Lettering from a to Z : 12 Styles and Awesome Projects for a Creative Life (Calligraphy, Printmaking, Hand Lettering)

“I found Lettering from A to Z to be an open door, inviting me to play and create in entirely new ways.” ―Sherry Richert Belul, author of Say it Now and founder of Simply Celebrate

Winner Indie Book Award for Gift/Specialty/Novelty Book in 2021
Winner 15th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards (2021) for Crafts & Hobbies
#1 New Release in Handwriting Reference, Mixed Media, and Printmaking

Lettering artist Phawnda Moore has been teaching calligraphy and design for 25 years. An award-winning author, she steps into beginning students’ shoes to select content, address anticipated questions, and offer solutions to the unexpected yet inevitable problems that are encountered in hand lettering.

Your creative life will be enriched with step-by-step tutorials “from A to Z.” Written in conversational narrative, this full-color book includes more than 200 images of Phawnda’s professional work, published articles, and guidance from her class demos to make beautiful projects. Blending traditional design principles and modern tools, it inspires you to find your own style.

Phawnda's instruction includes:

• 12 styles (Uncial calligraphy, Italic calligraphy, script calligraphy, brush lettering, faux calligraphy, rainbow lettering, monoline letters, handwriting and drawn letters)
• Customized, printable practice sheets
• Recommended writing tools, papers, sources, printing tips
• Layout, color, and design basics
• Lettering projects for youngsters
• Tips on how to organize your studio space
• Tips on sharing your skills in teaching, business, events, home, garden, and community
• Illustrating with calligraphy tools
• Projects to make handmade birthday cards, holiday cards, journals of your life, and easy-to-design art books

If you enjoyed Hand Lettering 101, The Lost Art of Handwriting, or Hand Lettering for Relaxation, then it’s time to grab a copy of Lettering from A to Z and reconnect to your natural creativity.

Greetings

It is said that life is more meaningful, and we live longer, if we find something we’re keenly interested in and connect to it. I hope that’s true for all of us.

As a calligrapher, writer, editor and instructor, my life paths lead to connections with kindred spirits. I’m grateful for many experiences of working together as we created art in words and images. Writing Lettering from A to Z: 12 Styles & Awesome Projects for a Creative Life has allowed me to revisit those memories and include some of them for you.

My instructors taught me patience because good lettering takes time. The most important thing is to slow down, get comfortable, and just begin. In quiet solitude, focus, wonder, experiment, seek your own path, and enjoy the process! There’s a kind of magic in this: we grow, learn new things, and discover who we are.

I have observed these benefits for many years as I’ve had the pleasure to teach mostly retired professionals. Their questions and ideas are reflected in my workshops and in this book. Once a commercial graphic designer for printed projects, I now have the privilege to share some of that experience and work on a personal level with the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Perhaps you have a stack of blank cards or have saved a loved one’s handwriting?and now you want to send keepsakes of your own. This book is written for you, beginning to intermediate creatives, who seek traditional influence and practical instruction to make everyday things beautiful and memorable. Hand lettering can heal, celebrate, send love, recognize, mourn, and let be. In the big picture, these are all opportunities that matter in the gift of life.

I hope Lettering from A to Z: 12 Styles & Awesome Projects for a Creative Life enlightens, educates, and encourages you. Think of it as a journey; start and stop with me along the way . . . Let’s begin!