If you don’t have a lightbox, don’t worry! A window is a free lightbox! Tape your papers to the window and trace your drawing very lightly in pencil. Then you can use whatever material you want right on top!
Colored pencils are great for adding drop shadows to letters drawn in marker!
Try being a little more expressive/sketch-like and don’t stress over perfection!
Warm up with just one word! See how many ways you can draw it. It doesn’t have to be 50, but try 5 or 10!
Or try to think of descriptive words and draw them in a script style, serif style, or sans serif style! These are just a few to spark your creativity...
Here are a couple other phrases to use for practice. I specifically chose phrases that have a variety of letters that are fun to play with! Letters with descenders, ascenders, cross bars, etc. These 4 phrases have a good mix of creative possibilities!
Don’t have any descenders to play with? Make some! R’s and K’s are fun to play with!
Same goes for ascenders! Sometimes you just have to use your imagination and take that upstroke for a little journey!
Thumbnail sketches are just quick little composition studies to get you thinking about where everything should go and how you can arrange it. I like to work very quickly through these - just letting myself play with ways to arrange everything. By working quickly and sketching small, I can flesh out a lot of ideas in a short amount of time!
Switching into drawing mode can be challenging, especially if you are just starting out. Here are some useful tips to help you get in the drawing state of mind:
Loosen Up! Shake out your hands and loosen your grip on your pencil and just sketch loosely.
Try different supplies! Don’t feel restricted to a pencil. If you are used to ‘writing’ with a pencil and pen, try picking up a marker or crayon...something different than you usually “write” with.
There is no supply list for this class. If all you have is a pencil and paper, you have everything you need! However, there are a few other supplies that will benefit you along the way, such as tracing paper and a straight edge. I’ll introduce you to some of my favorite tools and supplies along the way, but I encourage you to grab any type of drawing supply you have on hand.
My favorite online source for pens is jetpens.com – the company has just about every drawing tool imaginable, and if you spend $25, your order ships free! (not a promo, I just order from them a lot!)
You can find all of the pens and markers I draw with in this class on that site!
Tombow Dual Tip Brush Pens - here
Pentel Fude Touch Sign Pen - here
Gelly Roll gel pens - here
Uniball Signo Gel Pen (white) - here
Micron Pens - here
The gridded sketchbook I use is an 8” x 12” Fabriano EcoQua book.
And my favorite blank sketchbook is a 7” x 10” Canson Mixed Media spiral bound sketchbook.
For final lettering pieces, I most often work on Strathmore Bristol Board.
Tracing paper can be purchased anywhere, but you can’t go wrong with a pad from Blick.
The lightbox I use is an Artograph Lightpad - there are much more affordable lightboxes out there if you look around! But taping your paper to a window is the cheapest kind!