B o o k s LETTERING PLAY. mini exercise

Transcription

1 Week 5 cover make art that Sells ILLUSTRATING Children s B o o k s online course with lilla rogers & ZoË Tucker mini exercise LETTERING PLAY Holy cow, you are almost there! It s Week 5, and you ve been working like dogs. If you haven t, no shame. Now is the perfect time to really go for it. Monday Minis are a great place to start over. CHECK IN Take a moment to do this: 1. Look at your very first sketches from the beginning of the course. Compare to now. Show us in the Facebook group. I care more about your progress than anything else. That bodes well for your future. 2. What where you most excited about learning in the course and least eager to attempt? Does that still hold true? Isn t it funny how that can switch sometimes? Tell us about it in the Facebook group. 3. Pick out your favorite piece of art you ve done so far. Print it out. Tape it to the fridge. Post it on Instagram. #makeartthatsells So far in this course you ve learned about: Character development Facial Expressions Poses Environments and Pacing This week, you are going to play around with lettering. And I m going to help you. Lettering can be: Hand-lettering Digital typographic design Part one: drawing the alphabet Guess what? I m going easy on you today. You get to fill in worksheets! It s a great way to warm up and to further develop your lettering. Mini Exercise Lettering Play :: 1

2 If you like this, find more here: handwriting-practice-worksheets/letter-a-writing-practice-worksheet.html Here s a story. When I was an illustration student at the Academy of Art University in the early 80s in San Francisco, I quit my part-time job as secretary at the Bay Guardian because I got enough students to take my calligraphy class in my flat. I ran out and bought a big folding table and folding chairs. It was a brave step for me! Mini Exercise Lettering Play :: 2

3 The main thing I worked on with the students was getting them to draw letters instead of write them. What do I mean by this? Often, when we write a letter or word, we re simply making the letters out of habit. We re not slowing down and being thoughtful. We re not examining the basic geometric shapes. Our pen hurries from here to there without care. The worksheet above will help you to make the forms of the letters with care. Go slow. Breathe. Oh yeah, one exercise that I had my students do was to take slow breaths while they were lettering. It did amazing things. Notice how the worksheet is all about: Circles Horizontal and vertical lines Diagonal lines Camel humps Valleys It breaks the letterforms down to those basics. Master that. Here you go. Worksheet courtesy of Mini Exercise Lettering Play :: 3

4 Now, fill this one out. Try slow, full breathing while you trace. It s so relaxing! Make copies. Try it using different writing implements. Pens, brushes and ink, dip pens. Worksheet courtesy of Your mini, part two: lettering your title Now, I want you to letter your title 5 10 different ways. Things to note: You can letter your title in any style: hand-lettered, digital typography, etc Reflect how your lettering should in some way match the vibe of your text You can add some little drawing bits to the title if you want Mess around with some serifs Try some shadow lettering, block lettering, balloon lettering, etc Letter your title, the author s name, and your name, as in Illustrated by Jane Doe For this mini, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DESIGN YOUR COVER, only your title. On Wednesday, I ll be showing you tons of covers and I ll be teaching you all kinds of ways to lay out your cover. Hold off for now on the cover design, and focus purely on the title. Mini Exercise Lettering Play :: 4

5 drhistory.org I am so excited for you! You re getting even closer to finalizing your killer pitch! Once again, here s Lilla, the broken record: Budget as much time as you can because you want the time to do your best work. Great work does not come out of rushing or panic. And once again: Your job as a professional is to find a way to get excited about any assignment that comes your way, and make it amazing. And this is no exception. Rooting for you. Xo, Mini Exercise Lettering Play :: 5