I just recently reached my one-year calligraversary, and I can’t believe how much my lettering has improved. Here’s a quick before and after, if you need proof that practice pays off.
My first hand-lettered post on Instagram:
A recent hand-lettered post on Instagram:
So how did I go from the first one to the second one? Where did I start? What tips and advice can I give to people who are just beginning with lettering?
The number one thing you can do to improve your lettering: practice. I have done some kind of lettering almost every single day for a year. My Camera Roll is filled with photos of lettering I’ve done with Crayola markers, Tombows, and my personal fave, an iPad Pro and Procreate. Practice makes your hand steadier, it gets you used to pressure and speed with a marker or with an Apple Pencil, and it makes you feel more confident to try out something you might have seen online. For me, practice never feels like work. I love lettering, so it’s something I do to mellow out at the end of the day or to take my mind off work during my lunch break. If you really love it, practicing all the time is easy and fun.
Okay, you know you need to practice, but you want to take it a step further and learn some new techniques. My advice: start with YouTube. Almost everything I learned about using Procreate on iPad Pro came from watching YouTube tutorials. I have lots of favorites, but here are a few I found particularly helpful… Continue reading →
