Nice stuff Michael.

Here is a piece of lettering that was part of a greeting card design. It was written with a #3 Scharff pointed sable brush on vellum.

Nice work from Michael and Stephen. This one was originally drawn many years ago in the mid 80’s, with a biro on a restaurant napkin at lunch and then re-lettered with a pointed brush (Windsor & Newton series 7 # 3) on 3 ply Bristol Board. I used it for my personal logo for a few years. A group of us were looking through a new calligraphy book at the time and this piece was inspired by the work of Jean Larcher, I think (poor memory).
Later when I turned to the dark side (computers) I redrew it in Freehand.

Shedding serifs but has not matured into a Sans.

Michael

These retain their serifs, not yet corrupted into sans.

Graham

Nib on the Roman? And how big is the original?

Michael

How beautiful. You know, I may be digital by profession, but there is nothing compared to the texture of pigment on paper/canvas.

Another inkwell logo. This is from about 5 years ago I think. Graham’s version is nicer, but where I work we get about 2 hours to design a logo, so its hit or miss. This one is obviously brush drawn.

This is a great-looking thread with lots of lovely visuals, and it looks good with Sloop!
But please, files no wider than 590 pixels, to avoid the scrolling bar.

Another useful technique, to knock out the background:
1. Duplicate layer
2. Magic wand at zero tolerance, select and delete background of top layer.
3. Now delete background layer.
4. Save as .png

Michael

Original was lettered with pointed brush and Chinese Stick Ink, cap height 30mm. ’V’ was drawn in pencil and rendered in Freehand.

Stephen, your inkwell looks empty! Fill it up and get to work ; ) Graham... although I can use a pointed pen, that style (Inkwell) has always befuddled me.

It is even more fun to do Katelynn.

Michael

Michael said we would show variety. This one is in watercolour and the lettering was written with a pointed pen on watercolour paper about 40 x 30cm.

Michael, your de Samartine is probably my favorite calligraphic piece. I often leave that page of The Speedball Textbook flopped open on my drawing board.

Thanks Nick,

I didn’t think you could delete the background layer in Photoshop, but maybe thats dependent on what kind of file it is. This one should fit anyway.

Its an unused logo concept I did about 8 years ago. The original was done on text wove paper with a ruling pen and ink.

Stephen

I haven’t hand-inked any of my lettering (final art) since before Illustrator 1.0, though I still start out with pen or pencil on paper. Hat’s off to you guys.

Many of us fell in love with the experimental ruling pen work of Fritz Poppl (noted type designer and lettering artist) years ago. This is a master for another of my clocks printed on brass, if memory serves, “O time devourer of all things.” At least that is what the sheet said.

On the other side of the coin is a freer German piece “Who else if not us” (Wer wenn nicht wir?) also done with the same ruling pen.

Michael

Hey Mark, want us to send you some ink?

Michael

A combination of pointed pen and a tickle up with a pointed brush, the old trusty W&N Series 7 #3, with some help from Garamond.

beautiful Graham... you are up late!!

And I loved the La Guitarra piece which also shows your illustrative abilities.

Michael

Thank you Michael. I am a bit of a night owl, plus the Olympics are on, so thats enough reason to be up late.
This one is also a water colour with a ruling pen scribble in stick ink. Time consuming, but fun.

Mark,

If you’ve got pencil sketches those are always cool. I love to look at sketches showing the core behind a design.

Stephen

Here are a couple more jobs with pointed brush. One casual; part of a handout packet for the Typecon class; and the other going a bit weird for a Halloween card.

A couple old ones, first with soft marker, second with rough brush

Yay Carl! I was hoping you would spot this. You are a welcome addition to this. We have a couple more that are going to join in. Thank you so much and the work looks great!

I had tried unsuccessfully to e-mail you.
Michael

contact form!

I tried. It came back!

Michael

I’m not much good with a brush, but here’s some pen-work. I used a Rotring Art Pen 2.

Nick,
that’s a realy cool way to play out that quote. Nice job!

Nick and Carl reminded me where I got my start. La Operina, italic is my favorite style. For many it is what they cut their teeth on. A “trickily” thoughtful layout, very nice Nick.

A variation on the italic theme. Done with a Schaeffer pen. The fountain pens are great... Rotring made/makes one of the best.

Michael

Something a tad less elegant. Lettering I did a couple years back for the card shown. My boss later assigned me to make a font of this which, due to PS constraints, ended up being 4 fonts.

Some really great work being posted. Carl’s ’Trust’ reminded me of this logo I did for a friend. He is an abstract painter. The marks made by the brush are similar in both pieces. In this case I used a very soft make up brush. My wife still doesn’t know where her brush went. Make up brushes are wonderful lettering tools.

All you guys are amazing with your brushes and pens! I have to sketch with a pencil and what used to be a pen is now digital. But the pencil (drawing) has all of the info.

What a wonderful thread! Promoted to the Handpicked section on the home page.

freehand study:

some doodles i did to test pens and styles:

this one would make a nice carpet :-)

Another hand lettered logo. A very simple solution (or not) more or less inspired by the hand painted signage that Eric Gill rendered.
The above has many flaws, but there are parts that I still like and it looks like it was done by hand.

Everyone must be getting sick of me by now. I promise this will be the last post for a while. Obviously a pair. Pastel, ink and gouache on illustration board. All lettering written in gouache with broad edge and pointed pens.

I will now leave you in peace, at least for a few days.

Everyone must be getting sick of me by now.
Definitely not! Keep it coming, please.

G’Night Graham! From upover ; )

As always, exceptional work.

Michael

This is a great idea. Thanks for posting it. It reminds me of the Letter Arts Review annuals which I’ve missed the last few years.

Very nice work.

A sample of my day-to-day work for greeting cards. I typically work from a planning sheet which shows layout, finishes, colors, a sketch of art, and a small reference to the lettering style they want. We used to be able to override the reference based on our own judgement, but now we must follow it more exactly.

The first sample is from one of our team members who has no training in lettering, but works kind of wild and loose. This is me copying his style. Its about double the actual printed size.

This next on I did today as a caption. I don’t have a clue where the reference lettering came from.

Stephen

Here is a logo rough page (I work on legal pads most of the time) where, having given myself room, I went back and added in the supporting type on the scan. It is for an artist out in California. Brushes, ruling pens and Speedball B nibs were used.

Michael

How about some animals made out of computer code?

Detail:

Awesome!!!!!!

Michael

Lovely stuff!
I had the pleasure of attending the recent 2008 “Letters Mingle Souls” conference in Naperville (Chicago), with about 500 calligraphers. Nice to be around people who really love letters ;-)

Here’s one of mine, done on a watercolor postcard, more or less doodling while sitting in the gardens of Alhambra, Granada in the fall of 2004... A few more odd things here: http://fraterdeus.com/lettering — not really representative, just what has managed to get posted.

Pencil for the initial sketch, waterproof Rapidograph 3x0 and then watercolor.
The scan oversaturates the yellow at the top...

PF

http://typeandmeaning.com
nEwsletter: http://slowprint.com/slowprintnl
semiotx.com - Galena, Illinois

Thanks for posting this wonderful work.

It’s exciting to see how expressive and beautiful lettering can be when freed from the shackles of the demands of a font.

Here is a roughed out version of a new script that I am working on. It is in the extreme rough stage. This one should have lots of alternates, ligatures and joining characters. This is a fun style to letter.

Hi Stephen & Michael!

-Charles Borges de Oliveira

Hi Charles,
I was hoping you would get a chance to put something up. That’s coming along nicely, BTW.

Let’s see........ you’re gonna use some sort of fancy OT position lookups so it always types uphill? LOL

Have a great day.

Stephen

These are all so amazing, I am incredibly jealous. Great work!

Michael, you are right about having one of the last inkings I did. Below is one of the last commercial ones.

And, at your request, Michael, here are some hand lettered watch dials I did awhile back. I would draw the dial art in pentel at 5:1, then scan and execute all of the numbers and letters in Illustrator with notches at the intersecting angles so the ink would not fill in. Also, the renderings are done in Illustrator as they were used for presentation and catalogs.

My 9 year old, Jacob, was sitting here when I opened the thread and saw the new art Gerard. He looked at me and said dad, he uses more color than you do! When he saw the watches he could not believe they were not photos! You have 1 long standing fan and a new one to boot.

Edit: he wanted to know if you drew my watch dial.

Michael

Margor: If you have a carpet made of that, I would buy it! Wallpaper even!

Gerard: I am actually quite familiar with your work, as the agency I work for does jewelry and luxury good catalogs. How wonderful to see it in another setting.

Thank you all for the kind words. I.m not sure what watch you have but if it is at least five years old it is probable. I enjoyed doing the Swiss Army watches but now that the company went private, all my great clients there are gone! And Jacob: a camera is much faster!!!

David: the bird and quill are exquisite. I would get a tattoo of this, it is so beautiful.

Thank you, Katelynn.

> I would get a tattoo of this, it is so beautiful.

I didn’t think about that. A tattoo.... mmm... :)

> animals made out of computer code?

Gerard what is the code? :)

David

Where did you learn offhand flourishing? That is a beautiful piece.

If you say you are self taught I am going to send Guido to tend to your fingers ; )

Michael

Speaking of tattoos and Bejing.

I did this mark 2 years ago for my children and then had Peter Thornton, well known gold leaf master, do one for each. My children’s first initials are J, J and K... hence the 2JK.To my dismay my daughters now sport it, one on her neck and the other on her undie line.

Good intentions gone wrong!

Michael

David: It would have to be a very accurate tattoo artist. However, you have now given me an amazing idea. I have had a phoenix in mind for a very long time. But with the prolific nature of such a symbol, I have been reluctant. However, if it is gestural enough.... Ideas. thank you so much!

Michael: Children have a wonderful way of misappopriating ideas, dont they?

Thank you, Michael.

> I am going to send Guido

No problem :^)

> However, if it is gestural enough.... Ideas. thank you so much!

You’re welcome, Katelynn.

Lovely lovely work. Thanks for posting all this!

Stunning work! Well done everyone.

My favourite: “Letters are symbols...” Just beautiful.

Thank you Typophiles (especially Miss Tiffany, Zara and Eben) for allowing us to invade your space with written as opposed to Bezier forms.

And most importantly I apologize for the bruises from arm wrenching to commandeer participants.

Finally I would like to pay tribute to Fritz Poppl for his impact on my work.

Below is a piece from 1966. Absolute genius!
“When you lose simplicity you lose drama.” A. Wyeth

Michael

something more simple, fun; one of the doodles:

Looking good David. Guido is on the Red Eye : )

Michael

Finally figured out what I had in the archive to contribute to this thread. Pretty obvious all of a sudden.

I hand lettered 20 issues of The Sphere, a grocery zine advertising my family’s grocery store between September 1993 and September 1995. These pages are from the 12th issue. I was fresh out of college, had taken one calligraphy class my sophomore year, and wrote the entire thing with three weights of disposable Staedtler pens. If you check out the link above, you’ll see that I developed a few different “fonts” to use throughout the rag.

Really nice work.
Especiially like Stephen Rapp’s letterting style (the ones saying “greetings”, “happy saint patrick’s day”, etc.)
But most of the work other people posted is great as well, like the sigar club emblem, and the different sketch pages.

Thanks, Jelmar.

I do a lot of that kind of thing using a Scharff #3 pointed sable brush and sumi ink. Working in-house I don’t usually get to choose the style that I use, but that kind of thing fits well with a lot of our product.

Stephen