Last week hand lettering artist Scott Biersack released a Skillshare class. Scott has already featured on Lettering Tutorial once before as a ‘Lettering Legend’, so I was very excited to discover his class ‘Drawing Custom Lettering: Concept to Final Vector and Beyond’.
A while ago Scott created a few lettering tutorials for Tuts+ and those helped me a great deal on my lettering journey. When I found that he’d created a Skillshare class, I knew there would be more knowledge to gain from the skilful letterer.
Scott’s class does touch on some of what he covered in his previous tutorials, but it also includes a lot of new ground too. If you’re just starting hand lettering from the very very beginning, first I’d recommend having a look at Scott’s previous tutorials, or a lot of the articles here on Lettering Tutorial. Then move onto Scott’s Skillshare class after, as it follows on brilliantly from what he’s previously covered.
The Class
Throughout the class, Scott talks about the process that he follows when working with clients to design custom lettering. I really enjoy classes that explore lettering from this angle, as they’ve helped me to realise that everyone follows a slightly different workflow. It’s important to develop a structure that works for you, there is no exact right or wrong way to work!
Breakdown
The class can be broken down into five main areas, planning a project and gathering reference. Creating initial designs, refining the designs, vectoring a design and displaying that design to a client.
Some Highlights
Reference
When talking about reference Scott doesn’t just stick to sitting at his Mac, relying on Google for all sources of inspiration. He takes you out with him on the streets of New York, and looks for reference across the city. As I’ve previously mentioned in ‘The Importance of Good Lettering Reference’, it can make all the difference to your work if you have good reference. I think Scott does a great job at encouraging you to collect reference, and a great job at highlighting what to look out for.
Vectoring
Vectoring is one of those areas that if it’s not taught clearly, or properly, it’s easy to get put off of digitising your lettering work. I’d previously been put off of trying to use the pen tool in Illustrator for vectoring, but Scott’s lesson gave me the encouragement and knowledge to try it out again. He shares some very helpful tips for creating vectored lettering that he learnt from the wise and talented Jessica Hische. Along with some tips of his own, that can save you a lot of time when vectoring if anything need tweaking.
There are some very valuable tips in this class, even if you’re not a beginner I’m sure you will pick up something new and helpful. Scott also mentions in a lesson video that he may give feedback on some of the projects submitted to Skillshare for the class, and who doesn’t want to get some feedback from the legendary Scott Biersack!
