100 Days of Lettering – Week 11

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On a bit of a roll this week with the feminist quotes… I’m hoping to re-open my Etsy store properly soon (more news about that later…) so I’ve been working hard on these quotes.

Day 71

A bit of personal work… some ideas for our Save the Dates for our wedding. The final ideas that we’ve decided on aren’t shown here, these are the rejected ideas… Tombow brush pens, pen and ink and arteza watercolour brush pens on watercolour paper.

Day 72

Another go on this quote. I love the “Smash” – although I’m refining it slightly, but the “patriarchy” just doesn’t look right like this. Back to the drawing board… Gouache paint, pen and ink on watercolour paper.

Day 73

I’ve had 2 attempts at this with pen and ink and finleiner and I just don’t like it. I am going back to the literal drawing board with this one, starting again with the composition. Tombow brush pen, fine-liner, pen and ink on watercolour paper.

Day 74

So, here it is. The new design. All ready for tracing, tweaking and re-drawing in ink. Pencil on grid paper.

Day 75

Playing around with this quote, just trying to get the lettering right! Pencil on grid paper.

Day 76

I’ve redrawn this quote with the smoke, although it’s not quite right… More tweaking required. But getting there! Pencil on grid paper.

Day 77

Another attempt at this word – looks much better – looks almost how I want it to… Bit more tweaking and we’ll be away! Fineliner on grid paper.

Almost done… only 3 weeks to go. I feel the work is definitely advancing and improving, and I’m learning a lot which is a good thing!

100 Days of Lettering – Week 10

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Another week… another 7 lettering projects…

Day 64

A fully painted 3D “SMASH”… gouache paint on watercolour paper.

Day 65

First draft of this idea, I like the smoke idea but I think it might be a bit overbearing in this. First attempt with the Tombow brush pen as well, I love these pens, nice and easy to use and look fantastic! Watercolour paint and Tombow brush pen on watercolour paper.

Day 66

I bought some new nibs, a Rhodia pad, and an oblique pen holder from Quill London and got practising! A bit of modern calligraphy style, pen and black ink on Rhodia practice pad.

Day 67

Some more practice with the Tombow brush pens – Tombow brush pen on Rhodia practice pad.

Day 68

Even more practice! And a good old feminist quote! Tombow brush pen on Rhodia practice pad.

Day 69

I love this quote, and it’s a nice one for practicing. Lots of exercises and alphabets this week, and then an attempt at a quote with the Tombow brush pens, on the Rhodia practice pad.

Day 70

And now for something completely different – some blackletter practice with pen and ink on the Rhodia pad – loving the black ink on white paper and these big chunky letters….

Catching up with the blog this week as we were away camping for the bank holiday weekend, and generally enjoying the sunshine!

100 Days of Lettering – Week 9

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Some old stuff and some new stuff this week…

Day 57

Another feminist quote for a possible set of prints… and a nice practice with serif capitals. Pencil on grid paper.

Day 58

This one was another one from our camping trip – I had an idea about negative space, gold and silver ink and black paper, but only had pencils, biros and my grid pad with me… so here’s a rough sketch of something I hope to mock up soon. Biro and pencil on grid paper.

Day 59

Not a lot of time this day as we were back from camping and catching up with washing, emails and showering… This was a bit of doodling, practicing 3D lettering and shadows, trying to work out what looks right and what looks wrong… Pencil on grid paper.

Day 60

Again, a little short on time so I thought I’d sit and do some brush pen calligraphy with the Arteza watercolour pens. Practicing some letter forms and pen control… Brush pen on grid paper.

Day 61

I have been looking through some old sketchbooks and came across some designs I’d sketched for this beauty salon. This is a rejected idea, but I really liked the letters, so I decided to re-draw and tweak as a little exercise… Black fineliner on grid paper.

Day 62

An idea for our Save the Dates… a little practice with the brush pens ready to get the final design done in the next week or so. Brush pens on grid paper.

Next week I am hoping to work with some different media… I have ordered a few different bits and pieces to use for some different ideas I’ve had – an attempt to get away from sketches on the grid paper! Watch this space…

100 Days of Lettering – Week 8

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HALFWAY THROUGH! All a little bit delayed as we were away camping, and whilst I was still drawing, I wasn’t able to update social media or my site due to no WIFI and very little reception…

Day 50

I wasn’t happy with the word ‘fierce’ on the last sketch of the Shakespeare quote, so this was a few sketches to try and get it right… Pencil on the good old grid pad!

Day 51

A break from the feminist quotes today – this is a piece that I’d been working on for my dad’s 60th birthday. I finished it off with the text round the outside… and I (and my dad) are very pleased with the final outcome! Pen and ink on watercolour paper.

Day 52

I enjoyed doing, and really liked the aesthetics of this lettering, so I picked another one of the feminist quotes and sat and wrote it out. I am pleased with this, I’m going to tidy it up and redraw soon… Pencil on grid pad.

Day 53

Some more blackboard work for the Queens Arms pub – their entertainment guide boards. Chalk pens on blackboard.

Day 54

I saw this quote a little while ago and I’ve been researching and looking into weddings/vows etc. for my upcoming nuptials next year. I love this quote, so I thought I’d give it a go… Might well re-draw this one and finish it off nicely. Pencil on grid paper.

Day 55

A little bit of practice with 3D lettering. I didn’t take many materials away with me camping and I spent some time practicing some styles I am not very good at or haven’t really tried before. I have been playing about with shadows, and what looks right… Pencil sketch on grid paper.

Day 56

Another go at this quote… still not quite right. I’ll keep working on it! Pencil on grid paper.

All a little off schedule, but here it is! Lots more sketches next week, and some new materials ordered, so some ideas I’ve had in mind should come to fruition soon!

100 Days of Lettering – Week 7

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This week has a bit of a feminist theme running through it, and a finished commissioned piece! Exciting stuff…

Day 43

After the success of the commissioned piece from last week, I decided to redraw this quote – in the hope of designing a set to sell. Here’s a draft, in pencil on good old grid paper (I love this stuff!)

Day 44

Another feminist quote, this time I was continuing my work on 3D letters. I like the word Smash – it’s not perfect but I wanted to play around with colours and I think it’s a good start. The word “Patriarchy” I’m not so keen on. To loopy and too many flourishes, I don’t think it’s clear what it says… more work required… Watercolour, Brush pens, pen and ink on watercolour paper.

Day 45

I had a vision of this – bright colour painted onto black paper. But I had the wrong paints and the wrong kind of paper… Need to get some acrylics, and some black card – this I think, is black sugar paper (is that even what’s it’s called? It’s what we called it at school!) I have had hanging around. Not so great. Watercolour on black paper.

Day 46

A break from the feminist quotes – and the final photo of this blackboard – all done and dusted. Literally. I was just about to do a final clean up and spray it with a clear varnish before delivering it to the pub. It was very well received! Chalk pens on blackboard.

Day 47

Not a lot of time today and I was feeling a little burnt out, so I thought I’d sit and write with a pen and nib to get some practice in. Just free form, a few quotes over and over again to try out some metallic ink I had. The gold in particular looked especially pretty and sparkly. Pen and calligraphy nib with gold ink on watercolour paper.

Day 48

I started this a while ago, after trying this quote before, I managed to finish this sketch today. Not sure about the spacing but I enjoyed playing with flourishes. Paper on sketch pad.

Day 49

Another piece for the feminist set… I think the quote is wrong – I have seen a few versions so I’m going to do some research and get this done right 🙂 I like the top version better, but not sure about the word “Fierce” – I think this needs a bit more work. Pencil on grid paper.

A productive week, I am going to carry on with these quotes and see where I end up. I also may have a custom piece for my Dad’s birthday coming up…

100 Days of Lettering – Week 6

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A new week… lots more work this week, feeling very productive!

Day 36

Some brush pen calligraphy practice today. I wanted to try out some freehand calligraphy, no guides, just writing. Took a little while to get the hang of the pens, but after a few goes I got the hang of them. This is a colour blend – nice and easy with these pens and a water brush! Arteza brush pens and water brush on watercolour paper.

Day 37

Another attempt with the brush pens to get some more practice in. More colour blending and this time with some guides to keep the letter sizes consistent. Arteza brush pens on watercolour paper.

Day 38

Pencil sketch for a commission! I was asked to design a piece using this quote for a friend who wanted it as a gift for someone. I thoroughly enjoyed designing and sketching this out (although it took me some time!) Pencil on watercolour paper.

Day 39

Inspired by my commission, I have decided to do a set of feminist sayings/quotes… this is a sketch of a design for this. It was nice to draw something other than letters as well 🙂 Pencil on watercolour paper.

Day 40

The final commissioned piece! Still had some pencil lines on this one, but this is the final piece in watercolour! Watercolour paint, Arteza brush pens and finalisers on watercolour paper.

Day 41

Some pen and ink calligraphy practice today. More quotes, trying to get used to the nibs and ink, all freehand with no guides. Pen and ink on paper.

Day 42

Another sketch of an idea for the feminism set… having a play with 3D lettering. Pencil on grid paper.

Lots more ideas for next week…!

Winters Marine website

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I have been re-building the Winters Marine website. They wanted to keep the design the same as the previous site, so we used all the imagery and layout from the old site, but re-built it in WordPress. The new site is now responsive and works on mobiles, tablets and laptops as well as desktops. We also added some new forms, making it easier to apply for spaces and mornings at the boat yard, which can be accessed as online forms, or as editable and downloadable PDFs. Have a look at the website here: www.wintersmarine.co.uk

See more in my portfolio!