Читать книгу Lettering for Planners - Jillian Reece - Страница 5

Introduction

So, you love your to-do lists. But you’re not the type of person to just grab the nearest scrap of paper and pen to scribble down tasks.

No. You’re the kind of person who appreciates organization and adds your creativity into something as everyday as a planner. (We totally get it, even if your friends and family don’t!)

Your tasks, schedule, and notes deserve more than a scribble, and maybe you’ve tried your hand at decorative lettering but you’re just not sure where to start. You’re afraid to ruin the pages of your journal and so you’ve stayed away from getting too fancy. Sound like you? We’ve got you covered!

We’ll walk you through the steps of how to hand letter a basic script alphabet with confidence, focusing on the basics to build up a strong foundation for the details. Then, we’ll move into more letter styles and embellishments so that you can create truly unique lettering. We have tons of examples of “dos and don’ts” throughout the book to help you learn.

There are lots of benefits to learning hand lettering, particularly in the context of journaling.

•It’s a relaxing and therapeutic hands-on activity, especially in our digital age

•You can do it anywhere, unlike some other crafts and hobbies

•It’s completely customizable (no need to search for a stencil or buy a bunch of fonts!)

The best part? It doesn’t take a long time to learn, and you don’t need to buy fancy calligraphy supplies. You can get started today with supplies you already have.

From Jillian

You know those small moments in life that you never expected and will never forget?

I was in eighth grade. I always decorated my homework pages with colorful lettering and borders and doodles. If anyone could make the words “Chapter 12: Homework” look less boring, it was me!

Anyway… One spring afternoon after turning in my homework, my history teacher, Mr. B, told me to see him after class. Mind you, I was the straight-A student who never got in trouble, so I was terrified.

After forty-five nerve-wracking minutes of class, I walked up to his desk. He held up my homework and said: “All this art and doodles? When you get to high school and college, your teachers are going to tell you to stop. Don’t ever stop.”

I’ll never forget how unexpected and supportive his comment was.

While I went on to study business and data analytics in college, I never stopped lettering. I didn’t need to be an artist or have a lettering business in order to be creative; it was just a part of my everyday life. It was a way to make my class papers and grocery lists a little more fun. And since you’ve picked up this book, then you’re probably wired the same way.

We wrote this book to guide you through creative script lettering so that you can stop wasting time feeling stuck and start spending more time creating.

As our lives become more and more digital, I want to remind you: Don’t stop using your hands to make a creative mess. Don’t put down those pens and markers. Don’t stop adding that personalized touch. Don’t ever stop creating. My sincere hope is that this book will help you do just that.

Xoxo,

Jillian

From Jordan

Growing up, math was my favorite subject. I competed in math and science competitions in grade school, my favorite high school classes were geometry and physics, and I studied engineering in college.

So, why do I love calligraphy and lettering?

Calligraphy is a science as much as it is an art. My affinity for math has always been accompanied by a passion for art, design, and creativity—especially since I grew up with an incredibly artistic twin sister. We spent much of our childhood experimenting and creating together. We had every craft-related Klutz book…friendship bracelets, nail art, origami, handmade cards, and of course, lettering.

When I got back into learning lettering as an adult, I wanted to know exactly how to make each shape, the correct angles to draw the lines, and how to make the letters look beautiful. I needed rules to follow, I needed to understand the logic behind this art.

And this is exactly how I will help you!

If you use a planner or bullet journal, I’m guessing you like when things are organized and easy to follow. Calligraphy might seem daunting, but this book is going to guide you through it, starting with the basics and then building on that foundation in easy-to-follow steps. You’ll learn how to write specific words in a variety of styles to apply immediately and directly to your journal.

So, whether you are creative and artistic, mathematical and logical, or a combination of both, I believe you can do this!

Your lettering friend,

Jordan

From Jillian & Jordan

Keeping track of our daily lives has always been important to us, from grade school throughout adulthood. When we started to incorporate hand lettering into this ritual, we became obsessed.

We’ve studied calligraphy for several years and have taught the skill to hundreds of students in-person and thousands online. We’re taking our in-depth knowledge of this craft and consolidating it into a format that directly relates to planners and journals, giving you exactly what you need to get started with lettering in a non-overwhelming, easy-to-implement way.

Over the years, we’ve developed our own unique styles, which surprises a lot of people considering that we’re twins. So we made it our mission to crack the code on lettering styles. There are so many ways to express an idea or change the tone simply by switching up letter variations or other basic elements. Here’s an example of Jillian’s style (top) versus Jordan’s:

We’ll be sharing a variety of alphabets with you in this book so that you can understand and try new styles as well. We’ll show you a basic alphabet, then demonstrate how new styles and variations can be created with lots of examples. In fact, you’ll get six lowercase alphabets, twelve capital alphabets, and over 350 word examples throughout the book.

If you are new to lettering, you’re probably not looking to buy all the fanciest calligraphy supplies or take an intensive year-long study of this craft. Instead, you’re looking for the top tips that you can quickly apply to beautify your everyday life. That’s what we’re here for.

How to Use This Book

One of our strongest beliefs is that you must learn the basics before you can break the rules and find your own style. So, that’s how we organized this book. We encourage you to work through this book chronologically rather than skipping around so that you can build on a strong foundation.

There’s room to apply what you’re learning right away, or you can grab your favorite journal and keep it close by to practice. We’ve also added our top tips at the end of each chapter to help summarize and reinforce what you’re learning along the way.

Our most important piece of advice when using this book is to keep going. Even with our help, you’re not going to get a perfectly hand-lettered alphabet on your very first try (we sure didn’t!), but we can promise you that with just a little bit of practice each day, you’ll soon see results that you can be proud of. Plus, we’re cheering for you.

Happy lettering!

Jillian & Jordan

Founders of Loveleigh Loops