The Art of Whimsical Lettering

Back Again! And today I'm pleased to be showing you some samples that I have made doing one of my favourite artistic activities, lettering. 

I preordered this book, 'The Art of Whimsical Lettering' by Joanne Sharpe from Amazon UK way back in December and have very patiently (fib!) been waiting for it to arrive.

I have decided to diligently work my way through the book, completing all the exercises in the order that they come, rather than 'dipping my toe in' here and there.  This technique is what I find works for me, but, as the saying goes, 'each to his own'.  I have even resisted the temptation to look ahead to see what treats are coming up as for me that is like peaking at a christmas present.

Anyway, on to the exercises that I've completed so far (I've had the book for two whole days!) and to show you my approach, which is different to what is suggested.

In the book we are encouraged to get a journal type book to do all our lettering in and if the pages are too thin to stick two pages together to counteract any bleedthrough from markers, paints, etc.  What I've decided to do differently is to not have a journal but to keep all my completed pages together in ring binders.  I will be using an A5 size for most pages, and then using an A4 for when I do bigger pieces.  

I have an A5 notebook with wonderfully smooth paper in (called Optik Paper) that I plan to do most of the exercises in and will swap around with other types of paper as needed.  I have graph, tracing and watercolour paper amongst others that I can add to my folders using a hole punch.

(For those in the UK, the A4 folder was from Paperchase and the Snopake brand of A5 folder was from Rymans). 

I can't tell you what I had to do for the exercises, because that wouldn't be fair to the author of the book, but I can show you how I completed them.

The exercises you see here aren't meant to be seen as complete like works of art are, they are just simply for practicing lettering.  Practicing is something that is very much encouraged in this book, to be carried out every day, if possible. 

I can tell you that exercise #4, on the right hand side of this page was to look out for and cut out printed examples of lettering that we like: 

I'm sure I could do pages (& pages!) of that!

I've always loved lettering and even had a job doing calligraphy in the past, so am loving finding new fun ways to present it creatively. 

I will be back soon with some more of this, plus other crafts that I've been doing recently.

Thank you so much for stopping by today,

Nicky {Creative Flourishes}