The most basic (and honestly, all you need to get started) setup is just a piece of paper and any pen or pencil you’ve got lying around. The only downside to a blank piece of paper is that you’ll need to draw your own guidelines so your letters don’t end up floating off into weird angles or dancing on different baselines. A ruler or anything with a straight edge does the trick, though, and it’s a pretty quick and painless process.

This week’s lettering post isn’t an actual tutorial, but it is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned and continue to learn. It’s about something we all deal with, no matter how long we’ve been at this: what to do when you hate your lettering and you can’t figure out why. Enter: Feedback!

Do you sketch first with pencil? or do you dive right in with pen?

Spoiler alert: there’s no one right answer.
But there are some real pros and cons to both. So today, I’m breaking them down—because depending on your project, your mood, or even how much coffee you’ve had, one approach might work better than the other.

I get this comment a lot:
“You’re so talented at lettering!”
And while I always appreciate the kindness behind it, I also want to shout from the rooftops: It’s not talent. It’s practice.

A lot of practice.

Like, years of it. Like, “here’s some of my old work so we can cringe together” levels of practice.

While I wouldn’t say this is the #1 mistake new hand lettering artists make, it’s definitely in the top 3. If your lettering always looks off, it’s probably this.

And no, it’s not your pen/paper/iPad. Nor your your lack of “natural talent.” And it’s not even that one letter you keep redrawing over and over and that’s why it looks weird.

The real reason?

Inconsistent spacing and messy baselines.

Today’s post is all about letting loose, getting weird, and embracing the beautifully imperfect process of developing your own lettering style. We are going to use basic shapes as the inspiration and boundaries for creating different styles of the same word: poppycock. Yep, poppycock. It's fun to say and to letter!