Cover Image: Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy

Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

A perfect book for beginners like myself. I love the art of lettering and calligraphy and was so excited to read through this informative guide. The steps are clear and easy to follow and Shelly Kim covers everything, from what pens to use down to the best app for digital lettering. Its definitely a book that I will be buying a physical copy of so that I can make use of the worksheets!

Was this review helpful?

A good start to transfer over physical calligraphy to the digital world. Nice for those who want to do more with their calligraphy. the book is a nice starting point.

Was this review helpful?

was blown away by this book! I loved all the instructions, particularly the section on Procreate, which I've wanted to learn for quite a while. The lettering itself is really beautiful, and Kim's instructions are clear and easy to follow. The photographs are lovely, and, along with the illustrations, help to make this book a great resource for anyone wanting to learn this skill. A great practical and creative book!

Was this review helpful?

Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy goes over the basics of how to do calligraphy in a modern sense. It covers brush pens, tablets and other modern methods, and then quickly goes over many ways to use your calligraphy through various programs and printing methods (such as vinyl overlays). This book would be good for someone who is looking for a simple overview of the choices available and a quick guide for getting started.

Was this review helpful?

This is a perfect book for those who are interested in doing calligraphy in the modern times and with technology. Kim starts off with the basics, and assists readers with lots of drills. Then she provides inspirations for projects that can be done on the tablet. The images are absolutely beautiful and the format of the book is easy to follow, I would recommend to all my artist friends,

Was this review helpful?

A lovely step by step book. It starts with modern style brush calligraphy, setting out several alphabet fonts to try. Then it moves on to how to use that calligraphy digitally - using an ipad pro.

Really clear, good step by step instructions, great for a beginner to get started. I'd recommend it.

Was this review helpful?

Lettering is my favorite! I love picking up as many books as I can on lettering and this one did not disappoint!! I feel like this book is a total beginners guide however, you can take what’s here and make beautiful art! I love how this book helps you along with a digital app to be used with your tablet and stylus. The app recommended is called Proceeate for iPad. This book is equally divided between beautiful lettering using the app and how to do calligraphy on paper.

If you’re looking for a book to help you with a beautiful calligraphy project this is the bookfor you! My lettering has improved greatly with dedicating a little time each week to practice with books like this.

This arc was courtesy of Netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased.

Was this review helpful?

This book really impressed me. It has 2 parts: pen and paper calligraphy and creating with the iPad Pro and iPad pencil. I specifically knew nothing about the creative options available with the iPad Pro and pencil, so that intrigued me.

I dabbled in calligraphy years ago. Perusing Pinterest in the last several years has reawakened my slumbering artistic side. The most important tips from the first part of the book: pressure and practice. Ms. Kim suggests that changing the pressure you apply depending on the direction of your pen strokes is key. Her mantra is up=thin (lighter pressure) and down=thick (heavier pressure). Then all that’s left is to do is to practice the skill of fluidly and constantly tweaking the pressure as you are writing. The author saves us so much time by suggesting all the best tools of the calligraphy trade; cool pens and papers.

The creative choices and possibilities with the iPad Pro are endless. First of all, you can change the applied pressure when writing on the iPad Pro, too, to get a real calligraphy brushstroke effect. Here are a few skills the author taught: how to make a background look stamped or patterned, how to change the color of your word, how to make your word glittery, how to give your word a gradient of colors, how to achieve a blurred or paint swirled background, how to incorporate calligraphy onto a digital photograph and make it look 3D, and how to make actual vinyl words you can print..

And lastly, the author walks you through several projects including name tags, party invitations, making a cards and how to print out vinyl lettering to be transferred and placed on other objects.

Here’s my warning: once you read this book, you will want to go out and buy all the supplies. Not only the cool pens and papers, but the iPad Pro and the pencil too. If you already have those tools, then reading the book won’t be as financially dangerous.

I received a digital copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinions.

Was this review helpful?

3.5 stars

This is a pretty useful guide, especially for beginners; it goes into detail with a lot of stuff that I think it's fair to assume most people reading this book will already know, but it's good to cover all your bases and the author isn't overly repetitive about it, either. There are tons of great tips for Procreate, though if you're looking to use another program for digital lettering, you're probably out of luck.

It's also worth mentioning that the first half of this book is actually about hand lettering, not digital lettering, so if you've already perfected hand lettering (or don't want to/aren't able to do it for whatever reason), you won't be able to use the first half of the book. I'd say the marketing for this book could use some work.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Was this review helpful?

This is a total beginner book, even has the anatomy of a pen so you know complicated terms like pen cap and pen body. Baby steps people. I appreciate that they included the Crayola marker too as a valid option to use. And yet the applications and final projects look like this book can take you from beginner to advanced by following their simple instructions and practicing.
I love the detailed directions giving each stroke of the pen. The letter practicing on lined papers remind me of all those terrible handwriting lessons in which I utterly failed as a kid. I’m a lefty so it was always torture trying to get the right angles and strokes. I don’t know what to do for me as a lefty with calligraphy. I would have liked some mention of that in when discussing how to hold a pen. I’ve given up the idea of doing calligraphy. That’s why this book appealed to me so much. The thought that I can use a tablet with stylus made this a must try for me. The app recommended is called Procreate for iPad. It was about $9.99 with in-app purchases too. So that is not a large investment. Half of the book covered how to use this app while the other half covered how to do calligraphy on paper. The images from the app look beautiful and it even showed printed applications of your calligraphy project.
This book was beautifully done and I think following the instructions will really up you calligraphy skills.
I agreed to read this book as an advance copy thru NetGallery. This is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Was this review helpful?

I've never really read a calligraphy book before but I enjoyed this a lot although, as another reader suggested, a physical copy of the book would be better to have to apply the steps.

Was this review helpful?

A clever and easy to follow guide to lettering.

Lovely illustrations and details description and instructions that are easy to follow. Ideal beginners guide.

Was this review helpful?

I have recently purchased a Apple Pencil to use for my crafting and painting and found this book. For someone who loves to be creative and make things that people will love, this book is perfect. This book was easy to read and I learned several new things to do while I am learning how to do hand lettering. The instructions were great and I was able to work on a few projects. For those who are looking to do something using ProCreate and more on their iPad, this is the book for you11

Was this review helpful?

This is the book I’ve been looking for. Why? Because it has a section on calligraphy using apps and iPad. I do a lot of drawing on my iPad because I can do it anywhere anytime. Now I can add words to my pictures which using a text box and set alphabet just doesn’t give the effect I want. L would like more books on how to use an iPad creatively please?

Was this review helpful?

Wow! I’m so glad I received this book bc it is perfect! iPad Pro has opened a whole new world to letterers and Procreate is genius! Many letterers are venturing to this way to work and publish bout some don’t know how or where to begin and this book is wonderful! Learn to make brushes and stamps and shadows, work with layers, on and on! Beyond the iPad aspect this book is still great. There are tips and drills and techniques. Tools are always detailed and pictures are modern and fresh. It’s an informative and helpful book, but it’s also beautifully designed and modern!

Was this review helpful?

This is a fantastic and interesting book that can teach anyone some beautiful calligraphy. A good book for anyone interested in this subject.

Was this review helpful?

First off, the title is a little misleading. While this book goes into detail on Procreate and Adobe Sketch, there is still plenty of beginner tips on basic brush lettering by hand and on paper. There are lots of brush and hand lettering guide but what makes this stand out is the explanation of digital works as well. It is a good balance. It has some good tips on digitizing your art using camera, scanner, software etc and ideas on projects you can make with them . Great book, good tips not found in other ones. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the digital ARC to review.

Was this review helpful?

I’ve used a few online guides to help me with lettering.
It’s such a beautiful art and this book totally captures that and makes drawing letters so much easier!

Was this review helpful?

This book is so useful! I have the Adobe apps for drawing, but after going through this book I went ahead and bought Procreate. This is a great way to illustrate what you can do in Procreate and it is nice to have those step by step instructions on how to create fun effects. I recommend this book for anyone who has an iPad and an Apple Pencil.

Was this review helpful?

To achieve the professional look the author seeks to teach, the right tools are essential and the beginning of this book includes a supply list for calligraphy. She includes modern calligraphy pens as well as digital resources for the reader to help achieve success. Basic instruction is then provided in the same manner we learned penmanship in grade school. Because of the practice nature required to obtain proficiency, I would recommend a hard copy over a digital read. I particularly liked learning about color and hues leading into the inspiration gallery. There are several projects included in this book that would lend themselves nicely to any paper crafter or digital artist. Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC (all opinions expressed in this review are authentically mine).

Was this review helpful?