In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
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In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
Procrastiwork is a term I made up to describe the work that I do when I’m putting off the work I’m supposed to be doing. It originated from an interview I gave in 2008 on a website called Humble Pied—I was asked to give one piece of advice to other designers, and the advice I gave was, “The work you do while you’re procrastinating is probably the w
... See moreJessica Hische • In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
The image above is a sketch I drew in Photoshop with a Wacom Cintiq (a display and stylus that lets you directly draw on the screen). For a few months I was obsessed with this magical device and abandoned my sketchbooks. Over time, I found that clients reacted differently to these more finalized looking designs—they scrutinized them more intensely,
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The steps that I established for myself are straightforward: (1) research and brainstorm, (2) explore thumbnails, (3) sketch, and (4) create the final artwork (and, inevitably, (5) revise). But it’s the pacing of them that was key for me. It took time to figure out how long to spend researching and what kind of research I should do, how to pull ide
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Step 2: Choosing Lettering Styles
Jessica Hische • In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
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Jessica Hische • In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
Now, years later, I still use side projects to fill in gaps in my portfolio, have fun and further develop my skills, exercise parts of my brain that aren’t accessed through client work, and share knowledge that I’ve picked up over the course of my career with other creatives (such as in my Don’t Fear the Internet site or my Should I Work for Free?
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Step 3: Lightly Sketching I build up my letterforms in stages. I begin by using a mechanical pencil, drawing very lightly on the page, mapping out where the letterforms will go, using a hairline to draw “the skeleton,” or the basic frame of the letters. As I move onto “the body,” adding weight to my skeleton, I draw loosely—sketching the letterform
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The Skeleton Usually just a single hairline, the skeleton helps me determine the width of the letters, the x-height, and the general proportions of the components.
Jessica Hische • In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector
Before I started integrating nonvisual brainstorming (the word-association lists) into the way I work, I found new projects incredibly intimidating—I’d stare at the blank white paper in my sketchbook knowing that, somehow, three distinct sketches needed to pour out of my head, through my pencil, and onto the page.