LETTERING IN ILLUSTRATOR + IMPROVING YOUR HANDWRITING

I am beyond thrilled to share our very first Besotted video tutorial courtesy of my pal, one of my favorite Pinners and my partner in Souvenir Foto School Miss Michelle P.  When I mentioned what I was doing this week Michelle kindly offered to create this video for those that wanted to explore lettering in the digital realm.  The tutorial was created with Adobe Illustrator, which I sheepishly admit that I am not great with, but Michelle makes this tutorial very simple and even those not too familiar with the program can follow along (you can get a free 30 day trial here if you don't have it). After I watched this I emailed her immediately and asked for more, she made it seem so easy that even I the Illustrator challenged felt like she could try this. You can view the video here (or click the image).

I knew when I started this week that I didn't want to solely focus on calligraphy so I am including some resources for improving your own handwriting or creating a more interesting personal hand: 

//BOOKS//

Love Your Handwriting by Heidi Swapp - Heidi is a well known scrapbook product designer, but it's her distinct whimsical hand that has made her a stand-out in her industry.

//CLASSES//

Love Your Letters Workshop by Letter Girl-  I haven't taken this class but I really want to.  I love Gina's casual and happy hand.

Letter Lab-I took this online class, it's not for everyone as the focus is for scrapbooking, but I am very open minded when it comes to classes + learning I try to always extract the kernels that will work for what I am trying to accomplish. I can happily say I did learn a few new tricks.

//WEB RESOURCES//

French Cursive-This may be one of my favorite foreign hands. I go crazy (in a good way) when I see French cursive. You will need a Cahier d'Ecriture, French ruled paper and a sample alphabet, if you scroll down on this link you will find one!

SeanWes-Sean is an amazing lettering artist, but what's even more amazing is that he is so generous with information. I really liked his post on copying (hope you do too).

//PENS//

I am a huge pen enthusiast, but this is a short list of pens I use in my everyday to assist with my penmanship. Lettering pens are a different animal.

Le Pen-These have a great tip, come in many, may colors and are nice and petite so they feel really nice in your hand.

Sharpie Pens-I love these, but they seem to come up missing when you use them (because others will love them as much as you do).

Muji Pens-These are great looking and you can get super tiny points. I find a tiny point makes everyones penmanship look better.

//FREE HAND-LETTERED FONTS//

For those that won't be trying out Michelle's technique (I totally can't wait to), here are some fonts that mimic a hand-lettered look.  The one I used above is Grant's Ghost. Festus is a good faker too. If you are looking for a French handwriting font DuCahier is the only game in town. 

P.S. If you have any questions for either Michelle or myself leave the questions in the comments and we are happy to answer.

P.P.S. The always lovely Going Home to Roost mentioned this week (thank you!) and added some of her own favorite links!