Hand Lettering – Love It Or Leave It? Cymplified!

Is hand lettering for me? For you?

As with new food, new experiences, new learnings that we get a taste of, this question would certainly whisper in our thoughts. Is it for me?

When I attended the hand lettering workshop by Make It Blissful and Abbey Sy last March, I was given a background and some tools on the subject.

A photo posted by Cym M (@ceemee) on Mar 22, 2015 at 1:57am PDT

Brief review: La Creperie, where the workshop was held, was a lovely place and the DIY crepe buffet was something else. I enjoyed the light streaming in through the windows and the coziness of the second floor. We were given the handbook made by Abbey Sy where the terminologies were explained and the common materials were enumerated, etc. She then explained things to us and passed around notebooks of her lettering work. Us participants made lettering using the different font styles on the smooth pages of the notebook with a Micron fineliner pen that are part of the workshop kit.

What I really wanted to know was, how and where to begin? How do I know which would look good? What kind of embellishments must I use? In one of Abbey Sy’s succeeding workshops, she made samples on a whiteboard. Seeing her in action was something that I didn’t encounter in the one I attended. But, I still tried and practised when I got home.

A photo posted by Cym M (@ceemee) on Mar 23, 2015 at 1:56am PDT

I realized that in designing lettering, it is important to note the relationships between each word and how they contribute to the whole art.

After this learning, this question brushed past my mind (as I brushed it on paper. Sorry, it’s corny. :-P):

Is lettering for me?

I wanted to know further and purchased Abbey Sy’s book – The ABC’s Of Hand Lettering.

It’s kind of like the workshop guidebook, but in-depth and colorful.

Love it, because:

• It’s very handy. It fits inside my bag (well, my bag is usually large, but it already has soooo many things).
• The cover is pretty sturdy and the paper used is nice & thick.
• The colors are eye-catching and some pages have cute illustrations.
• It has lots of sample art and letters I can use for inspiration.
• It includes other letterers and artists. Their outputs are amazing.
• There are FAQ’s that provide added information.
• Now, I have an idea where to start,
• and what I need to do if I want to show my work.
• It’s a great reference book for making artistic creations.

Leave it, because:

• If it’s not in your line of interest, then why pick it up? LOL!
• Seriously, though, it’s a bit intimidating and disheartening to get into hand lettering since there are many talented & hardworking letterers out there already.

But, as Abbey advised:

• Experiment
• Practice
• Explore
• Progress, etc. (There’s more advice in this book, which I recommend.)

It actually applies to any art I want to try my hand at. One thing I want to discover on this creativity journey is my very own style, and not just in hand lettering. That is why I need to keep experimenting, keep trying, keep practising.

Do you agree?

How about you? Do you do hand lettering? If not, would you try it? Why or why not? 🙂