Lettering and Doodles
Every day was a new adventure at my graphic design job. I designed a print ad, a digital ad, or a motion graphic, a logo, whatever. All day I was on a computer, jumping between software, searching for resources and creating designs. To calm my brain after a day’s work I started doodling in a sketchbook with color pencils and pens. I discovered doodling not only calmed my brain, it challenged my personal lettering practice in an unintended way.
The initial doodles were scribbles literally. My gestures were quick and my intention was thoughtless. The practice was a good counter to my work day flow.
First scribble in my sketchbook. I had to start somewhere.
The calming effect came when I slowed down. I started asking questions of my doodle practice. How would the next mark look? Where should I place it? Does the overall doodle need to be a cohesive composition? How will color accents work with this unintended composition? How will lettering look with my doodles? These daily exercises became a meditative practice.
Slowing my hand movements and gestures affected my doodles.
My doodles evolved. I incorporated doodles into my lettering practice. Letters became art. I saw them hanging in a studio space, printed on a restaurant menu, painted murals, and as three dimensional sculptures in a courtyard or park.
Doodling, what started as a practice to calm my brain led to a different way to practice hand lettering. Still doing it and loving every minute of it.
Tools I used:
Color Pencils
Graphite Pencil
Muji Highlighters
Muji Pens
Ruled Paper
Dotted Paper
Blank sketchbook paper