advancing to all of the six running “c” letters. It’s helpful to make a running “c” and then enter into an “a”--another running “c” and enter into a “c”--another running “c” and enter into a “d”-- etc., etc. It will soon become apparent to you that these six letters are nothing more than running “c’s” with a leg or a tail on them. This is a good practice drill because it challenges your mind to think ahead. While airbrush lettering in script you will find it necessary to plan the entry of the next letter just a tad be- fore finishing the letter you’re working on. You will begin to find that hand lettering is a mental challenge as well as a physical one. Practice and experience is the only way to gain success to pretty script lettering.
When you come to a letter with a tail or a loop as in the letters “f-g-j-p-q-y-z”, it’s always best to stop your letter before finishing the loop (there are times when you don’t finish the loop of a letter until the entire word has been lettered). I would never ad- vise continuing the loop stroke into the next letter because this always throws you out of rhythm and ruins your spacing. Stop after dropping the tail down and continue with the next letter all fresh and new--when the word is completed take a step back, let your mind catch up and consider what the most creative way would be to handle the loop--it often looks very attractive to take this opportunity to underline the whole word. Concerning legs (upward strokes) and tails (downward strokes or loops) it’s been my experience that legs look nice if they’re at least one size taller than the main body of the letter, while on the other hand, tails or loops look much better if they’re at least twice as long as the main body of the letter. This is not something etched in stone but I’ve found it makes a pretty let- ter for me.
Your entry into a letter determines the success of each letter, while spacing of each letter determines the success of a word in its entirety. Proper spacing needs to be discussed before ad- vancing on to the remaining twenty letters. This is a sample sheet to be copied in your practice. I will tell you that in order to make a nice looking oval without it being in a row of other connecting letters, you will have to take more than one pass at it. With the ones I have here I counted 2-3 passes before I ended up with a pretty enough oval. Running “c’s” are differ- ent (as well as any connecting script letters) and with practice you should be able to make one after another without returning for too much correction. You try to go into the first letter with confidence and if you’ve got enough practice under your belt, the other “c’s” will catch the spirit and follow right along, all little clones of each other.
Another helpful drill is a run of “n’s”. This teaches you a lot about your straight lines at a slant and it still maintains smooth flow- ing, graceful, evenly spaced letters. Running “n’s” is also a great way to teach you how to double stroke your letters in order to give you thick and thin lettering.
I’ve included a picture of running “n’s” before and after they’ve been double stroked. You will notice a big difference between the two and once again you will find that double stroking your letters takes practice and shows experience. Some artists (in- cluding myself) make a skeleton thin lettered word and then
Spacing letters properly is one of the most important elements of good hand lettering. You must never cramp a letter you can sometimes stretch letters with limited success, but it’s foolhar- dy to squeeze a letter. It chokes the life right out of the letter itself and makes the word terribly unattractive. I have found that each letter should be allowed as much space as a running “c” or a running “n” would use. Your lettering can be tall and skinny if your painting area is small, or big and fat if you have a large amount of room to work in, but whichever you choose you must always be certain each letter has it’s own space. When you are new to lettering count how many spaces you will need. If you need eight letters to complete a word make absolutely sure that there is room for 8 running “c’s” and you will insure success. If you have not left enough space you will have to re-adjust the size of the letters and mea- sure your running “c’s” again. Unless you have allowed a space for each and every letter you are doomed to failure. On the up- side there’s nothing prettier than a name or a word lettered in script, well executed with control and proper spacing. The 3rd. example sheet shows how each letter uses the same space as a running “c”, so if with practice you acquire the neces- sary control that it takes to develop graceful swing and you can letter a pretty row of running “c’s”, you will be able to hand letter the script alphabet with ease. I must bring attention to the
come back to double stroke, but I have seen young artists that were so sharp they handled the job in one pass. It takes a lot of mental thought but it’s just a matter of going up thin and com- ing down thick.
Just remember that any stroke going up is THIN and any stroke coming down is THICK. Completing this with one pass is a lot easier said than done.
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