LIAM STEVENS + CYNTHIA WARREN

I was having the hardest time deciding which artist I should showcase today on my designated lettering Thursday, so I decided to showcase two of my faves in the hand-lettered serif department. Both of these artist could easily warrant their own posts, they are both prolific and have talent in spades and maybe one day I will, but for today I am hoping together they will inspire a deep appreciation for their craft. I can't get enough of these specimens and it's hard to wrap my mind around how difficult these projects were but they made them look so effortless. Granted, the above by Liam Stevens has a bit more cheek thrown in (those illustrations are to die) and Cynthia Warren's menu (on the bottom) is near flawless, no that is not a font folks, that is all hand done and is as beautiful as the day is long (to me at least). I love that it was created in 2003, but is still relevant, hip + classic. Yes, I would love a font like that (look at the 'lowercase' 'O's, and the lowercase 'E's so, so good!

I looked and looked and couldn't find a single resource for you if you wanted to explore this style of lettering, quite disappointing.  The only thing I can suggest is to create an alphabet specimen chart from a serif font you admire in your program of choice (Word, PS, Illustrator, etc), print it out and then start tracing it. I suggest tracing so you can get familiar with the letterforms before you take it on yourself and start free handing it eventually creating your own unique hand. For the Ex Libris bookplate  that was in a printed hand versus a script I used a few tools--a #2 pencil to draw lines on my sketch pad, a Micron 005 pen (this is SUPER fine) to create the basic shape and to create a 'hollow'/outline for me to make heavier lines and a Pitt artist brush in cold grey to fill in the 'hollow' creating that thick downward stroke.  It's a lot of steps indeed. It took me longer to do that one bookplate than it took me to make the entire download! If you have any suggestions for this please let me know, because I have had many test runs and very few moments where I thought I was getting anywhere with this style. If you have no desire to try this yourself you can download a pretty cool serif font called Bodoni at Home here (love the 'W's') and (no I don't work for her, but I have mentioned her a lot lately) but Magpie Paperworks has the really awesome (and affordable) Saltpetre font that I am pretty goners for.

P.S. Total segue here but Cesar Milan re-pinned one of my pins today and now I feel like it totally legitimizes all the time I spend over on Pinterest pinning cute pup photos....