The Art of Hand-Lettering: Techniques for Mastery and Practice

By Helm Wotzkow

Author Helm Wotzkow, a commercial artist specializing in advertising, leads readers step by step from beginning to advanced skills. His extensive experience provides so many helpful suggestions and tips that even professional letterers will find useful new ideas on almost every page.
Wotzkow begins with advice on the tools necessary to hand-lettering. He then proceeds to a detailed discussion and analysis of roman majuscule and minuscule characters, the lettering upon which most styles are based. Both pen and brush lettering are covered. Subsequent chapters explore italic, gothic, script, and block styles of lettering as well as negative lettering, perspective lettering, and lettering on curves. Each chapter is illustrated with scores of examples of fine lettering executed by Wotzkow and his students. Rather than presenting a series of hard-and-fast rules, the author helps readers analyze existing forms, discover new techniques, and develop their own critical faculties.
"Valuable for the student, the teacher, the lecturer, [and] the designer," declared School Arts of this thorough, practical guide to hand-lettering.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Feb 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9780486829647

Book preview

THE ART OF

Hand-Lettering

Techniques for Mastery and Practice

Helm Wotzkow

Dover publications, Inc.

Mineola, New York

Copyright

Copyright © 1952 by Watson-Guptill Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2018, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published in 1952 by Watson-Guptill Publications, Inc., New York.

International Standard Book Number

ISBN-13: 978-0-486-82401-7

ISBN-10: 0-486-82401-2

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

82401201    2018

www.doverpublications.com

to Erna,

for her loving patience

Publisher’s Note

FOR SOME TIME now we have been seeking a general text and reference book on lettering – a book sufficiently broad and comprehensive to appeal, on the one hand, to those who wish to do creative lettering, and, on the other, to the buyers or users of hand-lettering, with their need to appreciate and evaluate the creations of others.

When Helm Wotzkow’s manuscript for The Art of Hand-lettering recently came along, we knew that our search was over. For here is a book admirably meeting our specifications. Not only is its author a highly skillful letterer and designer – now Foreign Art Director of the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company – but he is a natural-born teacher, the sort who delights in analyzing the needs of his prospective readers, and in catering to those needs. Through his many years of combined teaching and professional experience he has learned precisely what kinds of information and inspiration are most valuable to the student, the teacher, the professional letterer and the buyer of lettering. Also, he has developed rare skill in presenting this pertinent material in the most readily assimilated word and picture form.

His illustrations, while not flashy or dramatic, are superb, as a thumbing through of these pages will reveal. Note that these illustrations do not consist primarily of the copy plate type of alphabet, or of the miscellaneous lettering examples, which some lettering books feature almost in overabundance. Instead, while alphabets and examples are by no means neglected, each of his numerous and diversified illustrations has been drawn especially for this book, to serve some specific purpose which is brought out by the accompanying text.

This text, by the way, is exceptionally well-handled, leading the reader by easy degrees from the most elementary of matters – such as the selection of the needed drawing materials – to, and through, numerous professional considerations. In various instances the author dramatizes his arguments by comparing the appropriate with the inappropriate, the right with the wrong.

Especially commendable is his effort to aid his reader to become a good self-critic. Having thoroughly acquainted him with the Roman alphabet – the basis of practically all good lettering – he then leads him to all the other well-known lettering styles: Italic, Script, Block and the far-too-often-neglected Gothic. Also, through a simple Formula, he establishes a means of judging hand-lettering.

Useful, indeed, are his instructions on methods of assembling and adjusting different letters to form words, and different words to form complete units of lettering. Revealing, too, are his discussions of layout, of reproduction, of congruity of lettering style to purpose, and a hundred other things. The section of expertly set type faces will likewise prove most helpful.

In all of this there is no hint that skill in lettering can be acquired without persistent study and practice. On the contrary, just as the art of lettering is stressed throughout the book – the need for holding ever to high esthetic standards – so is the craft. One learns how to manipulate his pencil, pen and brush, how to overcome errors or defects, how to work white on black, how to letter in perspective and on curves.

But why go on stressing the obvious? The book is here for all to see. We present it with the belief that, as a basic work, it will serve many types of readers. As already hinted, for the student, the teacher, the letterer, the designer and the layout man – those who do hand-lettering or teach it – it can well prove practically indispensable. It will be invaluable, also, to buyers or users of lettering: the art directors and art editors, the advertising agencies and art studios, the advertising departments of companies both large and small – also publishers, typesetters and printers. In fact, who in this entire field cannot profit through a broader knowledge of this great art-craft?

Contents

  1: Materials

  2: Good Lettering

  3: Criticism and Self-Criticism

  4: The Five Basic Styles

  5: The Roman Alphabet

  6: Analysis of Roman Majuscules

  7: Variations from Typical Roman Majuscules

  8: The Roman Minuscules

  9: Layout and Spacing of Roman Minuscules

10: Variations of Roman Minuscules

11: Romanized Arabic Numerals

12: Evolution of Italic Lettering

13: Italic Majuscules

14: Italic Minuscules

15: Gothic

16: Script

17: Block

18: Handy Hints

19: A Tribute to Type

Index

Acknowledgment

For the many hours they generously spent in making drawings, offering constructive criticism and encouraging me when I most needed it, my special gratitude to Rodulfo Garcia, Aino Murk and Alex. G. Highton.

And to those many good friends, both here and abroad, who went to so much trouble to get me the various specimens of handwriting, my sincere thanks. I’m sorry I couldn’t use them all; they are most interesting.

Introduction

THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN for those who wish to learn the art of hand-lettering. Hand-lettering is a fascinating art, and, while being a useful one, it can and will afford the artist a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction not only from the standpoint of technical skill but also from that of creative ability and inventiveness.

How to books have been written on practically every imaginable human activity under the sun, and I have read many of them. I have found, however, that a lot of these books, while telling you how to do certain things, more often than not omit to tell you why they should be done that way.

I readily admit that this telling you why is not always the easiest thing in the world, for the simple reason that the teacher-author generally knows so many things about his subject which have become second nature to him that he probably often unconsciously forgets to mention them to his invisible student-reader. On the other hand, the invisible student-reader is not in a position to suddenly ask a pertinent question which might prove inspirational to the teacher and, properly answered, save the student a great deal of disappointment and experimenting.

To learn how is certainly not always to learn why, but to know why is the surest way of learning how and finally knowing how.

If I had not felt a definite need for this book I obviously would not have undertaken to write it. There are a great many excellent works showing various examples of hand-lettering at their imaginable best. There are also many exceptionally useful books containing all kinds of complete alphabets, ancient and modern, utilitarian and decorative, as well as beautiful and otherwise. A number of these books are so good that I would be proud to have been their producer, but their usefulness is restricted almost entirely to those who already know how to do lettering. The first group mentioned consists mostly of inspirational books, good to have on one’s bookshelf to get ideas from or for purely esthetic enjoyment. As a rule, however, it is left to the reader’s imagination how most of the masterpieces reproduced were done, as well as why they were done this way. The other group, which I admit can at times be of some help to the student, may on the other hand lead him to become nothing more than a copyist. Just picking out letters from an existing alphabet and rearranging them into words is about as artistic as playing dominoes. Many an alphabet, designed as such, and forming a complete picture in itself, may give a very pleasing impression; but those identical characters taken out individually and rearranged with spaces between words and lines can, and surprisingly often do, give most shockingly amateurish results. This does not mean to say that the characters or letters themselves are badly formed, but that as a rule the copyist has been unable to grasp fully the original designer’s intentions. I speak here of really well-designed alphabets and not of the hundreds of phantastically misshapen oddities which are periodically presented as modern alphabets.

A how to book without examples is inconceivable, so I have endeavored to include as many as seemed necessary within reasonable limits. On the other hand I have presented only a few complete alphabets, my object being to inspire the student to get the feeling of the examples rather than give him something cut-and-dried to copy. The many comparative renderings offered of the ever-recurring theme, Always endeavor to find some interesting variation, demonstrate what the lettering is trying to express a great deal better than would a compilation of all the varieties of alphabets involved.

Yet the feeling for appropriateness for a particular purpose is something which has to be acquired and which cannot be taught as one can teach that two plus two makes four. Individual taste plays a large and important role, and, in the final summary, it will be found that, as far as appropriateness goes, there will never be one single and unique solution to any problem of lettering. The best I can do is to show extreme examples of inappropriateness which I have no doubt the student will understand and consequently avoid. Between the obviously appropriate and glaringly inappropriate there is always a golden mean. This golden mean very often happens to be far more acceptable than the obviously appropriate, and, to find this, many factors have to be taken into account. I hope my efforts will enable the student to do just this.

In dealing with the evolution of certain forms and styles I have found it useful to give short historical sketches to explain how certain changes came about. In doing this I have allowed myself considerable license for the sake of clarity and brevity, even omitting certain kinds of manuscript writing because they have had little or no influence in shaping our present day alphabets. It seemed to me to be more important to the student to know, for instance, why the Italics are formed the way they are and how these forms are made, rather than give a lot of historical dates, countries of origin, etc., hardly any of which would be of much use or interest to the practicing letterer.

My aim is to give the lettering artist pertinent material in textbook manner, together with such worth-while knowledge as will enable him to quickly grasp the fundamentals of correct lettering. At the same time the examples presented are purely for inspirational purposes without pretending to be models worthy of copying. As a manual, I am offering this book as a handy reference always ready to remind the student of the correct form of every individual letter and to give ideas of layout, arrangement, style, etc., for selection at a glance.

Correct form is essential in good lettering and far more important than any amount of decoration, which is one reason why I have shown very few examples of ornamental lettering. In fact, good hand-lettering should strive to be decorative in itself. Without wishing to date this book, I believe I can safely say that today’s trend in design, most especially in the graphic arts, is towards perfect simplicity or simple perfection. Today’s commercial artist must often of necessity endeavor to make his lettering serve two purposes: that of being functional – that is, strictly readable – and at the same time so well-designed as to make further decoration superfluous.

THE ART OF

Hand-Lettering

Techniques for Mastery and Practice

CHAPTER ONE

Materials

DOING ALL THE styles of lettering mentioned in this book calls for a multitude of implements and tools; but, being a believer in an uncluttered worktable and in the advisibility of using as few tools as necessary, and of demanding that those few, through skillful manipulation, serve more than one purpose, I shall recommend only the ones I use all the time.

Most lettering is best done on a sloping surface at more or less a right angle to the line of vision. A small tilt table drawing table is of course very useful, but by no means essential, so do not buy one until you have enough steady work to make the investment pay. But two or three light drawing boards are indispensable. My favorites measure about 15″ × 12″ and 20″ × 16″. Occasionally I need much larger ones, but they are a nuisance unless really needed. Well-seasoned cedar boards ⅝″ to ⅞″ thick are excellent, as I have found that they are light and do not have the tendency to shrink within the mortised ends

Figure 1. Shrinkage will distort your drawing board.

as ordinary deal or pine boards often do. This shrinkage is most troublesome when you get accustomed to applying your T square on all four edges, as you will when speed counts. Cedar is also pleasantly soft for pressing in and removing thumbtacks, whose heads should be as thin as possible. The use of adhesive cellulose tape (Scotch tape) as a substitute for thumbtacks is recommendable in general, but a trial should be made first in the case of some special papers whose surface textures might be ruined when pulling off the tape – forming unsightly blemishes on work which is to be presented in the original, such as addresses, illuminated manuscripts, greeting cards, etc. Where thumbtacks seem called for they should not pierce the paper but should be pressed into the board outside the paper’s edges so that only the heads hold the paper – firmly of course.

It is a matter of taste whether you prefer a T square with a double head or crosspiece – that is, two crosspieces, one fixed permanently at right angles to the blade or ruler and the other adjustable to any angle – or one with a single adjustable crosspiece. I use the latter because it is handier, and, find it no particular bother to fix it at a right angle when needed. The one I have used for more than twenty years looks like this:

Figure 2. An adjustable T square is indispensable.

The cross section of its ruler is its most important feature. The fact that the transparent plastic edges are raised from the surface of the paper is an enormous advantage, as you can use any type of pen without the ink running under them as so often happens with the customary transparent-edged rulers. It is a good idea to

Figure 3. Cross section of blade (ruler) of T square.

buy a T square of this kind with the ruler about 30″ long, and then to cut off an end of about 10″ which you will find the most handy supplementary ruler imaginable, particularly for small work. I never use draftsman’s triangles (set-squares) as I find that the near-enough right angle of the drawing boards is sufficient for every lettering job that I can think of.

For all work done with reproduction in mind, use very white paper if you can get it, but if you are compelled to choose between a white second-quality and a slightly cream first-quality paper, take the latter. Although it is exceedingly difficult – I might say almost impossible – to recommend, in writing, any particular brands of paper, I think I should warn the beginner not to be deceived by every beautifully white or exquisitely smooth kind. Even the holding of a sheet up to the light – a good paper is generally clear and translucent and the visible structure is only very slightly cloudy – is not always a sure test of quality. Bending over a corner of a sheet and only slightly pressing the