Hello my friends! I'm so excited to be starting a new year with all of you.
Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I took a poll on my Instagram page this week and a majority of you (almost 75%!) said that they're not for you.
I totally support that! I don't think any of us should feel forced into making resolutions - that type of pressure does not set us up for success.
If you are interested in making resolutions, I think there is a way to approach them with more creativity and less pressure. I have a podcast episode all about making a creative goal for the year and how to remove the "should" thoughts from your yearly goals. (I also like to give myself the month of January to assess how I'm feeling and what it is that I want to accomplish, so don't feel rushed and take your time!) You can listen or read the transcript of the podcast here.
At the start of a new year, I like to go back to basics for anyone who may be new to this community and talk about the best ways to start learning hand lettering.
I have a hand lettering hack for you that I think is super helpful if you are just starting out with lettering.
It starts by separating hand lettering from regular cursive script.
Unlike old-school cursive where you never pick up your pen in between letters, with modern lettering (like faux calligraphy) you pick up your pen after every stroke.
Watch my video below to see why:
This method of picking up your pen might be new to you if you are used to writing in cursive, so the hack in this video is super helpful for learning this new way of connecting your letters!
If you use the alphabet pages of my Creative Lettering Journal with a sheet of Tracing Paper on top of it, you can move the paper around to overlap your last letter with the next one and to see where to connect them.
See?
This is such a great way to get started with calligraphy. It teaches you faux calligraphy, a method of hand lettering that you can do with ANY writing utensil by manually thickening downstrokes to get that modern calligraphy look.
I created a "Beginner Bundle" on my website that comes with this workbook, the tracing paper, and a pack of pens so you have everything you need to try this out and get started!
Shop the Beginner Bundle HERE.
If you're looking for more videos and faux calligraphy how-tos, check out my Instagram page! I've been posting a lot about this workbook and this type of modern hand lettering. Click here to visit my page.
You can also keep learning with me right here on the site. I have a post all about using markers for faux calligraphy and a set of free faux calligraphy worksheets that you can download to start your lettering practice.
Happy hand lettering!
Xo 💛 -Lisa
