Book Review: Art of Hand Lettering
It seems like we are inundated with new technology, devices, and all sorts of screens trying to get our attention every day. It is nice to take a little break from it all and learn a new and de-stressing craft. I recently learned about “hand lettering,” which is the art form of drawing customized letterforms by hand. Pair it with Disney artwork and I am in paradise!
“Disney Art of Hand Lettering” is a new book that focuses on love. The workbook features four types of alphabets and illustration elements that makes it easy for readers to master. This is more than just a craft; hand lettering is an art form that can be used in everyday life.
As you flip through the first few pages, there is a detailed description of the art of hand lettering which includes a basic education on hand lettering plus some information on the different types of pens and papers. Next, it will describe four different love alphabets (similar to fonts in the technology world) that will be used in the book, which are English Cursive, Gothic Script, Jumping Sans, and Modern Calligraphy.
English Cursive is a very traditional cursive calligraphy, and one of my favorites as I have been unknowingly using it all along when I write create various cards for my friends. It is a very elegant and timeless style, and feels very romantic and you can see it in use in movies like Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid.
Not all Disney stories are about dreamy romantic meetings. True love can sometimes be a force that makes us face our fears and conquer them. For these memorable quotes about epic love, Gothic Script would be the age-old writing style that would make the words fierce and strong. You can see Gothic Script used in movies like Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
There are times when you may want to express love in a more sweet and joyous way without being too romantic and formal. Take the love you feel for a friend for instance. To express sweet love, Disney introduces a new style called Jumping Sans which is inspired by the lettering used in the Winnie the Pooh logo.
In the final section of the book, you can learn how to put all your newly acquired hand lettering skills to produce Calligrams, which are compositions of letters that create shapes and drawings. Calligrams can be produced simply by writing a looser English Cursive style called Modern Calligraphy. This style is more free-spirited and perfect for fearless love. You can find this type of lettering in the classic Disney title, Bambi.
After you learn about each of the love alphabets, there are pages where you can practice the whole alphabet in that style. Then there are pages with various Disney quotes where you can put what you learned to the test.
Disney Art of Hand Lettering is geared more for adults who want to do something creative and relaxing. Similar to activities like paint by numbers and adult coloring, hand lettering could provide you hours of stress relief, fun, and creative expression. This is a very inspirational workbook and I really enjoyed learning new hand lettering styles and how to make my writing stand out more.
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