The first “entry” in my lettering journal
I wanted to experiment with styles I’ve never illustrated.
I learned different techniques and stylizations by watching other people.
I started lettering on things beyond the pages of my sketchbook.
I was laying in my bed one night, “trying” to go to sleep, scrolling through the “discover” section on Instagram. I noticed a short video of a person writing in script with a marker. But it was a very stylized script, not like a normal, “let me write out this check” script, but rather a careful, thought-out thick and thin script.
I tapped on the video and watched. The girl in the video had a brush pen with a felt tip and she pressed down with the downward strokes and lightened up with her upward strokes and she wrote the word, “Saturday”. The caption under the IG post had some connotation to the weekend, but I was more interested in what she was doing rather than what she wrote.
I continued to scroll down, finding more and more. Not enough to call it popular just yet but it was a mix between people catching on and no one paying attention. I also found posts of people doing this inside of their bullet journals after illustrating a scene or sorts. I wasn’t impressed, per se, but rather…intrigued.
I began to nod off, dropping my phone square on my nose. Cursing at myself, I turned off the screen and shoved my phone under my pillow. That weekend, I found myself in a calligraphy shop in downtown Collingswood, looking at brush pens and calligraphy paper. I bought a few and a pad (set me back about $30) and that evening at my boyfriend’s house, I laid on my stomach on his bed and began writing.
It was difficult. In fact, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. So for the next three weeks, I practiced and watched more of these short videos on Instagram, studied stills that were posted. Began following hashtags and people who inspired me. I bought more markers every time I stepped foot inside of Blick, Target, AC Moore, anywhere that sold markers remotely close to the ones I’ve seen.
Eventually, I started bullet journaling, too, which you can read about here. But on the side, I had a small sketchbook that I used to illustrate words. I learned that lettering didn’t just include script-like faces, but rather, could be styled to look any way you want. Some methods were cleaner, easier and cuter than others, but they were all creative and all really interesting.
As time passed, I noticed the posts growing exponentially. I noticed my friends, people I knew in real life and went to school with, doing it, too! Lettering had become a trend and I was sucked into it.
I found myself not only working in my bullet journal or sketchbook—I was scripting people’s names on envelopes, designing birthday post cards, and even marking boxes this way. It was addicting and the possibilities were endless.
Today, I’ve calmed down a bit. I still sit and doodle words, sometimes putting them aside for a future project I have in mind. The fad had grown so much, that when I walk into stores like Hobby Lobby, I see all sorts of calligraphy and lettering books, and laugh to myself.
Thank God for the Internet.