Lettering - Illustrated Words
This in-class exercise is to familiarize you with formal characteristics of individual letters of the alphabet of both sans serif and serif type faces.
Lettering, in the context of illustration, is the rendering of type by hand. It is essentially drawing words. The objective of lettering in illustration is not intended to be precise and machine-like, but rather express the context of illustration in which the word will appear. It does this by being rendered in the same style (or visual voice) of the illustration, visually complementing and strengthening the overall illustrated message.
If you are looking for the visual voice of a precise and perfectly rendered word, then you will want to use typeset letters, rather than hand drawn.
Using tracing paper and a pencil, trace the outlines of the individual letters of each of the alphabets—sans serif (Helvetica), serif (Times) and brush—posted in Lettering Alphabets under the Class Content Label.
Be mindful of the formal characteristics of each letter, such as stroke width, curves, and the negative space inside and around the letters themselves, as well as the visual commonalities and discrepancies between various letters.
Use the guidelines (baseline, cap height, x-height, and ascender line) to note the common base line of all the letters, as well as the height of the capital letters verses the lower case letters, and the parts of the letters (ascenders and descenders) that extend above and below the lower case letters.
Post these tracings (six pages in all) on your blog under Assignments and Exercises.
