$149.00
Foundations of Lettering Workshop + Guidebook + Optional Workbook
Learn strategies for developing a practical and uniquely personal approach to hand-lettering. Great for beginning and experienced letterers.
NOTE: This is a recording of the Foundations of Lettering workshop conducted on November 2, 2024. You will receive the PDF guidebook and a link to the Zoom recording via email within 24-48 hours after checkout. To view the recording, you need to provide the email address associated with your Zoom account. You will have unlimited access to the recording until the link expires on February 1, 2025.
PLEASE READ: By signing up to view this recording you agree to the *Terms and Conditions listed below. Taxes may apply. Unfortunately, we cannot offer non-profit tax exemptions at this time. Ensure your email address is correct before you complete purchase.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
If you’re a beginner who's new to hand-lettering, or a veteran looking to improve and expand your skills, this workshop is for you. In this in-depth information-packed class, I'll share with you the three pillars of my personal creative process that I developed from 30 years of experience working in the field. This straightforward accessible method provides a well-grounded and reliable approach for creating successful hand-lettering, for both professional and personal projects.
You’ll begin by becoming familiar with essential letter styles and their origins. We’ll also investigate their shared qualities, unique characteristics, and best applications. Once you become knowledgeable of these main historical categories, you’ll use them to form the stylistic palette from which you can repeatedly draw when creating your own lettering.
Next, you’ll discover the many visual factors that influence the appearance of letters. Not only will we consider positive shapes, but we’ll also examine how negative areas are equally important to define upper and lowercase letters. Most important, we’ll investigate the common, yet frequently overlooked, optical phenomena that affect a letter’s scale and structure. Applying these key concepts, you’ll know how to optically balance letters and words to produce lettering that exhibits a steady and attractive visual rhythm.
Finally, armed with your awareness of key concepts, you’ll learn how to uniquely interpret fundamental letter styles utilizing practical drawing and modifying techniques. Employing strategies for customizing the contours of letters and their composition, you’ll learn how to produce your own one-of-a-kind lettering for a variety of design applications.
You’ll expand your personal lettering practice with the help of a highly-illustrated PDF guidebook, in addition to informative slide presentations and instructive lettering demonstrations. You also have the option to upgrade your workshop admission to include a supplementary PDF workbook so you can continue to sharpen your skills!
In this workshop, you’ll learn how to:
• Establish a solid basis for a reliable lettering practice
• Identify and apply important lettering styles
• Form a personal stylistic palette from various sources
• Manipulate visual phenomena to shape letters
• Balance form and counterform to create even rhythm
• Modify letterforms using essential drawing techniques
• Arrange and compose attractive hand-lettered layouts
• Interpret letter styles to produce uniquely personal work
This workshop is ideal for:
• Artists of all skill levels who want to develop a personal and practical approach to lettering
• Newcomers and casual artists interested in understanding the basics of hand-drawn lettering
• Experienced letterers who want to improve and expand their skill set
• Designers looking to level up their work by adding hand-lettering to their portfolio
• Creative directors who would like to confidently hire skilled lettering artists, and improve communication with professional letterers
• Teachers who want to help students develop a dependable lettering practice
• Illustrators and other artists curious about adding hand-lettering to their work
• Students from my other lettering classes who want to dive more deeply into the foundations of successful lettering
You'll need these materials if you choose to draw along with me:
• pencils and a pencil sharpener
• an eraser
• tracing paper
• grid/graph paper
• a ruler
• a computer or other electronic device, a reliable internet connection, plus a Zoom account to watch the video recording
• access to a printer if you want to refer to a hard copy of the PDF guidebook
• You're welcome to use an iPad with Procreate, but no hardware or software instruction will be given.
• a copy of my book The Lettering Manual is strongly recommended
Hi! I'm Ken Barber, a lettering artist, type designer, educator, and author of the award-winning Lettering Manual. I blame Don Martin comics, Santa Cruz skateboard graphics, and speed metal logos for my infatuation with letterforms. For 30 years, I've produced dozens of fonts, as well as brand identities for companies worldwide—including Sandals Resorts, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Only Vegas, the city of Los Angeles, and the Broadway musical, The Cher Show. My work is in the collections of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. I'm the type director and studio letterer at House Industries, and an instructor at The Cooper Union in New York City.
*TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF TICKET PURCHASE:
1. Ownership and Usage Rights: By registering for access to this recording, you hereby agree to the following stipulations:
a. Individual Use Only: The playback of this recording is exclusively intended for the individual who has purchased a ticket and is strictly prohibited for collective, corporate, or educational group use.
b. Restricted Use of Workshop Materials: All PDF workshop materials, including guidebooks and/or workbooks, are designated solely for personal use and must not be disseminated, duplicated, in part or in whole, or otherwise shared. You are authorized to produce one single copy for your own personal reference.
c. Ownership of Workshop Materials: The Foundations of Lettering PDF guidebook and The Foundations of Lettering PDFworkbook is the exclusive property of Ken Barber.
2. Refund Policy: Due to the nature of this digital product, no refunds will be provided after purchase. It is imperative that you ensure your capability to access a reliable internet connection for viewing the workshop and receiving the PDF materials.
3. Access Expiration Date: Access to viewing the workshop will expire on February 1, 2025.
4. No Guarantee of Success or Profit: You acknowledge and agree that there is no guarantee of the ticket purchaser reaching a level of success or that you will gain any professional profit by viewing this workshop and using the class materials.
5. Non-Acceptance of Terms: Should you decline to acknowledge and abide by these terms, please do not purchase a ticket for this recording.
6. Group Use: If you require access for a group or intend to employ this material in a collective setting, please contact us to discuss group rates and request authorization for such usage.
By proceeding with the purchase of a ticket, you affirm your understanding and consent to the aforementioned terms and conditions.