Class StepbyStep Project Guide
Mary Kate McDevitt
Getting Started
Choose a Phrase
1. Picking the perfect phrase can be tricky. You want it to be smart, clever, insightful and in the
end look beautiful. You don't necessarily need to be a copywriter to be a letterer, but it certainly
doesn't hurt.
● Pick a phrase that is unique to you and suits your style, it can be from a favorite TV
show, movie, song, book, or a quote from any number of famous people throughout
history.
● Be brief! Tackling a wordy phrase can be especially challenging, certainly for a
beginner. Make sure your phrase is to the point.
● Consider the application for your phrase; will it be a book cover, poster, full page
illustration for a magazine article, greeting card or stationery, packaging or tshirt?
Make up your own dream project, maybe it's an advertising campaign for your
home brewed beer, or the cover of a book on knitting.
● If you are having trouble coming up with something to letter, choose a topic that
interests you, and go from there. My go to topics are Bikes, Coffee, Tea, Whisky,
Beer and Work.
Brainstorm
2. Do some research on your phrase. Find inspiration you want to use for your project.
● I find it helpful to write out lists of words that relate to my phrase, this gives me a general idea
of the tone and might come up with some more interesting ideas.
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Lettering Warm up
3. Before we dive into the project, familiarize yourself with drawing letters in a more decorative
approach. This way you will have more confidence going into the sketching phase.
4. Pick a word from your phrase to test out. Draw the word in at least 5 different styles. Refer back
to your reference material for ideas.
5. Here is a list of different styles to try out:
● Ornate
● Serif
● Fancy Serif
● Sans Serif
● Script
● Representational
● Dimensional
● Curved
● Blackletter
● In a Shape
Thumbnails
6. After you have done your research and have some concept ideas, you are probably itching to
get these ideas on paper. At this stage you will just be doing some quick sketches to get down
the basic layout.
● It's important to pay attention to hierarchy and composition.
● Remember to include the containing shape you decided on.
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● Don't get caught up in too many details.
Sketching
7. Pick your favorite thumbnails and create 23 tight sketches. The more options you work with
from the beginning, the more exploring you do in creating a smart illustration.
● Keep the composition balanced and cohesive.
● Use hierarchy to determine which words should stand out.
● Pay close attention to readability and spacing.
● Don't forget to add special details like borders, banners, and supporting
ornamentation, if your concept calls for it.
Revised Drawing
8. Once you have your sketches laid out and more finalized, choose the direction that makes
sense with your phrase and concept.
9. Key questions to ask before going to final:
● Is the layout fresh and original?
● Does it make sense to the concept?
● Is it readable?
10. At this point you will notice your drawing evolving and getting tighter. You should also be picking
up on details that look incorrect, or maybe refining the ornamentation or lettering.
11. It is super helpful to take that extra time and retrace your final sketch to correct these missteps.
Spending that extra time on the final sketch will make the process of inking much smoother.
Inking
12. Now you're ready to add ink to this drawing! You can draw right on top of the sketch, if it's on
good drawing paper, but I would suggest using tracing paper or a lightbox to ink your drawing.
13. It's good to keep that original sketch intact for reference, plus you won't muddy up your final
illustration.
14. If you mess up while you are inking, you can redraw that one area on a separate piece of
paper.
Digitize
Scanning
1. I recommend using a scanner to transfer your drawing to a file to be digitized, but you can also
use a camera (preferably not a camera phone). If you do use a camera, be sure to hold the
camera so the lens is parallel to the drawing to the drawing isn't skewed.
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2. I use a CanoScan Lide 700F for all my scanning, the scanner bed is great because one side is
completely flat so I can scan larger drawings without worrying about the lip interfering with the
scan.
i. Place drawing on the scanner.
ii. Open Preview or your scanner software. If you are using Preview go to File > Import >
and choose your scanner.
iii. Click Overview to preview your scan.
iv. I scan in my drawings as Black & White, but you can choose Color, try both to find out
what you prefer.
v. Scan in at 600 dpi. You can scan it in at a higher res but it depends on if it's necessary
for the project.
vi. Name your file and choose the TIFF Format.
vii. Save the file in your job folder.
Digitizing
3. I use Illustrator CS5 to vectorize my drawings. There are other programs to use like Vector
Magic but I find Illustrator to have the best options and I am just more familiar with Illustrator.
4. Open your file in Illustrator, there is no real trick you need to know about opening a file in
Illustrator.
Select your image and go to Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options and this window will pop up.
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5. Don't use the default options. Play with the options to see what works best for your project.
Choose lower path fittings and corner angle settings so the vectors adhere closest to the
original drawing.
6. These are the options I typically use. Be sure to click Ignore White, it's more of a pain than
useful in your vector drawing.
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7. You can also use the Lettering option that is in the Control Bar. I use it time to time, and can be
useful for your project but it's important to understand how the settings by looking through the
Tracing Options.
8. Once you're satisfied with your Live Trace options, go to the Control Bar and click Expand.
9. Now your drawing is made of Vectors and you can start selecting parts of your drawing.
Cleaning Up
10. Now that your image is digitized, it's time to be sure your vectorized illustration holds up to the
original.
11. If you aren't satisfied with how your vectorized illustration looks it may be because of two things.
i. You didn't choose Live Trace settings to work best for your drawing, in which case go
back and play around with more options. ((or))
ii. Your illustration needs to be redrawn so the drawing is darker and the line weight is
even. You can print out your scanned drawing a bit bigger and trace it fixing any
issues you noticed weren't working when the drawing was live traced.
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Color
Choosing Color
1. Refer back to your mood board to get an idea of the colors you want to use.
2. You will want to experiment with several different color options but layout a palette of the colors
you plan on using. It can become a very daunting task and I feel if you keep to your limited color
palette you can pick what needs to be what color much easier.
Color Options
3. At this point you have an idea of what words and illustrations need to be different colors, but
choosing which color goes where will be a process.
4. Using Global Swatches will make this process easier. Check this tutorial that explains it pretty
well.
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Texture
Applying Texture
1. You have your colors picked and you are ready to add texture, but consider what type of texture
you use and how it applies to your concept.
Handmade Texture
2. Before jumping right in with computer textures, I'm going to show you some ways to create
handmade textures.
3. The importance of creating handmade textures when you are starting out is so you have a
better understanding of what texture you will be creating when you do make them in the
computer.
4. If you start making textures in the computer without knowing how the texture is made, it is
bound to look computer generated. And that is certainly not the look we are going for after we
spent all those hours lettering this illustration by hand!
■ Dry Brush Rough textured, brushy look.
■ Inky Watercolor, smooth gradients
■ Photocopy Screen printed, stamp textures
■ Graphite Sketchy, pencil or drawn with chalk
Photoshop Brushes
5. We will review ways to use Photoshop brushes that do not look like obvious Photoshop
brushes.
6. You can make your own custom brushes, but there are lots of brushes you can download (very
affordable options or free). I like Kyle T. Websters brush sets.
7. The best way is to incorporate both methods, this allows you to have an authentic look with the
handmade brushes but control color and variation with the Photoshop brushes.
8. The best way to use texture in Photoshop is to use Clipping Masks combined with your
vectorized images. That way we can maintain the vector edge quality and avoid pixelated
edges.
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9. First place the background texture.
10. Place the lettering or illustration you want to add texture to.
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11. Place the texture you want your lettering or illustration to be directly on top of the lettering layer.
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12. Right click the texture layer and select Create Clipping Mask.
13. Now the textured layer is masked in the lettering layer.
Vector Texture
14. Every now and then it is necessary to provide vector files to a client. Since you don't want to
lose the handmade quality in your illustrations, you will still want to use texture.
15. This process will make your illustrator files huge so remember to save often (Always save
often).
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Using the same process as adding texture in Photoshop, we will simply take our textured file from
Photoshop, bring it into Illustrator and vectorize it.
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Background Texture
16. Your background may be simple or it could involve a pattern. Be sure to consider how your
background relates to your illustration.
Finalizing
Finishing Details
1. The more delicate details of your illustration should come last. Chances are they are too small
to have much textures applied.
Critique
2. Before you send off the file, take a step back and make any final considerations for changes. It
helps to print it out and take a look at it offscreen.
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