Lessons
Intro & Sample Projects
09:40 2List of Words & Creating the Map
03:32 3Low Contrast Sans Serif with Width Variation
10:06 4High Contrast Serif
13:56 5High Contrast Script
16:59 6Any Style You Like Using Only Straight Lines
06:06 7Unicase with 3D
12:30 8Serif with Inline Stroke
08:13Chiseled or Beveled Sans Serif
16:49 10Slab Serif with Drop Shade
08:08 11Representational Letters
04:09 12Heavy Weight with Pattern
03:48 13Light Weight Script: Italic or Upright
06:48 14Reverse Stress Lettering
06:49 15Varied Baseline or Cap Height
03:19 16Bifurcated Tuscan With or Without Spurs
08:55 17Varied Weight Strokes
04:17 18Final Embellishments
11:00Lesson Info
Chiseled or Beveled Sans Serif
Our next prompt is going to be a chiseled or beveled sand saref um so I'm gonna show you two examples I'm going to show you what a chisel is going to look like and what a bevel is gonna look like um a lot of times you can certainly apply this tow anything I'm only going to show it to you on sand sarah's because that's what this prompted calls for um but it's a really nice way to decorate all sorts of letter forms so first I'm gonna show you not really sure how you spell chiselled but we're going to go with that for a nap so first time to show you if you're doing something chisels so again a lot like the last prop where we started with uh the inline I'm also going to stay you might want to start with the spine of the letter here and they're really two ways to go about it either you started off with sort of the base skeleton of the letter that were the spine first ah and then we build out from there or you can start with a very uniform wait a low contrast sand saref and add the the chise...
l in um I suggest maybe you try on a separate piece of paper try it both ways and see what you're most comfortable with um I'm gonna show you quickly the same letter built out both ways so if I were to teo they're doing an h h is gonna be a really simple one so are there I can start just like I was suggesting before start with a simple skeleton of the letter and now let's make it a little bit darker so from here now we're gonna be building the letters out it's one thing to keep in mind is that you want to make sure your letter isn't to condense so that you have space to move it out and you're gonna be using forty five degree angles uh coming up from the edges of all of your points and any place that you see a corner so this is going to come out from there out from the top and the bottom at forty five degree angles and then also in here were the crossbars meeting the size of the h gonna come in like this so what, you end up with it's gonna be a letter form like this? Um these are particularly fun letters to do shading on ah and when you do shading think about your light direction I'm just going to say if the light was coming from the upper left corner this part would be in shade all down the side the bottoms of the letters would be in shade on this line this edge out here would be in shape um so that's one example of how to build up the the chiseled sand saref alternatively you can start with the full letter form itself make sure your strokes are consistent and wait and you can add in essentially an inline stroke and then build the edges out again forty five degree angles going from corner to corner or from the ends to the corner um where I see a lot of people run into some difficulty is with an uppercase a um and I think it's best illustrated using this second method so let's say we're building out are a like this so the tough part comes when you're doing the in line because you can't go straight up you can't go straight up into a point I find it's best if you jog across a little bit and it's super super subtle um but it makes all the difference in the world if you tried to bring this to a point in that area they wouldn't the angles just I won't allow you to match up you know if you want to go to a point it's just it makes for thanks for an awkward angle where is if you have this slight jog across the top I also find that I do that at the top of the end too so now I'm going to make peas and you'll see that now that I have diagonals these aren't exactly forty five degrees um and then say I'm doing the same shading bottoms and the right side of each of these strikes so that's a chiseled sand saref one more thing to show you actually would be how to deal with something like an o so either either we can do around oh let's think about how the late is going to hit this and where our shadows are gonna go so either you can draw a line straight through like this we can say this part here is in jade and this part here's and shane um and because I'm thinking of our the light coming from this direction here I chose to put the the breaks between late and shadow at those two places given the light is coming here all of this is going to be in shadow um you can always just fade so you could just have it go slowly from light to dark you don't need to have a clear line where it breaks um or something that I tend to do is um do it with a slight angle on these this's looking hormel's so you can also make peace peace is curved it's super subtle um but keeps it a little bit softer and a little bit less uh sort of mechanical feeling oops wrong part um alternatively if you want this to look like you know almost flattering that I would associate more with an old um car garage or someplace like that um you can you treat your round letter forms almost just like they were rounded rectangles so if you start with your online as ah straight rectangle outside stroke could have just thes rounded corners to it and then you're inside stroke would be another smaller rectangle um so you could do something like this and then uh you don't have to deal with either of those two thanks. Okay? So that's chiseled ah and now are are your other option here is doing beveled um so let's take what's taken our, um and for this I suggest you start working with you you draw your letter first and then you add the bevel on top of it so so here is ok, so here is your eye so this is going to be starting from the corners and moving out almost like you did with ian line here you're going to go out forty five degrees or slightly different if it's from these angles starting with all the corners first you're just trying essentially a little halo around the word um but rather than it just being a simple outline when you add in these little corners it makes it feel all fancy and important and like it's made out of something else um really fun and same thing with thinking about your your curved letter forms and you're late source my light source is coming from up here these are the parts that are going to be in shade um great. Wayto make your letters look like they're made out of metal or something more substantial. Okay, so now I'm ready to go ahead and pick my next word on my map. I am going to do creative live in a chiseled sand saref. Okay, that was really long bird that I chose. Teo. Add all of those chisels. Doom. Uh, but we got it taken care of. Um, as you're working on your letters, if you find, um, that in getting the lines raid and the width rate, having the having a consistent with to your letters before you do the in line is going to make a huge difference in terms of making it not look wonky on one side or the other. Um, I went through and I added shading on ly in one part of it. If you want to go through and add shading in both parts and maybe you do slightly darker, you use more a heavyweight, you know, sort of line on one part of it versus another that will cover up a lot of the little extra missteps that you might have had along the way. If your letters are getting kind of congested with all of your your strokes in them, so put into his much shading is you need to to make it look as as, uh, as special as you want. Um, okay, so I think you're ready to get started. You're gonna select between either a chisel or bevel, and you're going to start with the sand saref and build it out from there.
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Ratings and Reviews
DOlores RUsso
I like the way Annica tells you what you are going to do, then she demonstrates it and then you do it yourself. She knows her subject well and her lesson objectives are clear and to the point. How do I know.?..I'm a teaching mentor also an art teacher and sign painting/lettering artist. I watched this hand lettering class in order to review and to learn how someone else approaches this "not very interesting subject" as some previous reviewers have suggested . I happen to find it most interesting. I love being able to write and communicate using my art and teaching skills. One reviewer criticized the way Annica instructed with "um" and a clicking noise. But the one criticism that really stood out was the F-word which unfortunately seemed to take precedence over all else for some. Granted you wouldn't want to illustrate a word that children or parents might interpret as being acceptable. A good teacher would not demonstrate that but observing Annica I can see she is a beginning teacher who might need a little guidance. So consider this "guidance" Annica - you are a teacher and you represent all of us teachers. We aren't in our 20's or even 40's - we've been in the trenches and we know that beginning teaching is very challenging. But you must remember that you are a model for children that we hope you expect to grow up to be good decent human beings. Some adults need that guidance as well. And yes, children will already know these words (pay attention parents) but it is not up to you to teach it to them. You, the teacher, are to teach to the highest professional level. As for the "um" and the clicking noise at the end of a sentence - that is something you can correct easily - try to record your lessons and listen. Remember - you represent the most respected of professions, your language must be accurate, acceptable and reflect the knowledge of your subject area, You did a good lesson in hand lettering and covered the most important concepts for a beginner to know. It's a shame that some of the reviewers refused to watch the rest of your lessons and some of them even complained about your silence as you did the letters. Perhaps a little more understanding on their part could have been more beneficial, particularly since one of them was a gifted educator (my Masters also), and did not recognize the cognitive mind working and literally submerged in your lettering skills. This is a fine class and I hope you continue to do more. You are organized, give a lot of information and demonstrate impeccably. Good luck...from your Mentor Teacher.
Heidi
This class was exactly what I needed to re-gain confidence in hand lettering. I majored in illustration 10+ years ago and while I did take a typography class in school, it's been many years and I was feeling rusty and nervous about hand lettering. This class refreshed my memory on various typography principles and gave me ideas on various styles I can reference to create my own lettering. I love the format where I can watch her example and then try it for myself - it's like training wheels and works perfectly for me as a visual learner. Annica is obviously a pro at what she does and she's also really good at explaining what she's doing and why. I am really happy with this class and thankful to Annica for sharing her knowledge and experience.
a Creativelive Student
Rating this is difficult because there are positives and negatives. I watched the course and enjoyed it, but there isn't enough information and education to validate purchasing it. For a graphic designer or someone who knows typography and wants to have a fun challenge around hand drawn lettering, it's fine. However, it's not a course for absolute beginners because the presenter speaks about typographic principles and assumes the audience knows the names of the parts of type when giving directions and doesn't provide enough explanations. There is no history given as to why letterforms are drawn the way they are, whether as traditional hand lettering, calligraphy or even in sign painting, other than the passing recommendation for viewers to research this. All of the comments here are correct. I too was surprised to see the F-word in a featured piece and the lack of contrast when watching her draw was a problem. CreativeLive needs to vet new presenters and perhaps have them do a dry-run of the lessons to critique them. Additionally, her"umms", "super" and "super fun" fillers are tiresome. I think the presenter is talented and has a lot to offer but this felt more like a design challenge rather than an educational course. It would have been useful to primarily show professional applications rather than so many self-directed projects. There is another hand lettering /calligraphy course I watched part of previously that was a better "101" course, to which this course would be an appropriate follow-up.
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