Hand lettering

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

013 495 498 P #

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Copyright, 1912
By M. CHAPPELL

All Rights Reserved

CHAPPELL ART SCHOOL

Publishers

Oklahoma City, U. S. A.

Introduction

Occupying over one-half of the profession known as
Commercial Art, the study of lettering should have the
student's extra attention. It will bring one the earliest
financial returns, as it takes only a limited amount of study
to produce work of commercial value and designs containmg
hand lettering are used more generally by commercial enter-
prises.

For these reasons I would like to urge you to devote
early and diligent study to this branch.

In this book I have endeavored to eliminate the uncom-
fortable dryness which seems to be linked with the early
study of subjects of this nature by employing simple ex-
planations, illustrations and keeping away from unnecessary
details. However, after you have mastered the study suf-
ficiently to produce creditable work, the dryness will be
transformed into a fascination and your ability will be great-
ly increased.

The demand for hand lettering seems unlimited as it is
becoming almost the exclusive mouth-piece for the Adver-
tiser, as type printed matter cannot attract the attention as
good hand lettered advertisements will. You will notice
that magazine and newspaper advertisers will use a hand
lettered heading to attract the reader and use type for only
the discriptive matter. V^ery often you will find a complete
hand lettered advertisement, as most of the large advertis-
ers have adopted hand lettered advertisements exclusively,
as type matter cannot produce the desired results, because
it is limited to one uniform space for each separate letter,
while hand lettering has plenty freedom for modification?
and design work. The Author.

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©CI.A320379

Block Lettering

The ordinary block letter has the largest use so I would
like to call your attention to it first.

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DESIGN

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Correct spacing has much to do with the appearance of
lettering. A line of letters is most generally made for a
given space, so you should indicate on your paper the start-
ing and ending points of the line you are making. Draw two
liorizontal pencil lines indicating the top and bottom of the
letters, such as lines A and !'> in figure one. roughly layout
the letters desired in light pencil similar to figure one. You
should correct your rough layout until it has a uniform
appearance and not crowded at one end and extended at the
other. I would like to caution you against trying to place
too much lettering in one line. It is far better to make a
seccnd line than have your work look too crowded.

After you have your rough layout uniform you can go
over it and make the finish layout in the stvle of lettering
desired, using your eye to measure the bounds for each sep-
arate letter as in figure two.

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You can ink-in your finished layout with good, dense
black drawing ink and pen as illustrated in figure three. Use
straight-edge and compass whenever it is possible so that
the edge of the letter will be straight and true. The little
crosses in D and G in figures two and three mark the center
or compass point while the ruled lines can also be found.

You can fill in the center portions of the letters with a
small_ brush. The strokes of the brush are shown in the
unfinished portion of G and N in figure four.

-4-

The correct letter-spacing is the most difiicult prohleni
the student must contront, so 1 hope you will closely study
the following rules. The simplest way to govern the letter
spacing is to place your letters in your line so that the
hlank or open space between each separate letter is near the
same size in area as illustrated by the dotted lined portions
XYZ in figure five. Use your top and bottom guide lines for
hcunC'S and govern the area with your eye.

The blank space between LA is the largest natural blank
space possible. In this case you can decrease the area by cut-
ting the horizontal bar of the L a little shorter than its nat-
ural size or decrease this area by one of the three other
methods shown in figure six. As a rule the round letters
such as CGOQ should be spaced a little closer than normal.
Full space letters as BDEHKHAINRUSXZ should be
spaced the normal distance apart while open letters as
AFJLPTVWY should be spaced very closely together.
Train your eye so you can govern the area of the blank
spaces between letters, as mechanical means cannot be suc-
cessfully applied for this purpose.

The correct amount of space each letter should consume
in the line can be governed by using BCDGKPRSTXZ as
normal and add i-io to OQVY, add 1-5 to A, add 2-5 to
AIW and subtract i-io from EFN.

The normal form of block letters is square, but they
can be condensed and elongated without affecting the style
or appearance. Condensing or shortening the width of the
letter should not exceed one space wide by three spaces
high. Elongating or lengthening the width should not ex-
ceed two spaces wide by one space high. In condensing you
can make letters LEFJNT a little narrower than other let-
ters without affecting the appearance.

Block letters are divided into two families, named
Gothic and Roman. The Gothic letters have the same thick-
ness of bars or body while Roman letters have alternatelv
thick and thin bars. An important rule in Roman letters is
that all bars of the downward stroke or extending from the
upper left hand to the lower right hand are heaviest while
the opposite bars are thin as in figure seven.

-5-

In order to overcome optical illusions you can make
the horizontal bars in Gothic letters about i-io less in
thickness than the vertical bars, otherwise the horizontal
bars will appear a little the thickest. Round letters as
r(;00 should run a little over the guide lines, or they will
have a smaller appearance than the rest of the line.

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Care should be used in keeping the bars of each letter
uniform, so your line will have an even and pleasing ap-
pearance.

Many different styles can be formed in both Gothic and
Roman families, some by simply changing the little kerns or
projections on the letter. Figure eight illustrates several
different designs of kerns in practical use. You can make
copies as near as possible of the complete alphabets in
figures nine, ten and eleven, also copy the other illustrations
in this book, as this practice will help you to get the cor-
rect shape of each letter memorized. Use a center guide
line in drawing the small or lower case letters, as shown in
figure nine. Make your copies about twice the size of the
illustrations in this book. After you have learned the cor-
rect shape of letters you can make such modifications or
fancy scrolls you desire. Do not use modifications that will
greatly affect the easy reading.

r«5URE 12

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FIGURE 9 ROMAN (HAND (fTfeREO)

ABCDEPGHI

JKLMNOFGl

RSTUVWXY

mnopQf.ytuvwx

A small brush can be used for outlining large letters
vvben inking over your pencil layout or sketch, as illustrated
in figure twelve. Large letters are sometimes used in news-
I^aper headlines, also in posters, signs and shovvcards where
thev ran he outlined with paint and small brush.

Shading and high-lights are important auxiliaries to let-
tering. Shadows as a rule should fall to the left and bottom
of the letter at the angle of 45 degrees. Shading on round
letters should have a true crescent shape, gradually tapering
to the points. A bad tendency is to let the shading protrude
beyond the ec^^e of the letter. Figure thirteen shows several
kinds of shading in general use.

-7-

FIGURE 10 GOTHIC

ABCDEFGHIJK
LMNOPQRSTU
VWXYZ 12345
67890$&.,;:-!?

FIGURE 11 ROMAN ITALIC

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
PQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijk Im nopqrstuv
wxyz 1234567890,:-;:!?

Script Lettering

Some of the most beautiful lettered designs are made in
script. Although there is only one family of script there is
more than one correct way of making certain letters. Figure
fourteen illustrates the old and new ways of making script
letters. You have the liberty to use either way. Script
should be laid out in pencil before inking similar to block
letters.

Several modifications or styles can be formed from
script. Figure fifteen illustrates one of my own origin.
My script letters are built after a square pattern indicated in
dotted lines. These lines are the same distance apart each
way and the vertical lines slant fore ward at the angle of
sixty degrees. These lines have nothing to do with the
spacing of the script, but are shown here simply to illustrate
the proper space each letter and scroll should consume. A
blank space is shown in the side, leaving some of the letters
free of lines. You can layout your paper in pencil similar
to the dotted line for practice, but for commercial work I
would suggest only the horizontal guide lines and use your
eye for correct spacing.

Uniform, harmonious and graceful curves add much
to the appearance of script. Figures sixteen, seventeen
and eighteen show some good script combinations. Note
the unfinished portion in figure seventeen. This gives the
method used in forming white letters on black back-ground.
The letters are laid out in pencil, but when inking in you
keep to the outer edge of the letter and fill in the back-
ground with brush.

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ChAPPELL SCRiPT «

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-11-

Old English

In making designs in Old English lettering you shculd
make them as plain and simple as possible, as this style
of lettering is not generally used and is very difficult for
most people to read. Old English makes beautiful and
tasty designs for refined society stationery. Copy the al-
phabet in figure nineteen, which will also be good to re-
fer to for correct formation of letters. Old English can-
not be successfully monogrammed and but few modifi-
cations are practical, but the letters can be decorated for
initials as in figure twenty. Try to keep letters of this
nature as uniform in appearance as possible.

fiGVRE, iS SOaZTV OLD EtiaUSh

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RGURE 20

n(J0R6 21

Combinations

Scroll designs and illustrations can be combined with
lettering but you should make the design work secondary
or auxiliary to your lettering. Don't try to crowd or
make your lettering fit the design but make the design oi
illustration fit the lettering and not detract too much froni
the easy reading. Figure twenty-one is a symmetrical de-
sign. One side matches, or the reverse of the other side.
In making a symmetrical design you should divide your
space in the center and draw one-half of the design in
pencil. Cover this with tracing cloth or transparent paper
and trace in soft pencil, as in figure twenty-two. Mark
center line and corners to aid in matching. Then reverse
the tracing cloth on the undrawn side and go over it with
hard pencil lines on the undrawn side of tracing cloth. This
will transfer the soft lines to your drawing paper making
you a complete lay out which you can ink in.

-13-

Figure twenty-three illustrates the marking of a draw-
ing for reproduction. Indicate reducing size similar to the
one above the drawing and when color tint cuts are desired
you should indicate where the colors should be by the
method shown, with light pencil, so that it will not conflict
with the reproducing. A separate plate is required for each
color printed, but one color can be printed over another mak-
ing 1 combination color. Don't color your drawings for tint

RGURE 22

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colors, because they cannot be successfully reproduced by
photo engraving process. Drawings to be reproduced
should be drawn with dense black upon clear white paper
or bristol board. Line-drawings in black and white, sim-
ilar to the illustrations in this book are reproduced by
"zinc-etchings", while drawings in several tones such as
wash, crayon and retouched photographs are reproduced
by "half-tones". Photo-engravers and most printers will
give you any information and. prices on the reproduction
(if your drawings, you desire. You can make several de-
signs for merchants and manufacturers in your city, such
as signatures, trade-marks, labels, ad-designs and cover

-14-

designs. By getting estimates on zinc etchings from ycur
nearest engraver, you can give your customer an estimate
on drawing and reproductions.

In order to help you originate lettered designs and to
illustrate the general nature of the customer's "copy", I
have prepared the following six sample order lessons :

No. i.^ — Make script signature design of "Millers
Trunk Co ; 428 Fourth Ave., Toledo, Ohio". Size of cuts
to be 4 in. wide by 2 in. high.

No. 2. — Monogram in block letters ''O E Co." Cut

No. 3.— Make magazine heading "THEATRE TALES
size, 2x2 inches.

by Charles Frohman." Make design suggestive of Comic
Opera, Cut size, 5 inches wide.

No. 4. — Make trade-mark design of "Kargol". De-
sign must be 12 inches wide in heavv lettering.

No. 5. — Make catalog cover design "SPRINT; SHOW-
ING of MILLINERY". Edmond & Parish, Exclusive Mil-
liners, Chicago, U. S. A.

-IS-

SEP 14 1812

No. 6. — Make drawing of pretty girl drinking from
glass, labeled "GLEN SPRING WATER". Draw a land-
scape scene containing small brook in the back ground
letter GLEN SPRLNG WATER across the top and "King
of Table Drinks" across the bottom. Cut size, 2 columns
wide by 6 inches high.

NOTE. — As a rule customers don't give all the in-
structions desired when ordering and you must use your
own judgment and originality in making your drawing,
^'ou should get as much instructions and ideas from your
customer as possible, so it will not be a hard problem to
make the design satisfactory. It is advisable to submit the
pencil lay-out or sketch to your customer, as any necessary
changes can be easily made before inking.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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