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
High Contrast Script
Our next prompt is going to be a high contrast script some talk about a couple things particular to script type um we've already talked about contrast on this same rules apply to script we're just talking about with this tariffs in terms of where the weight falls, you want to think about when you are pushing up and it being late and when you were pulling down and it being heavy? Um the other really important thing to think about first script is that you want from far away you want the letter forms themselves to stand out and all of the connectors to be really light. So you wanna make sure that you're keeping your weight in the letter forms themselves and the really beautiful part that makes script script is that you're connecting one letter to the next those bits you want to make sure they're kept a light um another really fun thing about working with scripts particularly in something like this is that you can use flourishes to fill in any space that you have. So if you end up with lik...
e some weird, awkward bits and your peace at the end they're anywhere near a script typeface by all means put in some flourishes but again flourishes you want to be really lighten weight just like you're connecting pieces are um so I think the easiest thing is for me to just start todo we do a shorter excite and draw some lower case letters in here so I'm thinking about the pushing and the polling so on the a when you pulled down at the beginning it's heavy you push up in its light you pulled down and it's heavy push up into the b and you pulled down and it's heavy um I tend to do my bees slightly different from the way I learned when I was in third grade and we had our line paper back then did it be like that? I don't necessarily love those bees so I actually tend to make mine look more like this but you're free to do whatever whatever type of letter you're you're most comfortable with um yeah and unlike handwriting where everything you're doing script and you're just doing it just like you're just really using your hand writing things air going toe have to connect where is your e you don't have to do that this part doesn't have to lead up into this part of the you can choose to break that so again thinking about the letter form if you squint your eyes you blur your vision a little bit you want to make sure that what's showing up is the bulk of the letter form and not the connecting pieces and while we're only using pencils today um I would strongly encourage you to pick up some calligraphy markers some actual pen and ink cem uh, calligraphy nibs and really play around with it. I think you can see a lot more in terms of the letter forms and why things, why things air drawn the way they are if you're using the original tools that were being used as opposed to simply re creating it with pencil. So when I'm working with script, I tend to, like tio break the word at a lot of a senator's in de centers um so when I do my g, I don't necessarily want it to come straight up into the h I think I might choose to break it there and then start my h care um, something else that I dio is as I'm doing my letters, um when I'm going from the bottom part of the first strike of the h to the first part of the top, the second stroke, I tend to go up with a little bit more of a con cave angle, and then when I'm leading from one word to the next's, I make it a little bit more convex so you can see the difference between this and miss ah, you could exaggerate that you don't have to do that at all we can really d'oh d'oh, whatever whatever feels comfortable, but I recommend that you actually try a bunch of different things um, this is, um and again I'm gonna break at the j because I want to do some gonna flourish my j a little bit so you can go back in you can fill in spaces is with flourishes on these a sender's or d senders uh and again like I mentioned these parts you want to keep it light um so that the bulk of the letter form that stands out is still thiss this it's not these parts okay, a couple show you a couple of variations and are going to the hole off of that but I'm gonna show you a couple of variations for ass it's um so when I learned script in third grade we made us is like that. Um if you're doing a high contrast version of this your weight is gonna fall just in this stroke here because if you think about the way and s normally goes the weight and an s falls in the spine it's not in this part here and it's not in this part here so as we do the script version the weight is going to go here to make it look like that original form of the s but I don't necessarily love these ass is so I tend to do mine a little bit differently than I do in us. I actually dropped below the baseline and come back up like this so it almost ends up looking little bit figure eight like um but either I come in and pull around, so you'll see it's still following the same basic idea of where the weight goes, so if we were to rate the word success, probably start out with my capital s a bit bigger and typically I'll just sketch in where I want the words to go where I want the letters to go, okay? And then I'll worry about where the weight falls. Uh, okay, so I'm going back in and I'm putting the weight and all of the downs strokes again my e doesn't connect through because that makes for a very small little bowl at the top of the e and I want a bigger bowl and then my ass is are also not going to connect, so at the beginning of my season, my ass is I'm I liketo add the's er these little sarah ifs to help to find them a little bit more, and I'm not even going to bring the bottom of this ass through because I wanted to read more like this, so my script asses don't really read a huge amount like script, which is fine by me uh, you could do yours more traditional you khun vary them within a word, you know, my my beginning ass is a little bit different from a final one. And you'll notice that even though I so I start with a skeleton of the letter and then I build out where the weight goes and then I go back in and fill it in because when you're looking when you're looking at a word uh with only the outlines of the letters, you're not really seeing the light and dark properly uh we're right to go back and do this again this looks super tight in here and this looks really loose not like super happy with this word but some variations on s is that you got there coming through not coming through okay, so now I'm ready to pick the next word I actually have a little phrase in here I wrote just for fun because this is supposed to be just fun so a couple more notes about thes as, uh, before you get started on your on your high contrast script um try and think about the angle that you're starting off your strokes with, so you want to keep this angle consistent throughout you don't wanna have the tops of your use starting this way and then the top of your t starting at a different angle um it's simply a consistency thing that you might want to keep in mind but it's not particularly necessary probably gonna go back later and add in some more flourishes and maybe s'more decorations on all of this stuff um, as I get closer to the end of my piece, so I see what what spaces? Need more need more attention? Couple other things you didn't just mention quickly before you get started, are ours. Ours are a little bit bizarre in scripts. Um, you know, traditionally what you learned in school with an r going like this, which looks little weird. It looks a little bit better once you add some more weight into it. Uh, and the wait is gonna fall here and here. Um, alternatively, you can do ours like this and simply break after an arm. This is great. If it you know, your word ends in e r or something like that. That's. Fantastic. You don't need to bother with this. Kind of are you could just do this. Um, this is goingto be a little bit easier if you're doing a client work. I find that a lot of times it's really hard to push and are, like, this past a client, especially if your audience is going to be slightly younger. They aren't used to seeing ours like this. Okay, so now go ahead. Do your high contrast script. As soon as you're done, I'll see if your next project
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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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