Yep, it's more lettering! This is a more formal style so I called it 'Tuxedo'!

MARK: Day #1 – Tuxedo – Introduction

These letters are based on a 4-unit height and are drawn in three steps, which are demonstrated on each of the 4 letters in the c2c book of the week.

First, draw a basic shape for your letter. Second, draw a close line in both sides of that line on the verticals. Third, complete the rest of the letter in the same manner.

NOTE: The horizontal lines do not get the pinstripes and the curves are merged into a single line.

Practice writing this one word following the steps given. The best way to do this is to pencil in all your base letters for the whole word, phrase or sentence. Then go through with ink and draw the multiple lines on all the letters. Erase your pencil when the ink is dry.

MARK: Day #2 – Tuxedo – Upper-Case Alphabet

You can practice the step by step method for writing out this upper-case alphabet today. I would complete each line separately and then go on to the next one.

I have provided a set of numerals that coordinate with the alphabet, as well.

MARK: Day #3 – Tuxedo – Lower-Case Alphabet

Yep, we have a lower-case alphabet for this font, too.  The letter height (4 units) is divided into thirds and the x-height falls at the 2/3 mark. The descender is 2 units.

Make sure you make your tuxedo lines the same distance as you did on the upper-case.

Like the upper-case, the verticals, whether straight or curved, have the lines while the horizontals have only one line. The curves are tapered just like the upper-case letters were.

MARK: Day #4 – Tuxedo – Scripture Writing

Today, select a verse of scripture to letter using the Tuxedo Font. Use a mix of upper- and lower-case letters.

I am aware that getting the x-height at 2/3 f a 4-unit height will be a challenge. To overcome this, draw in penciled guidelines for the top, baseline and x-height before you begin.

Work on either one line at a time or the whole piece as you proceed through the steps (rather than one letter at a time). This will help you maintain consistency.

MARK: Day #5 – Tuxedo – Bible Page

For my bible page I used a full-letter height of 2 units (the lines marked in my margin). I drew very light guidelines in pencil for the baseline, letter height and x-height (2/3 of letter height).

I worked on the whole phrase at the same time through the steps. After inking and erasing the pencil, I used colored pencils to fill in the letters.

The drawing room tutorial for the week did not fit with my selected verse for lettering so I drew this lily instead, to decorate the page.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:46 AM PST

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This year of bible journaling Cover to Cover is almost over - just the four gospels left to do with lettering lessons and drawing lessons. I just share the lettering lessons here though.

So, for the book of Matthew:

MATTHEW: Day #1 – Circlets – Introduction

This alphabet is drawn upon circles – single line for the lower-case letters and stacked two high for the upper-case letters. Therefore, the first step in writing with this font is always to pencil a series of perfectly round circles.

You can see in the first line that the letters M and W use double-wide as well as double-high circle sets. In all letters, the lines swing around on the curves and then take straight lines.

For these samples, I’ve left the pencil marks in place for your reference. You will erase your own circle guides once you’ve inked the letters.

MATTHEW: Day #2 – Circlets – Alphabet

Here are the full alphabets for both upper- and lower-case letters. In the first version all of the guide circles are still in place. Following that, the pencil marks have been erased so you have a clean alphabet.

MATTHEW: Day #3 – Circlets – Word Play

Today we’re going to explore some options for using the Circlet Font. First: experiment with making some banners to contain your words. Second: try out overlapping your letters. This is a great way to fit a longer word into a smaller space. Third: drop the upper-case down (or raise the lower-case) so the center line of both is aligned.

MATTHEW: Day #4 – Circlets – Scripture Writing

For this piece where I went to scripture writing, I introduced banners in a couple of places and also worked on centering the lines of text. I used a bit of script for emphasis and then carried that over to the scripture reference.

MATTHEW: Day #5 – Circlets – Bible Page

Because I had so little text in this scripture, I did not employ any of the special features we explored this week.

I did, however, illustrate the page with some Fish from the Drawing Room tutorial.

If this alphabet looks familiar it is probably because it is a repeat from 2017. It is also a wholly original alphabet that I designed.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:45 AM PST

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Last week the font was very formal in the base style. This week it is loose and informal. Here are the lessons:

MALACHI: Day #1 – Hollowed – Introduction

We’ve covered several fonts in the Lettering Lodge that feature doubled lines. Some were based on a Basic Block Print and some were thickened on downstrokes like a faux brush script.

This one is based on a Basic Oval Print. But the twist is that the sides of the resulting posts are concave and are wider at the top than the bottom. They remind me of bell-bottom pants!

Another feature is the crossbars that are made of single-line curls and the concave line ends. Take a look at the inset box for the common marks you will be using. Practice these until you are comfortable forming them and then use them to write Malachi in both upper- and lower-case.

Note the size markings on the left side. The top line is the size of the caps, the next down is the ascender line for the full height of the lower-case. The third line is the x-height and the last one is the baseline. Although it is not marked here and not used on this introductory word, the descender line is at -1 unit.

MALACHI: Day #1 – Hollowed – Introduction

We’ve covered several fonts in the Lettering Lodge that feature doubled lines. Some were based on a Basic Block Print and some were thickened on downstrokes like a faux brush script.

This one is based on a Basic Oval Print. But the twist is that the sides of the resulting posts are concave and are wider at the top than the bottom. They remind me of bell-bottom pants!

Another feature is the crossbars that are made of single-line curls and the concave line ends. Take a look at the inset box for the common marks you will be using. Practice these until you are comfortable forming them and then use them to write Malachi in both upper- and lower-case.

Note the size markings on the left side. The top line is the size of the caps, the next down is the ascender line for the full height of the lower-case. The third line is the x-height and the last one is the baseline. Although it is not marked here and not used on this introductory word, the descender line is at -1 unit.

MALACHI: Day #3 – Hollowed – Word Play

Today we are going to write a quote about gratefulness to celebrate Thanksgiving week. Practice with both the upper-case and the lower-case letters.

I centered mine and colored inside the letters. One other thing – I made the curl too short on the first H so I added a little dot to close the gap. Then to make that dot look like it belonged, I added a dot at the end of every curl! Now it looks planned.

MALACHI: Day #4 – Hollowed – Scripture Writing

The Cover2Cover book this week is Malachi so I found a scripture from that book to write out for practice. I didn’t try to center these phrases but I went back to my usual style of using a capital letter on every word.

I filled the letters with color again.

MALACHI: Day #5 – Hollowed – In Your Bible

Friday is the day we use the new font we have learned in our bible – this time in Malachi.

Do you notice anything different about the lettering? I was using the lines printed in the margin of my bible as guides and forgot to make the ascenders for the lower-case at ¾ of the font height. After I got the whole scripture penciled in, I assessed how it looked and decided that it was acceptable to leave them taller.

Remember, YOU get to decide if there are changes you want to make to a lettering style. Just make sure you are consistent within the piece you are working on. I would not want to have some of the ascenders tall and some shorter. Keeping them all the same lends authority to the choice and makes it look like it is supposed to be that way.

The stalks of wheat were inspired by the Drawing Room lesson for this week.

I used colored pencils to make the lettering match the illustration.

Is ANYONE making use of these lettring lessons? Anyone? Anyone?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I usually combine the art from the drawing lessons I have taught with the lettering lesson of the same week, so you get to see both on one page.

One of my lessons had the need for art and another needed the text so I split them up. This is the page I used for the art lesson: a cityscape.

The city represents our going out into the world as witnesses. This is Prismacolor fineline markers with various shades of gray colored pencil.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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For the book of Acts I wanted to have a font that would enhance the stories of the coming of the Holy Spirit. I decided to begin with flames and then, later in the week, taught edits that would expand the usability of the basic font for other themes.

Here are the lessons for the week:

ACTS: Day #1 – Fiery Font – Introduction

Although there are a lot of ways these letters can be ‘accessorized’, we’re going to focus first on setting fire to them.

First, practice making little groups of flames. They are vertical with a longer point at the top than at the bottom and can be single or grouped in twos and threes with various sizes.

Then, move on to the lettering. This is a vertical font with one wide leg. There are tiny serifs as well. Following the second line below for the steps: In pencil draw the base form of the letter, add tiny serifs, add flames at the base – small singles on the thin legs and multiples on the wide legs, Ink the flames then the letter, erase pencil and add color. I color first with all yellow then add yellow-orange on 2/3 and finally add orange at the bottom.

This sample does not give a lot of practice for the lettering but you can practice the flames more if you like.

ACTS: Day #2 – Fiery Font – Alphabet

Today we’ve got the whole alphabet to practice. In addition to the vertical posts and tiny serifs you’ll note that the rounded letters are very squarish.

Note that the flames are placed free-form so you can do with yours as you wish. A consistent look in your OWN alphabet is more important than making them exactly like mine.

ACTS: Day #3 – Fiery Font – Options

On day one I talked about the versatility of this font with a variety of decorative options open to you. Below are just a few choices to try out:

1)      Add a line and a dot inside the top of every wide leg.

2)      Do the outline of the letters with color instead of black, then color in the letters.

3)      Leave off the flames, color the letters with a blue tint. Add swirls in a darker blue.

4)      Replace the flames with snowflakes, draw letters in light gray, color in light violet and use the gray to add windy swirls behind the letters.

5)      Sketch out the letters in very fine pen using double lines. Draw broken angled lines over the letters and add tiny raindrops. Color the letters in gray and add some gray ground. In the ground draw some concentric ovals for puddles.

ACTS: Day #4 – Fiery Font – Scripture Writing

Use any version we’ve practiced (or one you make up for yourself) to write a page of scripture. Be sure you are always working first in pencil and only inking when you have everything structured as you wish.

ACTS: Day #5 – Fiery Font – Bible Page

Use any version of the Fiery Font in your bible to write a scripture. I combined the lined, flame letters to represent the tongues of fire and lots of swirls to represent the violent wind mentioned in Acts 2.

I hope you will have a go at this font in one form or another.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Bouncing letters based on a serif print is what is on the table this week. Here are the lessons:

ZECHARIAH: Day #1 – Toss Up – Introduction

At first glance, this font does not look very organized or rule-oriented. In reality, there is a definite plan for the size, shape and placement of the letters. Sometimes we just choose to bend the rules.

The letter height is 4 units. The size of the x-height is between 2 and 3 units (it varies by letter). All of the letters have ONE thickened stroke and the thickness of that stroke is consistent from letter to letter. All stroke ends have serifs. For the most part, the thick strokes’ serifs sit more squarely while the single stroke’s serifs are mostly angled.

Have fun writing this word while you wait for the full alphabet.

ZECHARIAH: Day #2 – Toss Up – Alphabet

Yesterday we were introduced to the general rules for this alphabet:  The letter height is 4 units. The size of the x-height is between 2 and 3 units (it varies by letter). All of the letters have ONE thickened stroke and the thickness of that stroke is consistent from letter to letter. All stroke ends have serifs. For the most part, the thick strokes’ serifs sit more squarely while the single stroke’s serifs are mostly angled.

Now you get to see the full-meal-deal. You’ll note that many of the letters end in curls, which we did not see yesterday. Also, the letters were presented in their ‘tossed’ state on that one word. Here in the alphabet they are all sitting nicely on their baseline. This will allow you to learn the letter shapes and relative sizes more easily. We’ll get back to tossing them tomorrow.

ZECHARIAH: Day #3 – Toss Up – Options

Now that we understand how the letters relate to one another in a ‘normal’ sense, we’re going to start breaking the rules a few at a time. Just make incremental changes – you want there to still be enough consistency to make it understandable as a style that hangs together.

Things I don’t change: keeping the thickened lines a consistent width and making sure letters have the appropriate serifs.

Try out these options for practice.

ZECHARIAH: Day #4 – Toss Up – Scripture Writing

Today we’re going to write a scripture from Zechariah on paper for practice in applying some of the options we learned about yesterday. So, what did I change on this piece?

                                   Upper/Lower case                  Off baseline

                                   Tilted letters                            Size varies

                                   Color outline                            Color fill

That’s a lot of changes and yet, it all hangs together because of those few consistencies (line width, serifs, curls).

Write up your own scripture piece, incorporating as many options as you wish.

ZECHARIAH: Day #5 – Toss Up – Bible Page

And now we get to use the Toss Up Font in our bibles. (I used it in my ESV Interleaved, which is why there is no scripture background). I used the same options as yesterday except there is not a colored outline on the letters.

I combined my lettering with aDrawing Room lesson on the Mason Jar.

Did you know the drawing lessons are free to all? Go to Creative-Bible-Journaling.com and look for the menu called Drawing Room. LOTS of tutorials there.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Right on time for a lettering lesson working in the book of Romans. Here are the lessons for the week:

ROMANS: Day #1 – U-Turn Font – Introduction

It’s been a couple of years since this font was introduced on CBJ but it is unique and I thought it was time to see it again. Today we will just write out the bible book name in upper- and in lower-case. To assist in this, there is a set of instructions at the bottom of the page that defines the ‘rule’ for drawing out this style.

Anywhere you would normally create a loop in a letter or re-trace the path of a stroke, it becomes a side-by-side double stroke.

ROMANS: Day #2 – U-Turn Font – Alphabet

Remember the basic rule from yesterday?  Anywhere you would normally create a loop in a letter or re-trace the path of a stroke, it becomes a side-by-side double stroke. Also note the shape of the leading stroke on many of the letters (F, H, I, J, K, V, W, X, Z) and practice this separately until you can reproduce it consistently. There is another less complicated beginning stroke on others (B, D, M, N, P, R) and another on U and Y.

Your overall letter height is 5 units and the x-height is at 2 units. The descender is at -2 units. It is not as important to make your letters this tall as it is to keep your x-height below the midpoint.

ROMANS: Day #3 – U-Turn Font – Loop Practice

Because the consistency of the loop width is the most important feature of this font, today we’re going to work only on that. The drill will be to create flowers and leaves using consistently spaced looping lines.

ROMANS: Day #4 – U-Turn Font – Scripture Writing

Now that we’ve got consistent looping lines and have practiced on those leading features, it’s time to put this font to work.

Use the U-Turn Font to write out a scripture from Romans. Mine is chapter one, verse sixteen.

ROMANS: Day #5 – U-Turn Font – Bible Page

Today we get to use the new font in our bible. I will point out that I broke one rule right away! I pulled the x-height up to the midpoint. It was much easier to get the lettering consistent as I could utilize the lines printed in the margin for alignment.

I combined my verse with the camera from the Drawing Room lesson for this week.

This is actually a revisiting of a font that I taught back in 2018. But it is worth another look.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Trying to cover 66 books of the Bible in 52 weeks means that sometimes books have to be combined. Occastionally these were books like 1 Kings and 2 Kings, but sometimes it was just shorter books without enough meat to do a whole study on.

This was one of those times where 2 old testament books were combined. Here are the lettering lessons:

Zephaniah/Haggai: Day #1 – Split Column – Intro

This is a three-unit font with round bowls. It is based on the basic round print we learned the first week of 2019 (Genesis). This informs the shape of the base letters. Then the upright strokes are split into an open column (closed columns on curves) and are finished with small serifs.

Practice on these two bible books while you study the letters for styling details. Try to identify as many as you can on your own and we’ll have a quiz tomorrow and the next!

Zephaniah/Haggai: Day #2 – Split Column – Upper Case

Did you work on identifying styling details as you practiced yesterday? Let’s see how you did…

-          All upright columns have (open/closed) ends.

-          Curved columns have (open/closed) ends.

-          Size of serifs is (large/small).

-          Overall letter height is (2/3/4) units.

-          Serifs extend (inside/outside) columns.

OK, these are kind of obvious when shown this way, but it does get you to inspect the letters.

Practice the upper-case alphabet from the sample.

Zephaniah/Haggai: Day #3a – Split Column – Lower Case

Ready for your second quiz? This one may be a little harder.

-          The overall letter height is (2/3/4) units.

-          The x-height is at (2/3/4) units.

-          The descender is at (-1/-2) units.

-          The straight ends of columns are (open/closed).

-          The curved ends of columns are (open/closed).

-          The upper-right serifs are (longer/shorter/missing).

-          The bowls of the letters are (round/oval).

-          I can refer back to the lesson in (Genesis/Revelation) for the basic round font.

-          I know of different letter forms for (a/g).

Now practice writing the lower-case. How much of it can you write correctly by ONLY looking at your quiz notes instead of the sample?

Zephaniah/Haggai: Day #3b – Split Column – Numbers

Here is a bonus for day 3 – a set of numbers. I followed SOME of the rules and broke some of the rules to combine elements of both upper- and lower-case letters.

The numbers are the same height as the upper-case (3 units) but are more oval in shape than the round letters.

Zephaniah/Haggai: Day #4 – Split Column – Scripture

Now that we know all the theories and the rules and have practiced on the alphabets, we’re going to use our Split Column font to write scripture.

I chose a verse in Zephaniah and combined upper/lower case words and a full upper-case word. I used basic round font for the reference and it looks perfect with this text.

Zephaniah/Haggai: Day #5 – Split Column – Bible Page

It’s the day to use our new font in our bibles. Today we’re going to Haggai 2:4.

Because I was including birch trees as a background illustration, I used tiny shading dashes across the columns from the right to the left to mimic the bark. Now my lettering becomes tiny birch trees!

Aren't these neat trees? I taught how to draw them on the Creative-Bible-Journaling.com website in the Drawing Room.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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On to 2 Corinthians with the lettring lessns. Ready?

2 CORINTHIANS: Day #1 – Signage Font – Intro

This is another font that looks complicated but is actually easy, although time consuming. To get you going on this style we start with a step-by-step guide.

1)      Working with 4-unit letters, draw (in pencil) the basic block letter.

2)      Add the curls for that letter.

3)      Give the letter the indicated triangle serifs. Except for the A and the H the left side of the letter also gets a pointed protrusion at the mid-line.

4)      Add broken shadow lines to the left and bottom of all elements.

5)      In the letter and fill. Erase pencil.

Use these steps to complete all the letters in the book name. I did not label this as 2^nd Corinthians since there are no numbers in this font.

2 CORINTHIANS: Day #2 – Signage Font – Alphabet

Before tackling the full alphabet, I want you to practice the common curl formats. They are similar but vary in their placement, orientation and size. I have indicated the letters that each curl will be used on. Scan through the alphabet and identify them.

Make some guidelines 4 units high and mark the midline at 2 units. The latter will indicate where your left protrusion is placed and will also assist in getting the correct size for the curls.

I make each letter completely in pencil down to the last detail before moving on to the next letter. Then I scan the entire alphabet for consistency and. Finally, I ink the whole page.

2 CORINTHIANS: Day #3 – Signage Font – Lower Case

The lower-case for this style is still all caps. But these do not have curls on them and they are half the height of the upper case.

Follow the same steps to design your letters as with the upper case. These letters still have the serifs, left-side protrusions and broken line shadows.

2 CORINTHIANS: Day #4 – Signage Font – Options

With just a few changes you can spice up your letters for a whole different feel. Use the samples below to try out some options.

1)      Trace and fill your letters with metallic pen (perhaps gel pen?). Use a very fine black pen for the broken lines. You can’t tell on this scan, but the gold metallic pen is colored over with glitter gel pen.

2)      Do not add any broken lines. Instead, use white pen to add small highlights to the upper right of the elements. This adds dimension.

3)      Instead of thin broken lines, use a thick metallic shadow on the left and bottom.

4)      Use the lower-case letters without any shadow lines. This almost has a western feel to it.

2 CORINTHIANS: Day #5 – Signage Font – Bible Page

When using the Signage Font in my bible, I used upper- and lower-case together. The upper-case is filled with blue glitter gel pen and the lower-case with green. This was to reflect the colors in the illustration.

The illustration is frcolored with metallic colored pencils.

I have been having so much fun finding fonts to teach.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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1 CORINTHIANS: Day #1 – Foldover Font – Intro

It may be a challenge to tackle this word without some guidance on letter formation so here are some things to watch for: 1) The letters are 4 units high and usually 2 units wide. The I is only one unit wide and the M and W are 3 units wide. 2) There are no sharp corners. They are either gently rounded or very rounded. 3) There is usually a center spine that is very thin. 4) The structural elements of the letters are just narrower than 1 unit.

Here is a step-by-step on forming one letter. All of the letters will be formed with these same steps: a) draw a guide box 2x4. b) draw in a thin spine top to bottom. c) draw in any deep curves on the outline. d) define the ends of the spine. e) draw in foldovers. f) gently round ends of elements. g) trace letter in ink. h) erase pencil.

1 CORINTHIANS: Day #2 – Foldover Font – Alphabet

Use the pointers and the lettering guide from yesterday to write out the full alphabet. There is no lower-case in this style so we will learn a complementary lower-case tomorrow.

1 CORINTHIANS: Day #3 – Foldover Font – Lowercase

   I have also included some 3-unit numbers and they also feature unnaturally high or low elements.

1 CORINTHIANS: Day #4 – Foldover Font – Practice

1 CORINTHIANS: Day #5 – Foldover Font – Bible Page

If you wish, use color medium to do a fill on your Foldover letters.

I think this font is so much fun!

Ddd

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This week we covered three books of the old testament with one lettering style. Here are the lessons:

3 O.T. BOOKS: Day #1 – Shield Font – Alphabet

We usually start our lessons with practicing just the name of the book but there are so many of the letters contained in these (9 of the 26) that I decided to go straight to the alphabet today and have you use the book names as practice tomorrow.

This alphabet is 4 units high and 2 units wide. The exceptions are the I and J, as usual. There are a few tight curves (B, O, Q) but most of them are large sweeping curves. The A and H feature double crossbars.

The upper case is distinguished by three small circles. These mostly sit inside the letter but in a few cases replace a portion of a line (I, J, M, T). Numbers have similar characteristics and the lower case has no small circles.

3 O.T. BOOKS: Day #2 – Shield Font – Word Practice

Here are the three books of the Old Testament that are covered this week. This practice page will give you a feel for using the ‘upper-case’ only as the leading letter in each word.

I think the C, U, E are all good examples of why I named this font ‘shield’.

3 O.T. BOOKS: Day #3 – Shield Font – Play Time

Today I want you to practice your letters while adding some variety.

1)  -    Use colored markers to write the letters in a variety of hues. I used a rainbow order for mine.

2) -     Use a standard plain color (black or gray) for the letters and colors for the dots.

3) -     Use the full-size letters for capitals and shrink by one unit for the lower-case.

4)  -    Draw an arched top and a straight baseline then stretch your letters vertically to fill the space.

Your lettering never has to be boring!

3 O.T. BOOKS: Day #4 – Shield Font – Scripture

For more practice, choose a scripture in one of the featured books to write out in the Shield Font. Use any form of the alphabet that we practiced this week. I used all-caps and filled my circles and crossbars with color

3 O.T. BOOKS: Day #5 – Shield Font – Bible Page

This is the day we take the new font to our Bibles. I got quite a bit of text fitted in by using two lines in my margin guides. For longer words you may have to change the scale slightly, making the letters skinnier than the norm. If you do that, be consistent throughout.

I used the same lettering for the scripture reference on this page, too.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I really love finding new fonts, studying them to identify the features that make them unique and figuring out how to reproduce them in hand-lettering. Then I like finding just the right place to use it in my bible.

Here is another lesson that I produced to do just that:

JONAH: Day #1 – Watery – Introduction

It may not be obvious but all three of these lines are the SAME script! We are working on a 3-unit grid with the x-height at exactly the center.

First, write the word standing upright in its natural stance. Then on another set of guides, draw some slanted lines at an extreme angle. These are at 45 degrees. Use these slanted guides to get the slant of the script consistent when writing out the focus word: Jonah.

JONAH: Day #2 – Watery – Alphabet Uppers

First, write out the upright version of the upper-case letters to learn the letter formation. Note all the little curls on these! Then, make your slanted guidelines and rewrite the alphabet with the letters slanted with the guides.

JONAH: Day #3 – Watery – Alphabet Lowers

Today’s lesson is the same as yesterday’s except with the lower-case. The curls are much more prominent on the lower-case alphabet.

Draw the guides and the upright letters. Then draw the slant guides and use them to tilt your script alphabet.

JONAH: Day #4 – Watery – Stretched Script

Now that we have learned the letter formations we are going to write with the script in its slanted form.

Begin each line with a curved leader and continue the line between words. Finish with a curved tail.

Make the word transitions stretched out and smooth.

JONAH: Day #5 – Watery – Bible Page

We get the big finish as we use this watery script in our bibles. Use the slanted, stretched out script to write out a scripture. You’ll note that some letters are unrecognizable in the connected state (upper-case I). If you wish, try making another form of the letter you like better.

Use a range of light-to-dark teal and blue pencils to make solid coloring directly under the words, fading as you go down. The tops of the words are not colored, nor are the insides of loops.

Amazing how this looks like waves in the water!

Ddd

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As our group is working on journaling in the bible 'cover to cover' the goal is to have something done in every book by the end of the year. We are alternating between Old Testament front to back and New Testament back to front. Since there are many more Old Testament books, sometimes a set of short ones will be combined into one week. So this week we did various activities in Joel, Amos and Obadiah. (I misspelled Obadiah in several places throughout my samples!)

Here is the lettering lesson for the week:

JOEL/AMOS/OBADIAH: Day 1 – Flourish – Introduction

This is probably the fanciest font we have introduced here in the Lettering Lodge. But it, too, is not really as complicated as it looks – just several steps to get you there.

Follow along with the basic building process shown on the letter ‘A’.

Do the same steps on the ‘J’ and the ‘O’ and write in the rest of the words in script. Note relative size and placement of script letters.

JOEL/AMOS/OBEADIAH: Day #2 – Flourish – Alphabet

The Flourish alphabet has a few elements that are common across multiple letters. These are the bones that make the alphabet cohesive. First practice these structures – you will recognize them when you are making your letter skeletons. Follow the step-by-step shown for the letter ‘A’ as you draw EVERY letter in the alphabet.

JOEL/AMOS/OBADIAH: Day #3 – Flourish – Lower-Case

The lower-case alphabet used with the Flourish capitals is a delicate script with faux-brush styling. Note that this is built on the same framework as the upper-case (4 units high) but the baseline is raised one unit and the x-height is at the midline. The ascender is ½ unit lower than the full 4^th unit.

Draw base letter with pencil, ink it, then draw a second line along the downstrokes and fill in with pen. Erase pencil.

When this is combined with the Flourish font it creates an elegant word.

JOEL/AMOS/OBADIAH: Day #4 – Flourish – Practice

Today, select a verse from one of the three featured books and letter it using the Flourish font. Don’t you love the way this looks?

I made the flowers and trimmings with a dark purple marker and brushed over them with a lighter purple to create a ‘glow’. This was done before inking the letters.

JOEL/AMOS/OBADIAH: Day #5 – Flourish – Bible Page

Create a bible page in one of the featured books using the Flourish font. My words were short so I was able to keep the original scale of 4 units using the lines in my margin.

For the flowers and trimmings, I drew them in using black and then used a bleed-free marker to color over them.

The lighthouse is from this week’s Drawing Room.

Whew! That is some intensive lettering - doable but time consuming. But isn't it awesome when it is done?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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After using this style of lettering on a couple of recent projects I decided I wanted to do a full set of lessons so that YOU could do it too!

GALATIANS: Day 1 – Unicals – Introduction

This week’s lettering is an old-fashioned style that looks complicated to duplicate. But it is really based on a basic oval. And since the flourishes share common elements it is really quite easy to accomplish.

Here are step-by-step guides to get you through writing the sample word for this week: Galatians.

GALATIANS: Day 2 – Unicals – Alphabet

For this alphabet you can see there are basically the ‘round’ letters and the ‘straight’ letters. I’ve given you a red guide for each that will show you what your basis will be. This is followed by the addition of the elements that turn it into a completed letter.

There are a few things to point out that unify the letters. The curved letters have a bulging line that comes to a rounded point along the midline. Only a few straight lines have a bulge (A, K, X, Z). These are always on a single line, not a double. These letters have serifs. Sometimes they are dipped (tops of B, D, N, M, P). Some are angled (C, G, S). Then there are triangles (L, T, Z). Watch for the teardrop ends on A, B, D, G, J, K, N, P, R, U and X.

Finally, there are two letters that are truly unique but are in keeping with the original uncial alphabet. These would be E and W. If you truly don’t like these, change them up. The E could have the long right bar removed and replaced with two angled ends like the C. The W could be replaced by an inverted M.

GALATIANS: Day 3 – Unicals – Practice Words

Practice writing a phrase or scripture with the new alphabet. In your Pencil-Ink-Erase methods, actually draw in the ovals and the posts to begin with as it will help with not only your letter formation, but your spacing as well. Try using a color fill on your letters.

GALATIANS: Day 4 – Unicals – Scripture Writing

Work on making larger and smaller versions of the letters as well as centering. Do you find it easier to write the letters now? You should be getting a feel for where the various style elements fit in which will make it easier to write. Did you change out those Es and Ws?

Do you have a gold gel pen? If so, use that for your letter fills. This is a style that will especially benefit from it.

GALATIANS: Day 5 – Unicals – Bible Page

Because of all that practice, the writing of this long block of text went fairly quickly. I did compress some letters in ‘deceived’ and ‘mocked’ so I would not cover too much of the text. This time, I used a silver glitter gel pen for the letter fills.

Find a scripture in your bible, Galatians if possible, to use this font. This page also uses the dandelions from the Drawing Room lesson of the week.

Give this one a try!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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On we go with lettering lessons every week. This week we are up to Hosea with these lessons:

HOSEA: Day #1 – Overstated Serifs – Introduction

The base shapes for this new lettering style come from the Basic Oval Print. From there, double lines have been added and the serifs are hugely overstated.

This sample uses a letter height of 5 units with an x-height of 3 units. Other options will be explored as we progress through the week.

HOSEA: Day #2 – Overstated Serifs – Alphabet

This page of letters was done without the dot-grid paper. This will help you get a feel for the letter relationships which is much more important than having exact measurements. For example, you may wish to have the double lines wider or thinner, you may want the actual letters wider or thinner, or you may want the x-height to be higher or lower. Make it your own! You can write up the alphabet with any of these options knowing that you can change to a different formula when you use it in a project. Color is optional at this stage.

HOSEA: Day #3 – Overstated Serifs – Options

Today we are going to incorporate some of the changes we discussed yesterday. So write out the words that describe the options being demonstrated.

This is a great font to use with simple pattern doodles, to experiment with color, to toss about off the baseline and to mix cases. You can also experiment here with those size variations. If you think of more options, write them out and give it a try.

HOSEA: Day #4 – Overstated Serifs – Scripture Work

Use one or more of your variations (or the original alphabet) to write up a scripture from Hosea. I am loving those curls on the descenders of the y and g, the tails of the R and the arms of the f and r.

Don’t forget to use capitals on all of the initial letters of the words. It adds continuity and gives you more practice on the upper-case.

HOSEA: Day #5 – Overstated Serifs – In Your Bible

For my bible page I varied the letter sizes slightly, tossed them off the baseline and colored them with a range of teals and blues. I combined the verse in Hosea with the lesson from the Drawing Room (raindrops).

And in the drawing lesson for the week, I taught them how to do the raindrops!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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This week, the lettering lessons are from the book of Daniel.

DANIEL: Day #1 – Jubilant Script – Introduction

The lettering this week is a combination of styles, including some invented forms! The lower-case is a fairly straight-forward upright round script (at least in the letters in our sample word.) A few more creative forms will appear in the full alphabet tomorrow.

The upper-case is a very carefree, casual style in which some letters are wide and some narrow. The one thing the all have in common is the little ‘hook’.

The relationship between the cases is extreme. Upper-case is four units while lower-case has an x-height of one unit, an ascender of three units and a descender of one unit.

Somehow it all works!

DANIEL: Day #2 – Jubilant Script – Alphabet

DANIEL: Day #3 – Jubilant Script – Writing Practice

The best way to become comfortable with this lettering style is to just use it. This gives practice with letter formation, letter and word spacing, and letter connections.

Since the casual style of the upper-case is really the feature, when you are writing out blocks of text, use capitals to begin all words.

DANIEL: Day #4 – Jubilant Script – Scripture Writing

This alphabet usually calls for lots of practice before it starts feeling natural. Are you remembering our lettering mantra: Pencil-Ink-Erase? Drawing (sketching) the letters in pencil first lets you make adjustments and corrections in the forms and the spacing until it is just like you want it. Inking over the penciled lines trains your eye and brain to learn the forms and write them more naturally. Erasing the pencil makes your work ready for presentation.

Choose a scripture from Daniel to write using this week’s ‘Jubilant’ script.

DANIEL: Day #5 – Jubilant Script – Bible Page

This lettering style makes a good choice for a quotation because it looks more like personal handwriting. It is that mix between the overstated casualness of the upper-case and the slightly more formal lower-case. It just looks spontaneous!

I used a paraphrase of Daniel’s declaration in my Bible, along with this week’s Drawing Lesson of the ‘lion’.

Another week completed.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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You may wonder why I label all of these lettering lessons as 'Bible Journaling' instead of 'Lettering'. It is simple, really. If it weren't for the bible journaling, I wouldn't be teaching lettering. Also, I use the bible for all of the samples. And further, the final part of the lesson is always a page from my bible that I completed with the lettering lesson.

This time the book featured is Ephesians.

EPHESIANS: Day #1 – Versals – Introduction

This lettering style is another that requires a step-by-step process for completion. It is called ‘versals’ and was introduced by Joanne Fink in her book Complete Guide to Bible Journaling. The steps are illustrated in the graphic below:

1)      In pencil, write out your word in basic upper-case print with indented wide serifs.

2)      Draw on each side of the lines to create concave shapes that meet with the serifs.

3)      Use ink to trace the outside lines of your newly created letters. Erase pencil.

4)      Use fine pen to doodle on the letters however you wish. Color as desired.

Today, practice writing the word EPHESIANS by following the four steps.

EPHESIANS: Day #2 – Versals – Alphabet

The full alphabet is to be considered an idea guide rather than a pattern this week. Since your own printing in the first step will likely be different than mine, your finished letters will most certainly be different.

When you get to the stage of doodling, try to come up with a variety of ideas. When you are using the letters in a project the doodles can be switched out to fit a theme, replicated throughout to add continuity or just be random.

I added script words underneath my samples to serve as inspiration for the doodles and to make the page more decorative. It is not part of the exercise, though.

EPHESIANS: Day #3 – Versals – Practice Words

This is a demonstration of how your original printing can affect the outcome of your finished piece. On the first three lines I used a very basic print, first in three units then in four units.

On the last three lines I intentionally varied the size of the printing and exaggerated their shapes. Look how much more relaxed this text becomes. I also practiced creating more doodle styles to build up my catalog of choices.

EPHESIANS: Day #4 – Versals – Creative Application

I wanted to explore other ways to use these fun letters, beyond just printing blocks of text. I first laid out lines for the spacing of the shelves and then drew the letters with wider than normal spacing between them. Then I Drew the pots around the letters, varying the heights, and finally, added a variety of plants.

I used four reddish-browns for the pots and colored the letters solid, regardless of their doodle patterns. A variety of greens for the plants brings this scripture into focus.

EPHESIANS: Day #5 – Versals – Bible Page

I really think the versals look better in large format lettering as the doodles are more easily seen. Shrinking down to this size can make them appear cluttered. I try to alleviate that by coloring in solidly instead of focusing on the doodling.

This lettering style works well in a vertical format as you can see. The artist palette is from the weekly Drawing Room tutorial.

So there you have it - another week of lessons and a new style of lettering for you to try.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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A new lettering lesson is in the queue for today:

EZEKIEL: Day #1 – Full Hearts – Intro

Here is another font based on the Basic Block Print. We are working in the book of Ezekiel this week so I have written out the book name in the new font.

This looks a little complicated so I’ll show you how easy it is to do (second graphic). There are 5 steps. 1) In pencil, draw a heart that is 5 units wide and 3 ½ units tall. The top point drops down ½ unit. 2) a rectangle that is 3 units tall and 2 units wide is layered over the heart at an angle. 3) Use the rectangle as a size guide to construct your block letter. 4) With ink, trace the outer edge of the heart and the outline of the letter where it rests inside the heart. Leave the overhanging parts of the letter (outside the heart) as unfinished lines. 5) erase the pencil guides.

EZEKIEL: Day #2 – Full Hearts – Alphabet

Here is a repeat of the instructions on constructing these letters. For consistency, I cut a heart hollow out of a piece of paper as well as the correct measurement of the rectangle. Then I could simply trace these ‘stencils’ with my pencil.

There are 5 steps, shown in the first graphic. 1) In pencil, draw a heart that is 5 units wide and 3 ½ units tall. The top point drops down ½ unit. 2) a rectangle that is 3 units tall and 2 units wide is layered over the heart at an angle. 3) Use the rectangle as a size guide to construct your block letter. 4) With ink, trace the outer edge of the heart and the outline of the letter where it rests inside the heart. Leave the overhanging parts of the letter (outside the heart) as unfinished lines. 5) erase the pencil guides.

EZEKIEL: Day #3 – Full Hearts – Crossword

Generally, you would not be writing out whole words with a font as complicated as this – although a title on a page or a keyword might be done. But I wanted you to get lots of practice, so today we will make a crossword.

EZEKIEL: Day #4 – Full Hearts – Scripture Writing

For writing out this scripture, I used the Full Hearts font as the first letter of each word and completed the remainder in 1x2 simple upper-case letters.

EZEKIEL: Day #5 – Full Hearts – Bible Page

The use of the font in my bible page is similar to yesterday’s scripture page. There are, however, three distinctions: 1) the hearts are tilted a bit, this way and that. 2) the hearts are colored as a background to the letters, which makes them easier to read. 3) I finished the words in script instead of print which adds more formality.

The heart from the Drawing Room was done on vellum, cut out and glued down with a dry adhesive.

That is quite a unique lettering style is it not?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Next lettering lesson is due and we've worked our way to Lamentations. Here are the 5 days of lessons:

LAMENTATIONS: Day #1 – Art Deco – Intro

The alphabet font we will focus on this week is based on the Basic Oval Print but is really a half-oval. You do not notice the overall styling too much in the upper case (at least with the letters used today). But you can definitely see the ‘art deco’ make its self-evident when we work in the lower case.

Work with an overall letter height of four units. Crossbars fall at the ¾ mark or down at the ¼ mark. The upper-case ‘I’ gets serifs even though this is not a serif font.

Try out these two words for a start and we’ll jump into the full alphabet tomorrow.

LAMENTATIONS: Day #2 – Art Deco – Alphabet

There’s that classic art deco look. Yesterday we did not see any styling evident in the upper-case letters we used, but now you’ll take note of the classic sweeping curves that open the B, D, P and R. The J and K share a different sort of opening sweep. Note the little overhangs where a half-oval crosses a straight line.

As to scale, the x-height is 3 units of the overall height of 4 units. The descender is only 1 unit.

Once again, we get a full set of numbers with this font.

LAMENTATIONS: Day #3 – Art Deco – Hymn Lyrics

A fun way to practice getting the letter spacing and word spacing correct is to write lyrics to hymns. Did you realize that some of the lyrics to Great Is Thy Faithfulness come from Lamentations? Here it is from the King James Bible: Lamentations 3:22-23 - It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

When writing blocks of text, I like to use Upper-case to begin every word.

LAMENTATIONS: Day #4 – Art Deco – Scripture

Today we will write another block of text – this time a scripture from Lamentations. With the scripture reference you get to practice working on a smaller scale – 2 units high with 1 ½ units as the x-height.

LAMENTATIONS: Day #5 – Art Deco – Bible Page

For this bible page in Lamentations I shrank my letters down to 2 units. You can actually get a lot of text in this font as it is compressed horizontally by nature.

My scripture selection worked well with the magnifying glass from the weekly Drawing Room lesson.

Have YOU tried any of these lettering lessons?

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 10:24 PM PDT

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We’re in for a real adventure this week!

PHILIPPIANS: Day #1 – Funky Print – Introduction

The alphabet we are creating to play with this week is based on the Basic Round Print. So you can easily see that relationship, I have written out the basic followed by the Funky Print with all the bells and whistles.

You can decorate your letters as you wish but do try to make changes from one letter to another to maintain the funky feeling.

PHILIPPIANS: Day #2 – Funky Print – Alphabet

Although this entire alphabet is based on the Basic Round Print, it is only a jumping off point. Many of the letter shapes have changed to suit the slightly whacky style. For instance, the ‘g’ and ‘q’ do not descend below the baseline and have severe curves in their stems. Both of the ‘j’s have a distinct back slant and the ‘u’s are almost closed at the top.

Begin by writing the Basic Round Print in pencil. Make changes to the letter shapes as you wish, then ink the NEW basic shapes with a very heavy pen. Finally, use a very fine tip pen to make funky decorations on your letters. To create some unity, I used some elements repeatedly (stripes, dots, triangles, flags, squiggles).

If you don’t like the way I have decorated a letter, just change it to suit yourself.

PHILIPPIANS: Day #3 – Funky Print – Going Digital

A crazy alphabet deserves an equally craze set of numbers. Note that these numerals use many of the same decorative elements as the alphabet.

PHILIPPIANS: Day #4 – Funky Print – Write It Out

This is the perfect alphabet to bounce off the baseline. Because of all the wild decorations I wanted to find a way to have a little bit of control so it would not look sloppy. I found that raising every other letter one unit off the baseline worked very well.  Capitals and full-height lower-case letters are not bounced. I also added a bit of slant here and there. You could also add color for even more fun.

Your assignment today is to use your funky letters to write a scripture from Philippians for practice.

PHILIPPIANS: Day #5 – Funky Print – Bible Page

The task for today is to use your new Funky Print to journal a scripture in your bible. I used Philippians 3:14 and combined it with the trophy cup from this week’s Drawing Room tutorial.

There is much less bounce used here than on yesterday’s journal page. Instead, I used slanted letters and occasionally made a few letters smaller to accommodate the long words in the narrow margin. The good news is that, with this font, it allows a lot of leeway while still looking good.

What a ride!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 9:57 PM PDT

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