It was the summer of 1997 when I learned the very basics of hand lettering and graphic design. I got a break on tuition at a fancy summer school, so I got to hang out with a bunch of rich kids doing pottery and photography instead of remedial math. It totally made up for the fact that I never went to Summer Camp. I signed up for Commercial Art. Our teacher refused to acknowledge desktop publishing software and insisted we learn to hand letter. At the time it seemed nutty, but I loved handlettering. All through high school I used the same basic tools she gave me to doodle band names in my notebook.

Fast-forward 17 years, and I've decided to get better at handlettering. I love designing typographically, but I wish I had better chops for custom art. So, I signed up for a skillshare class (if you register through that link, I get $10 on skillshare. Just fyi) on hand lettering.

I decided to letter the phrase: “The road to hell is paved with works in progress”, inspired in no small part by my efforts with this here blog. It's not done, but here are my warm-ups:

It's been slow going, largely because I feel weird working in public when I'm just writing “hell” a bunch of times.

As with all new tools, it has opened up a vast realm of possibility in my imagination. Gifts, embroidery patterns, posters, tattoos, logos…it goes on FOREVER. It takes a lot of time but can really bring fresh imagery to a project.

Soon I'll have an better version of one of these options, and after that, some layout ideas. In the meantime, what do you think of what I have here? What phrase would you pick for hand lettering?