The ABC of Custom Lettering: A Practical Guide to Drawing Letters

This is one of the more helpful art books I've ever read. I've been gradually learning graphic design for various side projects for some time, and I'm extremely new to custom lettering. I'm also the sort whose artistic abilities are about 1% natural talent and 99% deliberate study. I may know by intuition when something doesn't look right, but I need instruction to figure out what it is, and Castro's book provides exactly what I need. The bulk of the book is divided into two large parts. In the first, he details traditional calligraphy techniques. Even if your medium is digital rather than true hand lettering (as mine is), the section is still extremely valuable. It's much easier to make letter forms that look right when you know the mechanics behind _why_ the letters are supposed to be the way they are. The second large section shows examples of several different lettering styles, complete with multiple variations for each. For each style, there is a suggested project. He then leads you through his thought process from a preliminary sketch through several revisions, and this is where his instruction really shines. Each time he does a sketch, he critiques it mercilessly, carefully marking and explaining each detail that doesn't look quite right. Then he shows how the sketch is improved by fixing those details, and the next round of improvements begins. I've found this part incredibly useful for developing my own eye for the details. I'm already spotting things that I wouldn't have noticed in a million years without his instruction, and I just finished the book this morning. I have only one concern worth mentioning, and it isn't nearly enough to subtract a star for, especially when the book is exceptionally strong in every other respect. It's that some of his examples of variations on a style aren't very legible, and a few are downright cryptic. In the example projects that he develops in detail, he is very conscious of legibility. But for whatever reason, he still includes some other examples that I would consider too illegible to be good exemplars of a style.

I rarely write reviews, but this book was so useful to me, and I want more designers to be aware of it. Much of today's online "lettering" instruction is random folks offering print-at-home practice sheets, where you basically trace other people's handwriting and voilla, now you know how to letter. Not. Then there are courses valued at several hundred dollars, which I don't doubt are worth it, but are just prohibitively expensive for most of us. And then there's this book. If you're an aspiring lettering artist or a logo designer who wants to work with custom type, this must be the best $20 ever spent. It starts off with calligraphy basics, and offers several most important historical European calligraphy styles from which our modern typography has developed. Learning the mechanics of writing in these styles makes all the difference when attempting to create type from scratch. The "common mistakes" section was beyond useful. It's obvious the author has lots of experience in teaching. While Jessica Hische's book "In Progress" was beautiful to look at and had some important information on vector lettering, it's not nearly as in-depth as this book. Where Hische's book is more of a "this is how I do it", Castro's book is all about "here's how YOU can do it". The focus is always on the reader/student. The last part which finally gets to what we've all been waiting for – the custom lettering process – has several case studies in different styles, and it's fun to follow along while seeing how a lettering master approaches it. I really wish I'd have a chance to take a workshop with Ivan Castro one day – but until that happens, this book is the next best thing.

Wherever you are in your lettering journey, this book will teach you. Unless you know everything and therefore aren't considering buying it in the first place. There are those. I've studied and read many books and online tutorials and took Sean McCabe's Learn Lettering course, but this (aside from the business aspects of that course) is the best resource I've found. You'll learn to write different scripts, how to draw letters and then some heavy duty information on how to use that knowledge to design custom type. There's some history (which he manages to make interesting) of type to help you understand WHY different scripts are what they are. As a calligrapher, the most helpful part for me was learning to morph my calligraphy into custom type. That was an eye-opener. Reading the book is a little like having a conversation; Castro is warm and funny and not stiff and dry like many books on this and similar subjects. He explains the "why" many things that I knew to be true but hadn't questioned. He's just really really good at explaining stuff. Lots of aha! moments for me.

So are you a, beginner, novice, or professional? It really doesn't matter. Like many thing, knowing a craft takes time research. This book, amongst many that I own, have been a building block of my company F'n Wookee Studios. When lettering it's the little things that make a sign ok to professional. Understanding your tools, your craft, and having the patience to learn is what can make you stand out against your competitors. As I too am always learning, this book made a world of difference on how I preplan everything. Knowledge is truly power, get the book if your serious about making a difference for yourself. Totally worth it.

Very informative, fun and well written book. I'm slowly going through every exercise in it and I can see improvement. Extra points cause a dude has on a Bad Brains shirt in it and there's a Joey Ramone quote as an example. Top notch

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Compra perfeita! Entrega mais que rápida; além da espectativa. A respeito do produto The ABC of custoum lettering ( Guia de como desenhae letreiros) é um livro de muita valia para quem estuda ou já trabalha com comunicação visual e blicidade. É muito criativo, com senso estético e organição. Ffeito por quem realmente entende do ofício. Recomendo muito!

this person knows the material has good suggestions for one to improve

Some good tips on sign writing

Dopo una necessaria introduzione alla calligrafia l'autore affronta esaustivamente l'argomento lettering illustrando tutti gli aspetti per creare una soddisfacente composizione ed analizzando tutte le variabili nella creazione della vostra scritta personalizzata. Consigliabile comunque l'abbinamento ad un libro dedicato esclusivamente alla calligrafia