Twisting Letters : Handlettering

I like Art. And I like books. Handlettering has given me a way to combine these two hobbies.
But what is Handlettering?
It basically means, to write quotes out beautifully. There are a thousand ways to do it, so there is no right way to do it. Here are some examples of my work:

out of: Rebel of the Sands

out of: Six of Crows

But how to start, if you want to give it a try? As already said, there is no right way, but here is the way that I handletter:

The materials

1. You will need some materials. I used: A Moleskine Sketchbook, pens (all Black) and Aquarell paper. The materials that I use are a bit higher end, just because I bought them over a long period of time. If you are just getting started, then there is no need for expensive materials. A simple fineliner and a pencil will do just fine.

2. Now its time for research. That means: deciding on a quote, a font and references for illustrations. Once you are a bit more practiced you will be able to skip this step. But I always find it inspiring to to a bit of research before I start.

Let's get into detail on how and where you will find inspiration. The quotes I draw are almost always out of books that I have read. While reading I have a pen in reach, whenever a quote catches my attention, I will mark it. Goodreads has an awesome page where you can search for quotes. Otherwise Pinterest is also a good source.

Deciding on a font is also not as simple. There are thousands to choose from. Again Pinterest is a place to look for inspiration or DaFont.

Then there are the references. I usually will just use Google for that.

3. Once you have decided on a quote and a font, its time to make a rough sketch. I will do so in a sketchbook and not on the paper I plan on using for the final drawing. That way I can deal with mistakes beforehand.

My sketches tend to look something like this, the bones of the illustration are already visible and the relation as well as the placement of the elements is already set. At this point it is not very nice to look at, but that will change in the next step.

4. Now its time for the clean sketch. A clean sketch is the transitioning of the rough sketch onto the final paper. If you are insecure that you will mess up, you could also do a clean sketch in our sketchbook and copy that onto the paper. Whatever suits your needs. Once the clean sketch is finished, you can start to fill in the lines with black.