Lettering

Lettering is a pretty recent discovery for me. I really love design, it is also useful to know since some of the the same principles apply to illustration when you are looking at compositions. Type is really fantastic to work with since it can be immensely expressive in its most simple form.

This project that I did for the base drum of the Howlin' Rails was the first full project that I did all the lettering by hand so it require some extra measures.

First, after many thumbnails and drawing it out, I checked the kerning(letter-spacing) by tracing a copy on tracing paper and blocking out the letters. I turned the design upside down and looked through the paper to check for any uneven gaps or other spacing issues. (This resulted in another tracing effort)

Second, I gave the design to multiple people (design friends) asking for critique. Enter another round of editing.

The actual vectoring of the letters did not take as long as the preliminary work (probably because I spent so much time getting the pre-computer work perfect). The vintage filigree was another animal on it's own, that took forever.

All in all I'm really happy with the end product. The band wanted a vintage apothecary label feel with a modern twist.

Check out the Howlin' Rails, they make some great music.

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