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Letter Drawing and Construction

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

Moderators: Ron Percell, Mike Jackson, Danny Baronian

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James Young
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 3:51 am

Letter Drawing and Construction

Post by James Young »

Hi Guys,

I really want to get better at letter formations and specifically more flourished lettering in particular. Where does everyone find inspiration for type design. I see the likes of Dave Smith etc with beautiful lettering design and am just always astonished at the small details and overall look of such designs, I understand that he creates his own types. How do I begin to get to a stage like this? I know he and his colleagues in the industry are masters have have decades of experience but when they started how did they practice. I have books on layout etc but nothing specifically on type design mainly for glass signs or even reconstruction of reference type. Most type design material I find is just garbage modern type that gets used for websites and magazines that I imagine is just people out of university that have completed a typography course of some kind. Is it just a case of looking at a reference of say an old victorian type and free handing the design to replicate it?
Or are measurements taken of letter height/width etc taken and used to replicate the letter form? Or would I have to be formally trained in typography and basically branch out in old type design as an area of study?

Sorry for the horrible formation of all these questions am using this on Mobile.

Any help in pointing me in the right direction or any advice at all would be wonderful.

Thanks

James Young
Doug Bernhardt
Posts: 1077
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 9:29 am
Location: Ottawa Canada
Contact:

Re: Letter Drawing and Construction

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Hi James, You have really opened a box of frogs so I'll try and help as much as I can...I know Dave pretty well and have watched his progress over the years where he went from being a darn good signwriter to a top notch graphics guy. If asking "me" how I would do this I'd be sure that anyone wanting to progress to higher levels should be able to do a really good "Times or Helvetica" with brush and/or pencil....and that just might take a while. And during the time that's spent learning to accomplish this feat one will come to understand the shapes and forms a bit at a time and learn to adapt these to the style that suit "your" goals. Far be it from me to put words in Dave's mouth but he is a humble guy that was never afraid to ask advice from his mentors like Noel Weber....David Butler...Rick Glawson among others....and from what I can tell he's remains so. Another of the "things in common" with other great designers is he has a substantial design morgue or library. Books from different era's as well as notes and photos from all sorts of design realms. One of the earlier ones that I've seen in many design libraries (as a for instance) is the cigar art labels by the Davidsons. A husband and wife team. I have hundreds of different books as well and found myself thumbing through them anytime I needed a little help. You may never actually replicate what you're staring at but the "flavour" just might creep in. Mike Jackson here probably has one of the best collections although I've never actually seen it.
James Young
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 3:51 am

Re: Letter Drawing and Construction

Post by James Young »

Hi Doug,

Really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Everything you've mentioned I completely agree with. Start with the basics and build from there I guess is the foundation of all skills. I have quite a few reference books of Alphabets, monograms etc that I found on archive.org, I would love to purchase some physical copies of reference books and other such material. Have you any advice on key words I can use when searching for stuff like this. I'm probably going to be searching on ebay but will use Google also. Some stuff I've used so far are things like ephemera, vintage, Victorian, Alphabets, monograms. Any thing you could add?

I'd also like to add that Im amazed that a legend of the game such as your self has given me advice, this forum is such an underutilized place for gaining knowledge from incredibley skilled masters such as yourself. Iv noticed abit of a resurgence in hand painted/crafted signs that I'm surprised it's not crawling with people like myself.

Again, thanks very much for your time, really means a lot.

James
Doug Bernhardt
Posts: 1077
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 9:29 am
Location: Ottawa Canada
Contact:

Re: Letter Drawing and Construction

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Hi again James....now "LEGEND??" I certainly hope I'm not that but I am a fan of anyone putting their efforts into learning a fantastic craft and one I was impassioned by.

A good design library is one of those things all the great designers I know have. Mine (which is small by any comparison) started with Strong's book of Designs in 1985 which was a gift from a friend and another sign painter. From there I just checked the shops and book stores that were handy and available while travelling etc. Mike Jackson pointed me to some J.M.Bergling books which are easier to find for instance. Others just showed up while snooping at carvings and architectural references. I do know some serious collectors who use e-bay and abe books etc. Good luck on this trip.
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