I started this self-motivated personal project as an experiment - I had seen a few similar projects elsewhere, and thought it would be a good place to start learning more about typography, and to try hand-lettering and calligraphy for the first time.
As well as enabling all of those learning experiences, I also learned how to vectorise hand-lettering in Adobe Illustrator CS6, and the project provided me with a great focus to learn how to use Illustrator in general, as I had only ever previously used Photoshop CS5.
So, please find below the various works I have created in this project, some including my insights into my process.
The first image I vectorized. The word "Grace" is hand-lettered, but the other lines were typed. When converting to vector, I made certain that the bezier handles were parallel.
See here the process from pen to screen - dip pen with Leonardt Crown Nib and Windsor & Newton India Ink, and Sakura Pigma Micron pens. The background image was a stock texture, which I converted to vector simply using the High Fidelity Photo setting on Image Trace in Illustrator.
Simple square composition consisting of Cylburn script, Adobe Garamond Pro & Futura.
All the backgrounds I have used during this project are block colours, stock textures or my own photography, as seen here on my dining room table - I knew I chose that colour for our feature wall for a reason!
Mixture of hand-lettering, calligraphy and typography all in one. Typefaces - Arca Majora and Lobster 1.3
Mixture of hand-type, brush pen calligraphy and typed ampersands.
During the course of vectorising this image, I learned about the Blend tool in Illustrator.
Background crafted using the pen tool in Illustrator.
Hand drawn and lettered.
