A Beginner’s Guide to Handlettering

—Naomi Karyamsetty

Depending on whom you ask, handlettering is either an archaic, obsolete habit or a thriving creative field. At its core, it involves putting words on paper ✨aesthetically✨. Its origins, in the distant mists of time, involve a 6th standard kid with half-decent handwriting and a brain filled with pop song lyrics. Adopting a slightly broader meaning-making apparatus, handlettering is a broad term used to refer to both traditional calligraphy (think ancient illuminated manuscripts and dip pens from historical films) and modern calligraphy (which is anything from ‘faux’ to brush-pen to graffiti-style to arbitrary letterforms that people draw for some reason instead of using fonts like normal people).

Four photos in a square layout. 1: The quote “destroy this city of delusion” is handlettered in haphazard cursive pencil, surrounded by notes in blue ink, probably from a Chella class. 2: The phrase “heavy metal lover” in heavy cursive black ink, surrounded by more class notes in pencil. 3: The first two stanzas of Scandroid’s Aphelion, in block and cursive black ink. 4: A quote by L M Alcott, “I wish I had no heart, it aches so…”, in exaggerated curvy cursive pencil.

To pick up hand lettering, you need the following highly expensive and rare-sourced tools:

  1. A paper
  2. A writing instrument
  3. A steady supply of words or phrases
  4. A desire to appear awake, and preferably aware of one’s surroundings, in class

(For best results, situate yourself at the back of the classroom, and not in the first fricking bench, as I did. I think this should easily translate to online classes, F.)

Six photos in a rectangular layout. 1: In blackletter style, with blue ink, two lines from Agha Shahid Ali’s poem ‘Farewell’: “They make a desolation and call it peace. / My memory keeps getting in the way of your history.” 2: In block letters, with black ink, two lines from fun.’s song ‘Some Nights’. In brush lettering with black ink, over a colourful watercolour background, two more lines from the same song. 3: In thick cursive black ink, the phrase “Life makes no narrative sense” in an oval layout, surrounded by abstract geometric patterns. 4: In brush lettering with black ink, the phrase “what, with all due respect, the absolute fuck”, with colourful flowery branches on either side. 5: An ornate letter ‘N’, coloured with blue and green watercolour and with red, pink and golden highlights. 6. The phrase “Take me dancing tonight!” in a funky style, with a black outline and filled with a yellow/orange/red/pink gradient in watercolour.
Examples—but only of a very few styles, because I is a sux at others.

Aside from being relatively easy to pick up (we know the alphabets; how hard can this be), it’s a way to showcase the words and their power—something students of this department can relate to, especially the power with which accumulated course readings hit you in the face during quiz week. It’s also an easy ‘artistic’ out for people who (like me) are bad at drawing. If you are a good drawer, you have a head start because firstly, you already know how to hold a pencil, something most of us last did in primary school; and secondly, illustrations can combine with lettering to create very eye-catching pieces.

Immediate returns include a sudden usefulness in making birthday cards, bookmarks, or other small gifts. You can also waste invest time in making annoyingly perfect class notes.

A photo of a basket filled with paper bookmarks of various colours and sizes, each bearing quotes from books or song lyrics.
These numbers are getting out of hand, because I am no longer able to foist them off on unsuspecting wingmates.

The main intention of my lettering, though (when it’s not procrastination or relaxation), is the approach I bring to graphic design in general—how best to communicate a message. The aesthetics, colour choice, and other graphic elements are important, and worth exploring in their own right; but for me the motivating factor has always been: hey, I like this quote (usually from an overplayed song); how can I show people why I like it? (This is perhaps a side-effect of learning in the Shaastrang design trenches rather than in art school.) This, combined with a general lack of skill disguised as minimalism, influences my small and slowly-expanding oeuvre.

Here’s a very quick Lettering For Dummies:

(You’re free to disregard these rules, of course; but in my experience, rules are better broken after they’re first learned.)

Six images in a rectangular layout. The images contain hand-drawn text in black on a textured white background. Text is below. 1: A Beginner’s Guide to Handlettering / Naomi Karyamsetty 2: How 2 Script (a.k.a. TWSS) / Upstrokes thin, downstrokes thicc / Not applicable to block letters 3: The Return of the Four-Line / Guidelines are your friends. You can break them & add flourishes to look quirky. 4: A Line of Guidance / You can use guidelines to frame your composition too! (In rough pencil with guides) 5: (Same text as the previous image, but in black ink with the pencil guides faintly visible) 6: Zeroth Rule / Legibility and clarity over everything else.

If you want inspiration, a lettering ‘community’, and/or are interested in how people can possibly make money with this stuff, here are some resources to check out.

  • Lauren Hom is a freelance lettering artist who’s done really cool professional work and has a passion for helping other creatives. Find helpful FAQs and lettering prompts on her website and Instagram account.
  • Stefan Kunz is an established lettering artist who creates tools and classes for aspiring learners. Find more information about the letter builder set he created with Ian Barnard, as well as other tools, on his website. His Instagram is here.
  • General gods of type: Ellen Lupton, who’s written TONS; Jessica Hische.

There are also lots of hardcore traditional calligraphers. To name a few (all links are to Instagram accounts):

  • Ellie Haywood, who creates geometrical art with blackletter;
  • the extremely versatile Sachin Shah;
  • Hardik Singh, whose every piece is basically an illuminated manuscript; and
  • Avinash Kharat, a meticulous copperplate artist who conducts workshops and is involved with Ori and Calli (website), a Maharashtra-based shop that has lots and lots of local lettering and origami supplies. (Fair warning: as a rule, art supplies are not cheap.)

There are many lettering communities who share prompt lists and work, often with overlaps, but I’ll mention two of the most popular here.

  • Goodtype, founded by Brooke Robinson, celebrates typographers and lettering artists from around the world, and releases weekly prompts. (Website, Instagram.)
  • 36 Days of Type, started by Nina Sans and Rafa Goicoechea, is an annual project where people create artwork with the characters of the Latin alphabet (A to Z and 0 to 9), one character a week. (Website, Instagram.)

Last images dump. (I saved the pretentious digital art for last because I know firsthand how bad gadget envy is. You don’t need a fancy tablet, I promise.)

Eight images of digital art in a rectangular layout. 1: In quirky block letters, the Mumford and Sons quote “And when you feel the world wrapping ‘round your neck don’t succumb!” The quote is in dark blue, fitted inside a bright yellow circular stylized star, in a dark blue background. 2: In chalky white block letters on a black background, the Mumford and Sons quote “Tame the ghosts in my head that run wild and wish me dead”, surrounded by bright bluish-green doodles, curlicues and skulls. 3: “How2!” in yellow, on a dark maroon/brown background, with subtle darker brown curlicues surrounding it. 4: A photo of the insti dog Subwoofer a.k.a. Miniflix (black and white with brown spots), curled up, with these names tucked around his sleeping form in white script. 5: An isometric drawing. The MUSE quote “And must we do as we’re told?” is in bright pink blocky lettering, surrounded by a few pink/purple buildings and two roads. 6: On a colourful floral background, the John Mayer quote “Good love is on the way” in geometric sans-style capital letters. 7: The Tame Impala quote “It feels like I only go backwards”, in blue cursive lettering on a white background. 8: The word “Sup.” in bright yellow and red, in a white cartoon-style explosion bubble, on a blue background.

Naomi, from the HS15 batch, will hopefully graduate soon with an integrated MA in Development Studies. She is currently doing a graphic design internship which has probably ended by the time you read this. She also hopes you are kind to yourself and to others around you, especially during these Unprecedented Times™. She lives on Instagram at @nyomkitten and @naoms.letters and on Twitter at @nyomkitten, and replies to messages when she has enough bandwidth to.

Edited by Abhirami G

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