I’ve talked before about some of the classes I’ve taken on Skillshare. Here’s another one for you: The First Steps of Hand-Lettering by Mary Kate McDevitt. I love taking these types of classes because I enjoy watching the process that lettering artists use so that I can adapt some of the processes into my own lettering and art.
My main takeaways:
Brainstorming for Style:
The main project from this course is to letter out a short phrase or quote. Mary Kate describes her brainstorming process for developing a style that suits the phrase or quote that you plan on using. She shares how to approach the sentiment behind the phrase and the visual influences you could use.
Lettering Tools and Paper:
Mary Kate goes over which tools she prefers to use for each stage of the process as she’s sketching. While it can be helpful to see the tools the pros use, they tend to emphasize that the best tool is the one you have. And many letterers have different preferences.
Lettering Styles:
The most useful part for me was to see different lettering styles and how they’re drawn. There are examples of various styles (script, serif, sans serif, and more) as well as a live demo and step-by-step tips on drawing some of them (block letters, script, flourishes, and serif).
Overall Impressions:
This was one of the first online classes I had taken about lettering. Many of the skills that Mary Kate goes over are useful and applicable to whatever style of lettering that you want to produce. It was nice to see all the steps laid out in a methodical order. For anyone interested in learning to handletter and wants a comprehensive introduction, this is a great resource.
The links provided for this Skillshare course are referral links. If you sign up for a Skillshare membership using these links, I will receive a free month of membership. This will allow me to view and review even more courses on the blog.
