Bridging the Gap Between Illustrations and Lettering
WHY ILLUSTRATIVE LETTERING?
It's very simple. Drawing was always second nature and I constantly scribbled my name trying to make a cool signature. I for sure thought I was going to make it in the NBA and would eventually have to sign a bunch of memorabilia. I never knew I was molding myself into the artist I've become today.
My interpretation of "Illustrative Lettering" is the combination of both illustrations and hand lettering or calligraphy. It’s a way to convey my thoughts through an enhanced visual experience. Some people like to read and others work strictly visual. My intentions are to cross over into both of these preferences and do it from a unique perspective. I enjoy every single minute of this process. However, I didn’t always work this way.
DIGITAL WORLD
We live in a digital world where everything was expected to be done yesterday. It’s easier to just start from scratch on a computer so you can cut out the step of putting pencil to paper to concept your ideas. It's a lifestyle I lived for awhile.
When I got to Wartburg College, I was still dabbling in art classes like drawing and painting but my mindset had shifted heavily into the digital world. I submerged myself in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign assuming the new identity of a Graphic Designer who created solely on my Mac. The analog part of me was hanging by a thread, saved only by doodling during class to survive boredom. I did this for years until late 2013 where I got sucked into the hype of hand lettering as it made its dramatic resurgence into every social media platform possible.
HAND LETTERING TAKES OVER THE WORLD
I started randomly seeing all these wonderful hand lettering and calligraphy pieces on Instagram that inspired me to try it out. I quickly became addicted by drawing inspiration from other artists such as Draw_ul, Itsaliving and seanwesas they had amazing styles that stood behind encouraging messages. Sean McCabe got my attention the most. He was always giving out helpful advice for beginners which was extremely uplifting because I had no idea what I was doing. I was oblivious to the amount of precision and calculation that went into crafting professional typefaces which in turn leads to “drawing letters” properly. The amount of minuscule detail that goes into this is astonishing in which many artists overlook. There are so many nuances and subtle guidelines when working with serifs, san serifs and scripts and it can be incredibly confusing and intimidating. A lack of knowledge and awareness of these principles is very evident in many peoples work. I'm the first to admit I was guilty of this. That’s where being your own worst critic and dedicating yourself to studying and practice will pay off immensely. You have to put in the time.
Hand lettering had become a direct way of communicating my current thoughts. I fell in love with crafting my penmanship and using my habits of detailing to stylize and decorate my letter forms. I had the freedom to break some of the set-forth Typography rules and create a style that took on a life of its own. My early days of hand lettering were extremely poor and I’m embarrassed of nearly 90% of my posts, but hey you have to start somewhere!
I continued to practice letter forms and calligraphy religiously, but I still had a burning desire to keep working with illustrations. Another factor of motivation was that everyone and their mom was a hand lettering artist now and the internet was becoming over saturated with many people copying each other’s work and style. The drastic amount of unoriginal content was enough to convince me that I wanted to create something different.
BRIDGING THE GAP
Illustrations have always been a way to tangibly reproduce a vision within my head. It’s an art of storytelling where a narrative is constructed for the viewer with no words necessary. Sometimes my art was so abstract or so full of detail, that I totally missed delivering any message as it was more of a distraction. Keeping something simple has been an obstacle as I am prone to fill up every little nook and cranny of a canvas. At a young age, I hadn't learned the power of white space and my goal was to make the audience travel throughout a piece multiple times to soak in all the detail. This was very obvious in my earliest art show masterpiece back in first grade....And yes I pretty much ripped of the Chicago Bulls logo. :)
1stGrade_detail
I really wanted to start curating my work because if you got on my Instagram, you would have no idea what to expect as my posts were all over the place with no consistency. I subconsciously created a dichotomy between illustrations and hand lettering. I made myself feel as if I could only publish work of one or the other. How could I bridge the gap between the two worlds?
It sounds stupid and obvious but it didn't dawn on me that I could pursue the pair until one day I purposely started to sketch out ideas that contained both elements. They were all pretty rough as my lettering skills were amateur and achieving hierarchy and visual balance within the design presented the biggest challenge. This was one of my first attempts of purposely blending illustration and lettering back in February of 2014.
bugatti
As you can see, it reads backwards, is unbalanced and my letter forms are off. The stems seem to all vary in widths while the bowls of my g and a are clearly inconsistent. I could keep on critiquing this but on a positive note, that B to tti ligature combo is pretty nasty for a beginner! However, this piece sparked a new style that I began to explore more in depth. This exploration has led to me finding my niche in art and feeling satisfied that I'm putting out original content.
HAVE SOME FUN & EXPERIMENT
The main goal is to have some fun with my concepts because if you're not having fun, you're in the wrong field. If I’m not trying to express a sentimental thought, you can be sure that I'm trying to create something quirky and clever with a unique twist. There’s been plenty of frustration with trying to own this style. One of the most difficult decisions is deciding if I want the lettering or the illustration to be the main focal point. Sometimes I struggle with trying to get the perfect balance between the two and the piece looks like it could tip over.
In the end, I feel the most successful pieces of mine are when the message is clear and inviting, aesthetically appealing and most importantly, authentic. The viewer needs to be able to digest the information easily without any distraction. This is where I have grown to tame my default of going over board with the detailing. I have a more strategic attack and generally practice on some side scratch paper in order to save myself the hassle of getting it right the first time. Which generally never happens!
I encourage you to try something different and break away from the routine of what everyone else is doing. Being original and being consistent are the best ways to get your work discovered. Don't settle for imitation! We all have a natural style within us that is just waiting to be discovered. It took me over 20 years to unearth mine so yours could be right around the corner.
-
If this post has helped you by any means or if you have any questions or issues you’d like me to cover, you can sign up for my upcoming newsletter or email me directly. I’d love to hear from you so I can keep on growing as an artist and teacher.