Lettering As Art

[Spaceblues]

I'd like to start thinking of lettering as a main focus of the art rather than just basic letters placed in an open area, but I'm having problems. I'm wanting to do a lot of book covers in the future, so lettering is going to be crucial - it would be nice if it was more than just some ordinary letters since it's a main part of the design. 

For example - my wife gave me Willie Nelson's autobiography a few months ago. I have in my head a corner floral in the bottom right with his name really big in the upper left.  A big W that has big scrolls, curls, tails, etc. that wind through the other letters. Does anyone have some advice on how to start learning this? Free handing this (so far) looks terrible... spacing of letters is off, consistent size, etc.  I've searched and haven't found anything - perhaps I'm using the wrong terms or something. 

[oltoot]

One way would be to browse the fonts in your word processor and when you see something you like, enlarge it to the size you want, print em out and trace onto film. The other is monogram and embroidery sites would probably be the most helpful

[ChriJ]

There's an Al Stohlman book which has different fonts and explanations of how to enlarge or reduce the size of the letters.

 

Chris

[Northmount]

Sketch out a rough draft of what you want to see, then take a look at different font and alphabet patterns to see which comes close to what you have in mind.  If you are good with a computer graphics program, you can try overlaying images captured from various sources to see what it looks like instead of doing a lot of hand sketching.  I have scanned a few alphabet patterns so I can copy single letters at a time, size them, rotate them and overlay on top of the main object.

Tom

 

[Spaceblues]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I've seen several western fonts on dafont I guess I could use if I can't sketch something out that's more artistic. 

[Thor]

Using search terms like calligraphy or fancy letters etc should return the results you're looking for. I'm having some fancy ones in one of my Pinterest boards. You can find tons of fancy letters on Pinterest and arrange them with any graphic program.

[Colt W Knight]

I find its easier to make cursive writing look nicer freehand than block letters.

[makitmama]

I find a lot of inspiration on Pinterest; try searching for typography or calligraphy - I also love http://www.fromupnorth.com/lettering-calligraphy-inspiration-1134/

I will often look for inspiration, then start designing the project a few days later. I don't want copy someone, but broaden my horizons and then find my own way.