempted calligraphy. I had always been used to drawing with my hand and wrist, not my entire arm. This was the main difference and adjustment I would have to make. I initially started by using calligraphy pens. They came in a set of three. In this unit I first learned what a nib was, which I found quite humorous. I never knew this had a name. A nib is the pointed end of a writing utensil, which gives off ink onto the page one is writing on. I had no idea there was a term for this previous to this class. This term also became one of the most important ones throughout this unit. Each nib, whether smaller or larger, will give off its own unique style.

Caligraphy Work

Finalizations

My three calligraphy pens came in all different nib sizes. The nib itself on each calligraphy pen appeared to be flat overall and at the tip they are slanted. The smallest nib size is a 2.0. This nib was probably my least favorite of the three because it was very difficult to see contrast throughout the letterforms. The nib was so small, and I was so new at calligraphy that I must have been holding it at an odd angle to see contrast. My writing looked similar to that of how it may look with a sharpie. The next nib size is a 3.5. I truly loved this pen. I found it to be most simple to learn how to draw calligraphy with. Because its size is in the middle, the contrast throughout the letterforms was inevitable, but not too striking. In other words, there was a noticeable difference between the thicks and thins of each letter, but they were not too different. The third and last pen that I began using in this unit was size 5.0. This calligraphy pen definitely had the most contrast in each letterform. I felt a little insecure using this pen to start because being a bold and contrasting line, it stuck out more. Professor Rodgers gave us a voluminous packet of different types of calligraphy writing. Many styles are included in this packet. This packet gives simple instructions on how to draw each letter within each typeface listed correctly. It depicts the way of which one is supposed to draw the letters correctly with both numbers and arrows to follow. The packet also gives common mistakes within each capital and lowercase alphabet of letters. The first typeface displayed within the packet is called Carolingian Hand. Carolingian hand is on page one and two of this packet. The first page is all uppercase letters, and the second page is all lowercase letters. These forms appear slanted to the right slightly. They have a very thick downstroke, and a very thin side stroke.

Close Up of Final

Doyald Young

The numbers all bounce on the baseline. The goal is to keep the pen at a 25 to 30–degree angle with Carolingian Hand. The letters are not even close to having a mono-line thickness. Some, like the letter Z, appear very thin. Especially compared to some letters like the N, where it is much thicker overall. With the capitals, some common mistakes are that the letters are made too narrow, they are not round enough, and diagonals become too curved. The lowercase alphabet of Carolingian Hand has very similar stroke width to that of the uppercase alphabet. When producing some of these letters in class, I found that the lowercase letter ‘a’ was my favorite to make. The spine of this letter is extremely sloped. Using my calligraphy tools, I found this was easy and very gratifying to make. Some of the common mistakes for the lowercase alphabet are that the ascenders and descenders don’t properly match up, arches spring too high (for example, where an ‘n’ may connect), and bowls are made too large. The next four pages of the packet depict italicized alphabets. The first italicized hand, on the third page, is the most basic. Italic letters are basically just a compressed form of the Roman alphabet. Some common mistakes are that they are made too wide and too narrow. Some also become increasingly top–heavy, which is something to look out for. Making sure the letters follow the italic vertical axis is also crucial to making the forms. The lower case italic hand appears to be much smaller than its uppercase alphabet. Some letters are accentuated with very long strokes, like that of the spine of the ‘f’. In contrast, letters like the lowercase ‘t’ are very small overall. Branching arches are a key part of this alphabet. Most mistakes are made when they are made too high up the letter. The slope must consistently lean forward, which is no more than 12 degrees upright. Letters should also be kept narrow and not too rounded.

The next alphabet example is a flourished italic hand of the Carolingian Hand. I loved using this as an example when I was just learning how to use calligraphy tools. Some of the flourishes are truly beautiful. Examples like the ‘M’ and the ‘Z’ are very large structures overall. They would stick out when writing a piece, especially if the letters preceding it were lowercase and not as flourished. Some common mistakes when making this structure are spacing in general, making shapes too narrow, and making shapes too ornate. Flourished letters should follow and use the same spacing as that of the regular italic script. Obviously, the larger the flourish, the larger amount of space will be taken up. If letters become too cramped, it will take away all aesthetic features. Penciling in the direction of large flourishes is very helpful with the structure of each letter and the overall spacing throughout any piece. With the lowercase flourishes it is very important to follow the drawn arrows with the stopes. It can become tempting to make these shapes freehand without following the directions. I found when lettering my piece that it was very beneficial to mix the flourished lowercase script alphabet with the regular italicized lowercase script alphabet. From the flourished lowercase script alphabet, I used the letters ‘d’, ‘k’, ‘y’. Where I saw it fit, in my final piece I would also include a flourish on other letters. I chose where it may look the best in the overall piece, rather than the individual letter itself. The springing arches are the key to this alphabet. Some common mistakes made in this alphabet are making letterforms too curved, narrow, and connecting forms at incorrect locations. The next alphabet included is done in a Roman Capitals typeface. I would argue that overall these figures are much less ornate. Compared to the flourished letterforms previously discussed, these letterforms are much less contrasted. I have seen a plethora of type-

faces based off of this alphabet. The most common typeface I would say is Trajan. This is a serif typeface based on the square letterforms as seen in the packet. It has been used on the famous Trajan Column to spell out the story of the Roman emperors victory. Even though it is just an alphabet and a typeface there is so much history along with it. With this packet by my side, I practiced calligraphic letterforms for about a month. Each day I found I grew better and better. As I made the transition from calligraphy markers to ink I saw the results getting even better. The ink gave off a texture that was truly out of this world. It was so opaque and as the ink was laid down it accentuated my strokes. Even though I was likely making close to the exact same strokes, I felt as though the ink aided my performance. With ink, it was crucial to get your pen flowing. When first dipped into the ink, the pen would have way too much liquid on it. We always had a bounty paper towel to dry off some ink. The thing is, you had to know exactly how much to dry off. Wasting ink would just be a waste of money and time. Getting the right consistency was probably the most important thing to be successful. When the pen started to flow, the result was the best. As I learned how to get just the right amount of ink on my pen, I became closer and closer to making my final product. We lettered a quote by Doyald Young. It says, “Decide who you are, decide what you want to do, and then do it, because it is surely possible.” We lettered this on a yellow toned paper but practiced on transparency paper. I practiced writing it over and over again. The more I lettered the quote, the better I became at it. I had troubles with my ‘D’s at first, and eventually mastered the letter. I chose some of my favorite forms and taped them down together on the same page for my final piece for the light table. I made three final pieces. The last was the one I used for grading.

The second project we worked on was simply lettering a word of our choice. Professor Rodgers advised us to look through our notes and find an interesting doodle that we could enlarge. Of course I went straight to my notebook and found a page covered in doodles. Choosing just one doodle wasn’t very hard, as I lingered right to my favorite word, ‘Plethora’. Instead of just taking the doodle straight to the copying machine, because my notebook is grid paper, I had to redo my doodle on printer paper. I rewrote the word in the same style over and over until I was happy with it. I then I enlarged my final piece with a copying machine. I next used a ruler and a pencil to draw the exact straight lines, ultimately making it appear less handmade. When this was done, I had more of a finalized doodle. As I now had the outlines for my final piece, I was ready to transfer it down onto a canvas. We do this by turning the drawing over and shading the back with pencil. As Prof R. says, it’s better to use a #2, non–mechanical pencil! To transfer successfully the paper must be flipped over and the doodle must be re-traced on the canvas. Also, we were advised to use spray tack so that our pencil marks on

the back don’t get led all over our canvases. I redrew my doodle with a ballpoint pen. I used a ruler to go over the original straight lines. Once the final drawing was totally traced over I was ready to move on to the really fun stuff. Next, I moved on to the ruling pen. I used this with a ruler and really encountered some problems. The ruler I was using was so flat against the table that it would occasionally smear my ink. To fix this, we taped pennies on the bottom of our rulers. Then, the ruler was lifted upwards and left a little space between the table and the ruler so that my ink couldn’t smear. Once I got my ruler debacle all figured out it was time to really start with my ruling pen. I ruled all of the straight lines. I next painted in all that I could, without getting the curved edges yet. The curved edges were also tricky because I was not able to use a ruler and ruling pen to help guide me. I had to paint them in with a flat tip paint brush and get the curves just right. In the end, a simple doodle in my notebook became an actual piece of artwork. It's crazy how just a few simple tools can make something so minimal and vague become something of actual importance.

The next project we did was a composition between the letter ‘H’ and the form ‘&’. As Prof R. explained, the two forms are basically opposites. The ‘H’ is composed of basically all straight lines, whereas the ‘&’ is made of lots of curves. This means that I would be using the ruling pen again for the ‘H’, but minimally for the ‘&’. We made this composition on a square, blue canvas. I wanted my forms to overlap so that the overlapping color was a mixture of the two main colors. The colors I chose were light blue and light pink. The mixture of the two colors turned out to be a light purple. I placed the forms basically right next to each other. The baseline was at a diagonal to make the composition a little more interesting. After the composition between the letter ‘H’ and the form ‘&’, as a class, we found what was called our ‘show names’ to eventually letter. Our show names dealt with our first names being our first pet and our last name being our street name. (Hopefully, if you are reading this you now know what the show name is… if you have heard of this before!) Although I had multiple pets when I was first born, I chose the best name out of all of them: Malibu. My street

name has been the same my whole life: Bishop Road. So there it is! Malibu Bishop. I made my composition originally on the computer with Malibu written in the Bemio Italic typeface. To contrast it, Bishop was written in a smaller Archer typeface. To make my lettering even more complex, I actually took my printed composition of ‘Malibu Bishop’ and scanned it. Originally, I just wanted a free scan of a larger version. Then, my trip to the scanner turned into a whole new project. I ended up moving my composition while it was being scanned. It was really just a trial and error process. Some of the images came out totally skewed and just weird. Other images came out of the scanner and looked like Malibu Bishop was a wave. This is the one I chose to use. The only problem with this new scanned version was that since it was so wavy, none of the lines were perfectly straight enough to rule with my ruling pen. I could only use my ruling pen for short little segments. This being the third project, I actually found I became much more comfortable with my lettering skills. I didn’t really make

any mistakes or get any ink smeared. My color scheme was similar to that of the color scheme from the ‘H’ and ‘&’ composition. I used a light pink and mint green. The next project is something I am still currently working on. We got to choose our own word of advice or inspiration. We were to do the project in a Victorian Wood Type sort of font. After looking at many pages of Victorian style lettering, I chose a font. This wasn’t the hard decision for me, as the lettering was all so beautiful. For me, the hard part was choosing the word. I was looking up many words and practicing lettering them in my notebook. I found words of all different languages but just couldn’t seem to pick one. In the end, I came across the word radiate. This is defined as emitting light. I think one of my goals in life is to simply shed positivity and happiness to everyone around me. That’s why I chose the word radiate. Although it isn’t a literal meaning, it can be inferred. I also hadn’t used a yellow and red color scheme, which I ended up doing for this project. Around my word I also wanted to include a sun with rays. I originally drew the word in my grid notebook, so then I had to copy it over on transfer paper. The largest problem I had in all of lettering class then happened. Instead of using spray tack when transferring, I accidentally use spray ADHESIVE. Sadly for me, my finalized word was no longer finalized and I had to redo the whole thing. The sad remnants of my old project now hang on a door at York College in Wolf Hall. Looking back, I’m not upset that I messed up at all. Redoing the piece really made me hone in and fix all the little details. Fortunately, I chose a Victorian style font that I was able to use a ruler with. There were small teardrop shapes inside of my figures I also used

a ruler for. The second time around I was able to get them to look even better. Once I finally got my artwork transferred down correctly, I began to rule the straight lines. I painted my canvas sky blue with mixed white gesso. This really made my vibrant red letters (and yellow accents) pop off of the canvas. Originally I had an image in mind for how I wanted the sun and its rays to look. The sun had a sort of aura or halo on the top nearest my word. Included were all red, orange, yellow, and some of the sky blue behind showing. Professor Rodgers advised me that all of those colors were taking away from my word, and she was completely correct. The second I painted over my sun with a thick yellow my word began to pop once again. Having the opinion of others and valuing it is just so completely crucial to any artwork. I find when I stare at my own artwork for too long I become sort of ‘adapted’ to it in a way others aren’t. They can see things I may not, like how the extra detail and colors were taking away from the main part. In my head, the initial rays I was going to paint were detailed similarly to the old sun I had. After realizing that the other detail took away from my word, I decided against my original plan. I made my rays straight lines in pairs of three coming off of the word radiate. All I have to do to finish this project is just a few little touch ups. I need to correct some of the circles inside my lettering and possibly make a second coat of the red letters. I also need to make each sun ray the same size. The final project we are doing in hand lettering class is of three different letters. I have the letters B, P, and N. I am just starting to sketch some ideas for those, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

section three:

interview 43

With Mel Rodgers

Question 1: When did you first begin taking interest in hand lettering? Answer: I think for real, 7th grade. I had an art teacher, a very eccentric dude, who introduced us to the speedball pen and taught us old English lettering. We used a sort of black lettering but with real ornate, big, thick strokes and a contrasting super thin stroke. Mr. Rutacil was his name. I thought I was the shit, I wasn’t very good at it but I could tell it was something I would get good at. My mother had great writing, still does. She studied short hard, something people studied in secretary school. I would always watch her write Christmas cards. My mother used a fountain pen. She had been taught to use Gregg shorthand. But my interest truly came from Mr. Rutacil’s class. Most of the kids in my class didn’t like these lessons, but I did. My parents bought me supplies to go along with the class. I would write poems on parchment paper. After that, in my teenage period, before art school, underground comics and comic books influenced me. Especially R. Crumb Zap Comix and Inner City Comics. I went through a hippie stage. I thought that the lettering that I used to do in Mr. Rutacils class was something of the past and I was bored with it even though it was truly beautiful.

Question 2: What is your favorite part about hand lettering? Answer: I love the way it feels. I like the way my body moves when I do it. I like to feel the resistance of the tool, the drag and the noise of each tool. Each tool is so different. I love the feeling of the point and seeing the ink go down on the paper.

“My forms have a Victorian Wood Type influence.” Question 3: Would you say you have a style when it comes to hand lettering? Can you explain the style if you do? Answer: I have several styles, but it sort of depends on what tool I am using. If I am using a chiseled tip my forms have more of a chancery style. It’s sort of all still based on Mr. Rutacil. If I am using a tool without a chiseled tip I feel like my forms have a Victorian Wood Type influence. I am influenced by the turn of the century lady posters and British industrial revolution posters. In these pieces, most lettering had big slab serifs and go out flush to the edge. I like drawing big slab serifs.

Question 4: What is your favorite tool to use to hand letter? Are there multiple? What about paper type? Answer: Choosing my favorite tool would definitely depend on what I’m lettering. I love a square brush about a quarter inch to a half inch. India ink is probably my favorite type of ink to use. You can really do some gorgeous stuff with that. It can really become so opaque and bold. I like a good toothy white paper. Not necessarily textured, but just enough tooth. Question 5: What is your favorite project we work on in hand lettering class? Answer: I love all of the paintings we do. The one word of advice in victorian woody type would probably be my favorite. I love how my students pick color schemes and I love watching the paintings progress overall. Question 6: Obviously you’re one of the people I look up to when it comes to hand lettering. Who do you look up to in the hand lettering world? Answer: Oh my gosh. Marina Flor–she’s great. You know, of course, Ken Barber. The man. Paul Shaw out of NY, he’s so good. It is on my bucket list to walk through his directors walk. He points out type all around town. He also gives you the background and history of each piece. It’s awesome. I am also so into Luca Barcelona’s videos. They’re beautiful and satisfying.

“I can doodle instead and I’m free. “ Question 7: What’s the best advice you can give someone when it comes to improving hand lettering skills? Answer: Obviously, practice. Copy other lettering. It really also depends what kind of lettering you’re trying to improve on. Decide on what you what to do and then continue making successive drawings. And get them just right. Use tracing paper. Cut out and paste things together if need be. A copy machine and tracing paper are your best friends. Shrink it, blow it up, see the different versions. Question 8: When do your most creative doodles come about? Answer: During the most boring meetings. When I feel like I’m in captivity. Its like, if I could get up I would. But if I can’t get up and leave I can doodle instead and I’m free.

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references 50

Chronic Doodler: Chron·ic Doo·dler: /’kränik ’do’odler/: Noun

The persistent need to scribble absentmindedly.