Get ready for some festive lettering! Whether you’re addressing holiday cards or making a special hand-lettered gift, the December Lettering Lesson will show you how to add that little something extra and take your hand lettering up a notch. Lettering artist Brittany Luiz demonstrates how to add embellishments to your letters, get an appliqué effect, and how to create a cheerful holiday alphabet.
I started by sketching the letters, making sure to make the downstrokes (where your hand moves down to create the stroke) wider than the upstrokes (where your hand moves up to create the stroke). I love the idea of sketching the letters instead of writing them. The letters looked more organic, and I found the shapes of the letters easier to work with. I used a 4H pencil to sketch “Believe” on a journal page.
Embellishments came next. Stars are my go-to motif, and they can fit just about any celebration or holiday. I added two stars near the top of the downstroke in each letter of the word for a unified look.
Per the lesson, I outlined the stars first and then the letters, using a black medium-point pen. I used a PITT® artist pen. After erasing all of the pencil work, I added color with brush pens. I decided on an alternating color scheme for the stars and the letters. The red and green combination makes me smile.
Brittany’s appliqué design really adds a lot to the look of the letters. I added stitch-like lines inside the letters on both sides of the downstrokes, and single stitches were added within the narrower upstrokes. I love the look. I decided to add to the page using Brittany’s holiday lettering style for some of the words and one of my own lettering designs for “Christmas.” A sprig of holly finishes the page.
I enjoy hand lettering, so I created a whole alphabet in Brittany’s holiday lettering style. I will definitely be using this font in future projects.
Here’s another sample of the appliquéd lettering style. I didn’t do a great job of staying within the letters when adding the color this time, so I outlined “Joy” with black to cover my oops. I like the look. Outlining makes the word pop. Something to remember . . . Again, a little word is brought to life with a simple embellishment and color.
Use these lettering styles to hand letter a card, make a gift with someone’s favorite quote, or create a holiday garland. There’s still time . . .
Happy holidays!
Barb