Let's Make Letters!: Experiment, Practice, and Explore

by Kelcey Gray

Overview

A definitive workbook for anyone who wants to express themselves and their creativity through letter making and typography.

Let's Make Letters! goes beyond traditional lettering books with a range of projects from lettering basics for beginners to experimental and imaginative prompts that push creative limits. Experiment! Progress! And most of all, have fun. Designers, artists, scribblers, teachers, and students will build skills, confidence, and curiosity as they take up new and familiar tools to draw, depict, and distort letters in original and inventive ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781648960475
Publisher:	Chronicle Books
Publication date:	10/26/2021
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,020,207
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kelcey Gray is an Austin, Texas–based graphic designer who spends her time working with words and exploring the possibilities of typography and lettering. She currently teaches design and typography at the University of Texas at Austin and can be found on Instagram @kelcey_gray.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

How to Use This Book 1

Not Sure What to Letter? 2

Basics 4

What Is Lettering? 6

Top Tools of the Trade 8

Tools and Tone 10

Start by Scribbling 12

Three Lines 16

Typographic Anatomy 18

Optics and Overshoot 20

Different Strokes 22

Spacing and Planning 24

Typographic Variables 26

Serifs 28

Draw 30

Get a Feel for Form 32

Patient Scribes and Pen Strokes 34

Alternating Axis 37

Make It Bold 38

Sense of Scale 40

Cut Corners 44

Two Points 46

Letter It Fast or Slow 49

Straight Lines Only 50

Arcade Alphabet 52

Make It Modular 56

Incorporating Inlines 60

Perimeters as Parameters 62

Containers as Composition 64

Dimensional Lettering 70

Phone a Friend 73

Continuous Line 75

Non-Dominant Hand 77

Matchup Monogram 78

Get Ornamental 81

One Letter Ad Nauseam 84

Eggs, Three Ways 86

Same Letter, Different Tool 87

Make It for Media 88

Parts of a Whole 90

Negative Attitude 94

Depict 96

The Word Picture 98

Integrating Images 100

DIY Letter Stamps 104

Letter Your Thoughts 105

Letters Loco mote 106

Corporeal Characters 110

Letters as Leisure 113

Book Spines 114

Font Face 116

Letter as Sculpture 118

Art-Inspired Alphabet 120

Found Forms 122

Take a Walk 124

Cropped Characters 125

Distort 126

Make It Minimal 128

Cut Characters 130

Collage 132

Temporary Typography 134

Strange En-counters 137

Scrawl, Fold, Stretch 141

Half 'n' Half 143

Seeking Symmetry 144

Ligatures and Nesting 146

Make Your Own Modules 148

Disconnect/Reconnect 149

Shape Shift 150

Stencils 152

Letters and Light 156

Dictate 158

Word Play 160

Parody and Play 162

DOOF DOOF 163

Double Meaning 164

Long(er) Form Lettering 166

Visualizing Voice 167

Letter as Diagram 168

Renga with Friends 170

Rebuses and Grammagrams 172

Onomatopoeia 175

LET! US! LETTER! 176

Last but Not Least: Punctuation 178

Image Credits and Acknowledgments 180

Notes 182

Editorial Reviews

"Kelcey Gray loves letters. Her bright, funny, and forgiving book is filled with ingenious illustrations, geeky technical info, and playful exercises. It's a perfect introduction for newcomers and a deeply delicious dive for folks who work with type but have never really touched it with their own two hands. Relax, get personal, and be yourself. The alphabet can't wait to meet you!"
– Ellen Lupton, author of Thinking with Type,

"

"Wherever you land on the scale of fun stuff to take your mind off nagging deadlines or a fun way to get really good at something you’ve always admired in others, [Let's Make Letters!] covers all aspects of drawn thoughts, starting with the foundational methods of script handwriting, such as the Palmer Method [classic business handwriting of yore] and Spencerian script [think: Coca Cola]....You quickly get the idea that there’s no limit to what can be done. And how much fun you’ll have."
Design Arts Daily ,

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From the Publisher