APP Words: YouTube Tutorials & Videos

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I am not very experienced in hand lettering so one of the first things I did other than gather inspiration was watch some videos on YouTube. It’s surprising how many good tutorials and ‘speed paints’ there are on YouTube, and I could spend forever just watching all of the videos.

Below are some of my favourite videos and those that I find most relevant for this project. I concentrated on mainly the layout of the type and how to draw/paint/sketch different type styles such as cursive, Blackletter and sans serif. 

How to Layout Hand Lettering Tutorial

Here 'Redhead Cobweb Crafts' covers the basic principals of typography where she takes the Times New Roman typeface and mimics it, looking at where the x-height, cap-height and baseline are. Then she shows how to shade in the thick strokes as well as drawing serifs. 

In the second part of her video she shows how to layout a phrase by circling 'major words' which will help decide which words would be emphasised. What's interesting about this was that when she wrote out the words she works from the middle, out, so that each letter would be placed at an equal distance (so that the last couple of letters wouldn't be squashed to fit on the line). She briefly talks about how to do other typestyles and how to shade letters. 

Intro to Hand Lettering

Unlike the previous video, Maureen Wilson (Made by Marzipan) talks about what kind of materials to use such as the ideal paper and ink/pen choice. She also stresses the importance of analysing existing typefaces to see how thick and thin the strokes are, where they sit on the lines, how 'curvy' they are, before moving onto drawing the letters. 

She mentions how we shouldn't worry if the letters aren't perfect, because "minor flaws can add charm and interest to the piece." This was quite a relief to hear as I had been worrying about drawing my letters perfectly! 

Another aspect that separates this video from the previous one is that she briefly talks about the connotations of the type style and that, for example, for words like 'love' how it's nicer to use script. She also says the layout of the type could reflect the quote. 

Roundhand Lettering Demo by Glen Weisgerber

This video was more of a 'speed paint' rather than an actual tutorial as he just shows his process. He does talk about what products he uses whilst doing this but doesn't really teach you how to do it. It was still really useful because it's nice to see someone actually doing the hand lettering because I find it easier to learn when I watch someone actually doing it. For example, I can see how he held the brush and how fluid he had to make his paint.  

Brush Pen Lettering

This is another step-by-step process video where Matt Vergotis uses a brush pen for different type styles. Just shows you can do almost anything with it! It was nice to see someone working on a style other than script as he also tried out this 'graffiti' style. 

PILOT Parrallel Pen Test by Theosone

This was quite a lengthy video but thesone first reviews the pilot pens before using them for his Blackletter quotes. It's amazing to watch how he does it so fluidly and quickly... If only it were that easy for me to do!

I like how he actually does close-ups of his work because it shows how he holds the Pilot pen. During my experimentation with Pilot pens I had difficulty using them because I wasn't too sure how to hold them, but now I know! I would like to try experimenting with them again. 

Theosone Custom Lettering Sketch

Another process video by Theosone, but this time he shows how he lays out his words to create some sort of logo. It's a shame that he doesn't actually talk during it so I don't really know the thought process behind it, but it's nice to see someone working on lay out all the same! He produces such crisp lines which only shows how good the pencil is (0.35mm fabercastell). 

What Once Was - Hand Lettering Inking and Vectoring Process

Finally! Someone who takes this a step further to show how they do it on computer! I had been searching for a video like this for a while because I know that after I'm done with all of my sketches I would be taking it up to carry it across to a digital media. I'm still not sure whether to use Photoshop or Illustrator, but it seems that Illustrator is a popular choice for hand lettering. In this video they actually used both programs: Illustrator to clean up the type, and Photoshop to add some shadows and other effects to it. 

Lettering in Illustrator

This was a video aimed at a more advanced audience and I found it quite difficult to follow as he was obviously catering to those who know all of the shortcuts and key words of Illustrator. I'm going to try and look for 'easier' tutorials to follow nearer to the time that I finish my sketches, because then I'll know what kind of tutorials I'll be looking for. 

Conclusion:

I shall be looking at more videos in future because not only have they taught me something, but they inspire me! I absolute loved watching all of them - including the ones that were difficult to follow - because they make hand lettering so easy and I would love to be at their level one day.

Some of these videos stressed the importance of looking and analysing existing typefaces to draw up similarities between them in the way they sit on the lines, the thick and thin strokes, and also the 'angle' of which they curve at. I'll be looking through my "Logo, Font and Lettering Bible" book as well as printing out some different type styles in order to analyse them. This would help me understand everything I need to when it comes to hand lettering.

The only thing I would say is that these videos didn't really show any collaboration with illustration, so in my next post of YouTube tutorials I'll probably lean on the more illustrative side.

[n] Learning Outcome