Hand lettering may not seem like something you are cut out for, but with a little instruction, a lot of practice, and a willingness to accept the occasional imperfection, you can create brilliant hand lettered posters and signs.
First, let’s learn a little about different styles of fonts. You may already know that serif fonts have small lines at the points of the letter and sans serif fonts do not. There are a million fonts out there for you to begin with, and it’s best to start with a relatively simple one as you get your feet under you. Think even strokes. You’ll want to find a font that you absolutely love to begin practicing, because you’ll be doing it over and over to get it nailed down!
You don’t need any particular items to get started, just something to write on and a pencil.
Start by trying to recreate the alphabet in your chosen font. Write very lightly to begin with so that you can easily erase. It is crushing to have half a perfect letter and not be able to fix up a less perfect aspect. Once you have a good outline, you can go in and add any depth that the font requires, making letters thicker or even just thickening the strokes in certain parts.
There are lots of printable practice worksheets available for various fonts so you can learn how to do fancier, calligraphy style fonts as well. Once you’ve mastered your font of choice, you can add ink or paint to make a more permanent piece of art.
Last, put your amazing creation in a frame and show it off to all the world! If you need an idea for which frame would be right for your creation, check out our Facebook page for advice!
