The Art of Whimsical Lettering (9 page)

Make consistent, irregular curls and swirls extending off each letter, giving it movement and personality.

Use assorted paintbrushes (rounds, flats, whatever you have) to letter pages of juicy alphabets with colorful watercolors.

Use a parallel pen to create a freehand italic calligraphy style.

Create whimsical block letters by wrapping a colorful leafy vine around the letterform.

Doodle patterns and designs inside block letterforms. Make each letter in the alphabet contain the same decoration or letter each alphabet with mix-and-match patterns to create interest.

What’s Your Number?

You can use the same ideas and style techniques you use in designing letters and whole alphabets to create interesting numbers with an artistic flair. Here are just a few examples to get you started.

Be inventive and fill the negative space in and around the letters with casual block shapes and bright color. Watch the letters pop off the page!

Practice pages of alphabets with India or acrylic ink on a dry brush. Use an old brush (one that has seen better days!), ideally with separating bristles, to produce sketchy, distressed-looking lines.

Letter an alphabet with a dye-based marker that is not waterproof. My favorite marker for this is the dual brush marker by Tombow. With a water brush, trace over the edges of each letter until the color “bleeds” out, creating a light watercolor wash.

Paint an alphabet with watercolor and a scruffy dry brush and let it dry. With a black permanent pen, draw, trace, and loosely sketch around the letters, accentuating the interesting shapes formed by the brush marks.

Create artful, interesting letters by doodling and drawing whimsical decorations and patterns, exaggerating the outline edges of letters.

Form each letter of the alphabet with the most minimal lines in a box shape. Add lines and colored shapes for interest to make the letters pop. Each letter looks like an abstract art piece but still maintains its clear identity.

Letter an entire alphabet with a pipette or the dropper that comes inside a bottle of acrylic or India ink.