Letter with Me - Yaffle

This week’s Letter with Me word is yaffle, another name for a green woodpecker. Such a fun word, right? And it’s the perfect candidate for a playful lettering challenge.

Our challenge this week is to see how many “yaffles” you can fit into a single shape. I chose a rectangle, but you can pick whatever shape you like. The trick? Not only do the words need to fit inside, but each one should look a little different. Afterall, we are trying to develop our lettering style bank for us to refer to whenever we need a little inspo on lettering styles.

Step 1: Pick Your Shape

Start with a simple outline, circle, square, rectangle, triangle, whatever inspires you. I went with a rectangle to give myself a good mix of vertical and horizontal options. Also because it’s probably the easiest. If you’re just starting out, a rectangle or square is a good idea.

Step 2: Fill It with “Yaffle” (Over and Over Again!)

I managed to get 14 yaffles into my rectangle, though I’ll admit a few were pretty similar (especially the tiny ones). The key is variation. Play around with the following and try different combinations to spice things up even more.

• Lettering styles: block, serif, script, bubble, monoline

• Size: large, small, teeny-tiny

• Direction: straight across, angled, vertical, even wavy

I sketched everything in monoline first and added very simple guidelines for the different angles and curves. But remember, lettering is a iterative process. So even after laying it all out, I still made edits during my “inking” phase to fix spacing and fill gaps.

Step 3: Mind the Gaps

Try to keep your spacing as consistent as possible so the piece doesn’t look too squished in some places or empty in others.

• Big gaps? Fill them with tiny versions of the word (like I did for the “Y” and “L” in my vertical yaffle).

• Small tweaks: Shift words slightly or adjust line thickness during inking to balance things out.

Step 4: Experiment & Play

Remember, this is all about experimenting! You might find a style you love while trying to solve a spacing problem, or invent a whole new look by lettering at an odd angle.

And don’t stress about it being perfect right away; trial and error is an important part of the process. You can always erase, adjust, or start fresh. The goal is to have fun, stretch your creativity, and add new styles to your lettering toolbox.

You can see my process in the video sped up (a lot thanks Procreate!). Take your time, and remember all the proces videos you see online are sped up like 100x!

So, how many yaffles can you fit into your shape? Share your creations, and let’s see who can come up with the most inventive mix of styles!