#letteringjourney

[visualpractitioner]

Lately I’ve been wondering what it might be like to embrace my quirky handwriting.

And I love a good prompt to get me thinking, creating and writing.

When you look at your handwriting, notice:

❓What do you love ❤️ about how it looks?

❓What do you enjoy 😊 about making it in your own unique way?

❓What attributes would you keep?

❓What would you change to help you feel more confident?

I practice the foundational calligraphy scripts: Roman Hand, Palatino, and Italic to keep it legible and readable.

And I play with Brushlettering, Architect, and Sign Painter because they are fast and satisfying.

But what I really enjoy is making non-traditional letters work for practical applications.

Last week I made a poster that showed Copperplate written with a pencil. I had more people ask me to teach that. I had to laugh. I’ve been studying Copperplate since 2016 and I’m in no position to teach it, nor do I want to. It’s just not my aesthetic or enjoyable to me. But knowing the rules, challenging myself to get the form right, knowing that I can do it is enough for me.

What lettering styles do you practice and enjoy? Are they different or the same?

Image Description: Watercolor painting of a glass of purple drink with 3 ice cubes. The handwritten text in the right reads: “I love to drink grape-flavored electrolytes in a narrow pint glass because it makes me feel RESILIENT.”

Why a narrow pint glass? Because the inverted shape is comfortable to hold with my arthritic hands.

[mariacielorogero]

Got up, and wear my strength today!

[heyncsngre]

On March 16, I decided to open a TikTok account to document my improvement in watercolor painting, calligraphy, and drawing. I was very happy in my first week on TikTok 'cuz everyone appreciated my artwork. The views and likes are rapidly increasing, and my heart is overwhelmed. My most viewed and liked video is on my 4th day, in which I draw my favorite childhood cartoon, Mr. Bean.

My first goal here is to document my improvement and look at the results to see how I improved. But when I got lots of views and likes, every time I uploaded a video, I was now expecting views and likes. It saddens me because this is where disappointment comes from: too many expectations.

And yes, bad things happened. Yesterday, when I uploaded my 6th day (a request video), no one had viewed it. Only my followers can view it, and I got a little bit of engagement that I think I didn't deserve because my artwork on my 6th day was very clear and clean huhu. I searched for what was going on with my account, and then I figured out that I was shadowbanned. My uploads didn't show up on others' feeds. I was frustrated yesterday, but I still uploaded another request video with a letter that would tell my followers that I'm shadowbanned.

Everything saddens me because the reason I'm here is not for the likes and views, but because I am now expecting to have lots of engagements and comparing myself to other small art tiktokerists that have rapidly gained followers and likes.

I just wanna clear things out. NC, just because you didn't get any likes or views doesn't mean that your artwork is bad. Always remember that you came here for your improvement, not for fame.

[gg-hiraya]

i miss lettering / art so much. i haven't done calligraphy or handlettering for a while already because I've felt not so myself for the past few months. i am so lost 🙃

[diaridiunaintroversa]

Ricordiamoci che i figli non sono figli nostri. Siamo solo la porta per cui entrano nel mondo. - Beppe Severgnini Alle mie figlie. Viaggiate. Scoprite. Il mondo è la vostra casa. #friends #son #family #education #world #journaling #journalingroom #saravincetti #diary #silence #heart #wander #wonder #mum #photoftheday #photography #wanderer #artjournaling #art #photo #daugheter #letteringjourney #lettering #letter

[safeera]

"No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that. " - Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) [Sahih al- Bukhari] #propheticsayings #handlettered #watercolorexperiment #cactuspainting #lettering #handlettering #watercolorpainting #watercolorpainting #everydaylettering #handletteringbeginner #handletteringpractice #funwithletters #learninglettering #letteringjourney #handletteringjourney #letteringchallenge #happyletteringchallenge #decemberletteringchallenge #decemberlettering #simplelettering #islamicreminders #remindersbenefit #instagram #creativemuslimwomen

[teeraksamur]

First phrase I ever did in 2014 redone! I’ve grown so much in my #letteringjourney! #sweetsindesign #ipadlettering

[xelique]

Day 24 of Letter it better Meow lettering challenge. It’s meow or never • • • • • @megannicolelettering @letteritbetter @thepaperfern @chickadeedixie #handwritingchallenge #letterings #typegods #iloveletters #letteringinspiration #affinitydesigner #handwritinglicious #letteringaddict #letteringstyle #handdrawnlettering #letteringdrills #letteringjourney #modernletters #applepencillettering #alphabetletters #funwithletters #applepencilcalligraphy #letteringallday #леттеринг #letteringonipad #ipadhandlettering #letteringwithpurpose #letteringprogress #affinitydesigneripad #letteritbettermeow — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2xYv6in

[heyncsngre]

Goodluck to your #LetteringJourney bessssy. Looking forward for your progress. TANDAAN BES: PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION.

I’ll try to make other calligraphy styles for you guys! Coming up soon!

[ashleyhaldeman]

It was a hard day for all of us yesterday; there is so much going on in the world & I honestly didn't want to post anything having to do with work. So I'm a day behind on my #inktober posts but I felt like it was needed. I'll catch up with them later this evening. . . . I could really use some whiskey right about now. #pregoproblems 🙄 . . . #october #omgitsoctoberchallenge #daylatergram #ghost #puns #boos #halloween #brushlettering #brushcalligraphy #moderncalligraphy #calligraphycommunity #calligrafriends #practice #type #livesimply #homedecor #afryletters #lancasterpa #letteringchallenge #letteringjourney #artoftheday #illustration @modletters http://ift.tt/2g9qnCK

[visualpractitioner]

3 Ways to Build Your Lettering library

Image is a slide from Make It Your Lettering Year

Here are 3 ways to collect and organize your letters:

Carol DuBosch shared her approach of using an address book when she taught us Jubilee in March.

We are inspired by Brandy Agerbeck’s “Stack Magic” approach to collecting information on index cards.

And the sketchbook, or better yet: travel sketchbook makes for a great way to capture your lettering inspirations.

Once you find a letter you love, you can also:

Identify the attributes of that letter.

Create an alphabet based on the attributes.

Scale the letter up and down.

Need more inspiration? We’ve had an inspiring year at Let’s Letter Together. From guest master calligraphers to community building.

Here are just a few of the courses you can still get access to:

Illuminating the Dark With Sharon Zeugin

Letters and Scissors and Paste, Oh My! With Mike Gold

Make It Your Lettering Year With Heather Martinez and guest calligraphers including Carol DuBosch, Elizabeth Walsh, Nancy Hays Hills, Margaret Beech, Tamer Ghoneim, Julie Wildman and more!

And unlimited access of some of top favorites from the archives. These courses feature even more experts from the field.

For the Love of Lettering

Lettering with the Masters

Listen, Letter, Draw Together

With so much inspiration, how will you choose? Share your lettering goals with me and I will point you in the right direction.

Until then, happy lettering!

Heather

[visualpractitioner]

How Lettering Can Help You

It’s sounds a bit melodramatic when I say lettering saved my life. But I do give it a lot of credit for making it better.

After giving up my dream as a fine art, alternative process photographer (due to the symptoms related to the chemicals I was using), I deeply grieved my loss and threw myself into a career of becoming a visual practitioner. 

While being a visual practitioner didn’t give me the creative freedom I had as an artist, what I loved about it was the way writing down ideas manifested quickly into reality. Me writing down other people’s visions became true for them. Strategic visualization, coupled with Appreciative Inquiry became a very powerful tool I used in my work as a Visioneer and Visual Coach. But it didn’t become meaningful for me until I focused on my lettering. I didn’t start out with especially good handwriting, and I didn’t understand the letterforms beyond what I was taught in the 3rd grade.

I want to share 3 things I did to improve my lettering and my life that you can do too:

Make Your Own Exemplars


After learning a new lettering style, the practice of making your own exemplar will not only help you master the lettering style, but also help you make it your own. 
Mimicking someone’s handwriting can be dangerous on a psychological level. So first learn the attributes, how to hold the marker or pen (angle), stroke order and letterform. Then write some words and a pangram, and dive into making your own exemplar to use as reference. 

It will increase your ability and your confidence.

After being asked to be a Neuland Ambassador, I created a series of exemplars that other visual practitioners could use in their work and published a free online course called: Unlock Your Neuland Markers. Guido also translated my exemplars in German. You can find them here.

Practice Like You are Performing


Avoid practicing a page full of the same letter and write words as soon as possible. Practicing rote can help but only if you are are perfecting a form at a slow speed. For visual practitioners, it’s important to see the letter and transform it into a form that you can easily write with consistency at the speed you work. Yes, start at tabletop and go slow to get the letterform into your hand. When it’s time to take it to the wall, be sure to start out slow, stay grounded in your body, and speed up until you find your natural rhythm. Each marker has a speed, each lettering style has a speed, and you have a speed. Working to find that rhythm will help you when you get in front of your client.



Shortly after the Pandemic started, I offered lettering meditations sessions. No audio, we just lettered together. These were slow meditative sessions. By working slow, I am able to build a strong foundation so I can go fast. You can learn more here: https://youtu.be/fCKQ9xopjEE

Letter With Others


That means take lettering classes and workshops and letter with family, co-workers and friends. Just like letters: they are meaningless until they live in relationship with other letters. The same goes for us too. We all have lettering in common, or we did at some point. Bring it back to life and bring life to your letters by allowing yourself to learn and be influenced by others.



I highly recommend taking classes that align with your lettering goals. I offer a variety of classes for visual practitioners and calligraphers at www.LetsLetterTogether.com and one of my mentors, Carol DuBosch (www.CarolDuBosch.com) offers several lettering classes and she is an excellent teacher.

What else is new?

Well I haven’t been active lately as I caught the Coronavirus. You can read about that adventure here.

I had to cancel my in-person classes for the month but will be starting up again in July. You can learn more and sign up on AirBnB Experiences here.

Since Covid took me down and I'm working to automate a few of my classes, there is still time to get in on the introductory offer at Tech Host Academy before I automate my marketing plan.

I'd love to hear what's new with you. Having Covid changed how I look at the world and my place in it. I'm looking forward to feeling better and getting back into the studio to letter.

Hope to letter with you soon!

[visualpractitioner]

Moving week! Check out our new studio...

We did it! Let’s Letter Together is officially in-person as well as online. This week we moved into a new studio space. And this is not your average brick and mortar.

Ray and I designed and built a mini classroom in studio #11 in The ArtRoom at the Smiley Building in Durango Colorado.

What does this mean? Small, intimate in-person classes! Check out this gorgeous work table Ray’s brother, Paul made!

What makes the location and the space so special?

It’s not just a studio/classroom. It’s part of a collective of artists working in an open-air studio that is open to the public daily.

The ArtRoom Collective is a treasure trove of creative talent. Housed at the Smiley Building, at 1309 East Third Avenue in Durango, Colorado, the remodeled space is a diverse, working studio gallery where artists create, collaborate, and share their passion with the community. There are 20 studio spaces where visual artists working in a variety of mediums create and exhibit their work.

Owners and building stewards, Charles and Lisa Shaw have a knack for creating a continuously, unfolding dynamic community space. While the pandemic rendered the theatre at the Smiley building useless, that didn’t stop the Shaw’s vision of maintaining a space for arts and education. While Charles loves architecture, it was painful for him to dismantle the theatre. He named the remodeled space The ArtRoom for its connection to the school. Becca Whitehead, longtime tenant of the Smiley, inspired the windows separating each studio—paying tribute to the historical features of the building and allowingnatural light to flow through the space. You can read more about the space here.

As the artists filed into their spaces last fall, many did not know one another and had no idea what the space or The ArtRoom Collective would look like or become. It is organized by studio members, including a newly formed Outreach committee for its involvement with the community and collaborative efforts with other organizations.

Last fall when we learned of the space, we quickly grabbed a studio and Ray set up a portrait studio or headshots and more. After a few months of helping facilitate the monthly meetups for the group, I got on the waitlist should a space come up. There hasn’t been any attrition. I’m the first newcomer to the established group. They have been warm and welcoming. And although I have only been in the space for less than a week, I already have interest in my lettering classes and friends are beginning to stop by and see what I’m up to.

Many of you know I have RA and several autoimmune issues so this was a big, scary step. But the building went vaccine-required during the pandemic and while it’s still very iffy how I will manage my chemical sensitivities, so far moving my studio out of my home has been a great decision.

In addition to the awesome artists and space, the building is a renovation dream come true. Check out this video telling the story how it became what it is today.

This is my third shared studio space at the Smiley building. I have been creating on and off at the Smiley since 1999 when Kit Frost offered a public darkroom. I’ve taken dance, yoga, printmaking, basket weaving, pottery, and Kanji calligraphy classes at the Smiley building from local and visting artists. And I’m so excited to be part of the living history of the learning community here again.

My Offerings In addition to my mini store where I will be selling one-of-a-kind handmade books and collages, I will also have my book, zines, washi tapes, cards and more.

Every participant in my class will receive Neuland markers they can use and take with them, handouts, personal instruction and access to online lettering classes at www.LetsLetterTogether.com so the learning fun can continue.

It’s a big step, into a little space, in a special place. I’m excited to be part of the community again. I hope you will stop by!

Durango is a small mountain town in Southwest Colorado on the Indigenous lands of the Ute, Pueblo and Anasazi Elders past, present and future. It’s a year-round destination for those who enjoy outdoor activities like hiking, mountain biking, white water rafting and kayaking, skiing, snowboarding, and much more. If you choose to visit this magical place, please let me know. I’m happy to connect you with the best places to stay, eat, and be entertained.

Lettering Excursions & VIP Days If you are planning your summer travels and want to put Durango on your list, come visit me for a 1-3 day private lettering or coaching experience.

Can’t make it in-person? No worries! Email me for details on co-designing your own VIP day. Whether in-person or virtual, we can work half-day (starting at $750) or design full-day excursions.

Why go on a lettering excursion or book a VIP day? Travel towards your goal(s) further and faster. I help you envision, design, plan, and execute a plan to meet your creative and/or professional needs.

The BigOne Art continues to make waves

Calligraphers and visual practitioners around the world are diving into the deep end with the BigOne Art and finding new possibilities in drawing and lettering with the world’s largest brush nib.

I interviewed Carrie Imai and learned how she plans to make the marker dance in her work.You can watch the interview by clicking the image below and on YouTube here.

Stay tuned, I will be interviewing, featuring and collaborating with many others using the BigOne Art in their work. Be sure to check out my YouTube channel and Instagram page for the latest creations and to catch lives from my new studio.

What does this mean for online learning? Will the digital classes go away? Yes and no.

At www.LetsLetterTogether.com, we offer dozens of online classes. In May, we are having the last Level Up Your Letter Virtual class in this format. I don’t plan on teaching it in-person again. Future workshops will likely be retreats in Europe and specialty classes held at Neuland HQ in Germany.

Make It Your Lettering Year is open for enrollment anytime. We are in year two and year three is in the planning stages. I highly recommend this class for all experience levels. The live monthly sessions bring us together and inspire.

Only a handful of online classes are being planned. And new evergreen classes are being recorded and will be available soon.

Be on the lookout for these live online opportunities to letter together:

[visualpractitioner]

Sprichst du nur Deutsch?

[Do you only speak and read German?]

Dieses Buch ist für Sie!

[This book is for you!]

Dank unserer guten Freunde bei Neuland ist mein preisgekröntes Buch Geh aid Lettering Reise jetzt auf Deutsch und Englisch erhältlich, damit Sie wählen können!

[Thanks to our good friends over at Neuland, my award-winning book Lettering Journey is now available in German and English so you can choose!]

Es enthält dieselben Inhalte, einschließlich Briefe in voller Größe, die mit Neuland-Markern, begleitendem Ductus und Vollfarbbildern von Beispielschriften von visuellen Praktikern auf der ganzen Welt geschrieben wurden.

[It includes the same content including full-size letters written with Neuland markers, accompanying ductus, and full-color images of example lettering from visual practitioners working all over the world.]

Wenn Sie es noch nicht getan haben, können Sie Ihr Kopie hier erhalten:

• Deutsch

• Englisch

Genießen!

[If you haven’t already, you can get your copy here:

• German

• English

Enjoy!]

There is also an accompanying online course complete with how-to videos. You can sign up here: https://learning.neuland.com/s/neuland-learning/lettering-journey-express/payment

[heyncsngre]

Free bears looool

[heyncsngre]

So here’s my first vector art attempt using PicsArt. I will be using this for the intro of my own mema-gaming vlog haaays. I’d been working on this for almost 1 hr and a halfff. Not really bad for a beginner like me tho hahahaha. I’m very proud of myself, sorry hahahahah.

PS: It looks better than my first vector art using MS powerpoint