Brush Lettering: The Complete Introduction

Go from complete beginner to hand lettering with brush pens, pencils, and even digital tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
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Brush Lettering: The Complete Introduction

Go from complete beginner to hand lettering designs traditionally, with Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator. We'll go from the very first concepts of lettering, right up to finishing class projects within Adobe's programs.

What will we be making?

We'll be working through a wide variety of examples, exercises, and projects, but these three should give you some idea of the type of thing you'll be comfortable creating after completing the course.

What will you learn?

Basic concepts for beginners

We'll be going from the very beginning, covering the basic 101 a lot of other tutorials assume you already know

Traditional and digital

The courses begins with traditional brush lettering and then builds up to Photoshop and Illustrator projects

Theory and practical lessons

Theory and practice go hand in hand, and we make sure to cover both so you completely understand each concept

Two class projects

After we cover all our theory and practice exercises we put it all into practice with two class projects

How to continue learning

This is just the beginning, and we go over some tips to keep you learning and experimenting with new lettering styles

And much more

For the entire list of what we cover, check out the full curriculum below:

Full Curriculum

1. The Anatomy of Letters
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We'll be starting with an exploration of what makes up letters, labelling each part of letters so that we can best understand them and talk about them.
2. How To Practice
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Some quick thoughts on how to practice lettering, and some tips for being as effective as you can be.
3. General Hand Lettering Theory
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Some overall general rules and guidelines to keep in mind when creating and analysing hand lettering.
4. The Brush Pen – Overview, Brands, and Real World Examples
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We explore four different common brands of brush pens, and look and what makes each of them unique.
5. The Brush Pen - First Steps
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Your very first movements to introduce you to working with a brush pen.
6. Practice Exercises for Brush Pen Lettering
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We'll go through some exercises to get you used to creating common shapes found in brush lettering.
7. The Brush Pen Alphabet + Letter Variations + Worksheets
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We explore the whole alphabet as created with a brush pen, including some stylistic variations on some letters.
8. Practice Words for Brush Pen Lettering
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We combine the exercises from the last few lessons to create your first words.
9. Composition and Layout
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A brief discussion on how composition and layout help you to plan and create your lettering pieces.
10. Spacing and Tracking
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An important concept to keep in mind when creating your hand lettering.
11. Kerning
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Following on from our last lesson, another important concept when it comes to layout.
12. Simplifying Photoshop For Lettering Artists
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Our first introduction to Adobe Photoshop.
13. Layers – The Foundation of Photoshop
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Discussing the most important concept that Photoshop is built on.
14. Digitising Hand Lettering In Photoshop Pt 1
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Part 1 of our process to digitise our hand made lettering in Photoshop.
15. Digitising Hand Lettering In Photoshop Pt 2
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Following on from the last lesson, part 2 of lettering in Photoshop.
16. Introduction to Vector Graphics
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What are vector graphics, and how are they different from what we've been working with so far?
17. The Pen Tool
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The pen tool is one of the most important tools you'll use when it comes to vector graphics and Adobe Illustrator.
18. Digitising Hand Lettering In Illustrator Pt 1
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Part 1 of our process of using Adobe Illustrator to digitise our hand lettering.
19. Digitising Hand Lettering In Illustrator Pt 2
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Following on from the last lesson, we finish our exploration of lettering in Adobe Illustrator.
20. Project 1: Rough Sketches
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Let's put it all together! Part 1 of our first project.
21. Project 1: Bringing In The Brush Pens
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The sketch is done, let's start lettering.
22. Project 1: Editing in Photoshop Part 1
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After we've created our brush lettering we'll bring it into Photoshop.
23. Project 1: Editing in Photoshop Part 2
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In this lesson we'll put the finishing touches on our first project.
24. Project 2: Rough Sketches
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Project 2 is a vector-based lettering project, but we still start with sketches.
25. Project 2: Working With Illustrations
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We'll bring in some simple supporting illustrations here.
26. Project 2: Bringing In The Brush Pen
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Once our sketch is complete we'll start the actual lettering.
27. Project 2: Digitising In Illustrator Part 1
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We'll begin creating the digital version of our lettering in Illustrator.
28. Project 2: Digitising In Illustrator Part 2
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In this lesson we finish with our second lettering project.
29. Moving Lettering Between Illustrator and Photoshop
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How do Photoshop and Illustrator work together?
30. Preparing Your Images For The Web
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So you've created a lettering piece you're happy with. How do you best get it ready to share online?
31. The Secret To Endless Inspiration
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What are the next steps on your lettering journey?

Who's your teacher?

Hi! I'm James

I'm a freelance lettering artist and illustrator, and I've been running Lettering Studio for the past few years. I love exploring new styles of hand lettering and finding the simplest ways to teach and explain how to create it.

What our students say

“This has been so useful, so clearly formatted & explained, and generally a joy to work through. Thank you very much for sharing.”
- Stephen Long
"I just want to say: This course is AMAZING!! Thanks a lot bro!"
- Andres Uran
“I can’t wait to start! I’ve been meaning to do something like this for 2 years. Thank you for making it easy for me to finally jump in.”
- Melanie Fisher-Wellman

Let's get started!

31 HD fully explained video lessons
Included worksheets
Access to all course updates in the future

FAQ

When does the course start and finish?
The course starts as soon as you enroll, and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
I would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact me in the first 30 days and I will give you a full refund.