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May Lettering Round Up

  • Loved how this one turned out!
  • Can you tell I wasn’t super inspired for this one?
  • Love that soft shadow! Must try more of this.

The theme for the month was flowers in the Instagram Challenge #showusyourlettering which I combined with one of my favorite challenges so far #ohanaletteringchallenge

May was a very good month for my lettering practice. I started to really feel confident with a few lettering styles. And I hit a landmark by reaching 300 followers on IG. I was so happy that I wrote the names of some of my followers. If you’re interested in having me write your name check out my Etsy.

If you want to see the videos and animated versions please visit my Instagram where my handle is jwinsorart and SMUSH that like button if you enjoy what you see! Thanks for your interest in my work btw. Love you all so much!

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April Lettering Round Up

You might notice that I switched to a thinner style. It requires more actual control of my wrist and the pen.

I think this new, thinner style forced me to focus on the fundamentals of good lettering. At times I just couldn’t get rid of those bumpy upstrokes but my downstrokes always felt a lot more solid. I also experimented with lots of different flourishes just to see what I liked. Most of these posts were quite spontaneous and unplanned. However I do achieve a lot more balance in the composition when I do a few rough drafts. The downside to this planning is that my lettering looks a bit more stiff and I struggle to get that “flow” going.

Overall I feel pretty good about my progress over this month. I can see lots of areas that I need to continue working on to get a seamless result, like my fundamental shapes. Considering I only have a little time each day to dedicate to this hobby I’m proud of how it’s going. It’s still something I’m finding very fun and that’s really what I’ve been needing from my creative work lately.

Hope you enjoyed this round up! See you next month and happy practicing.

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Starting a hand lettering practice

As with most hobbies in my life I quite randomly stumbled upon hand lettering recently. I was browsing Instagram and got hooked on the modern calligraphy videos with the most satisfying loops and swirls. Naturally, I wanted to try it for myself.

It’s been a messy start. My lines are crooked and wobbly. My lines are simultaneously too fat and too thin. My pen will skip. The paper will bleed. There have been many mistakes. I’d like to share some of those with you now.

Accidentally using the V form for the letter U.
Oh the wobbles!
Leading generally refers to the space between letters. I am still working on this.
At some point I had to call it good enough. Those flourishes really need attention though.

What are you practicing lately? Have you tried any new art forms?

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Bullet Journal for 2021

I’ve seen bullet journaling around for years now. I’ve tried a plain planner before (just printed out pages from the web) and it was fun for awhile but I never stuck to it. I also know that I’m not going to have much to plan in 2021 (much like 2020) because I’m not going anywhere. However, I bit the bullet (see what I did there) and finally bought myself a bullet journal.

My second page so far. *Some personal goals are covered up with the glitter for the sake of privacy.

I got this one from Clever Fox because the paper seemed like it might stand up to actual art supplies. My goal is to really use it more for practicing lettering and more simple graphic doodling. I like the concept of having a little structural component to help frame my shapes for letters and doodles. I’ve found constraints actually more often HELP me to create instead of limiting me. Anything to help lift the burden of a blank page.

My “year at a glance” spread.

I’ll be doing a lot of little tests in the near future to see which art supplies work best on this paper but so far I haven’t had any difficulties with ghosting or bleeding through. I’ll keep you updated on my progress if I make anything I really like.

Supplies used:

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, Pigma Micron Pen 03, mechanical pencil, Stablio Point 88 pens, Sharpie water based paint pen white extra fine point.

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Creative Diversity

I keep telling myself that in order to be a successful artist I have to become specific with what I make. That ends today. It isn’t true and it isn’t helpful. I am creative almost every day. However, I struggle to give myself any credit for the things that I think fall outside of my idea of “traditional” art. From now on, this will be a place for all of the things I create, without limits, without “shoulds”, and most importantly without shame. Hello my new creatively diverse life. Welcome.

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I promise to honor all of my creative endeavors. (Including diamond painting, my favorite recent discovery.)
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Free Lineart Available – Butterflies

 

“Butterflies” Line Art

A recent video on my YouTube channel started out as a simple line drawing so I thought I’d offer up the line art in case anyone wants to color it in. (The colored version of the image will be added soon, when the video goes live.) I have PDF version that should be easy to print out. Please leave any copyright information in tact (especially if you’re posting your finished image online). And if you do color it in please tag me on Twitter (@jwinsorart) or Instagram (@jwinsorart) so I can see it! I want to see your lovely work.

PDF Version

View the video here: PART ONE & PART TWO