Success Quote Typography

This was a project in the Hand Lettering class I took; specifically, this is the Carolingian Assignment. This work includes 3 different historical styles of calligraphy: Roman, Uncial, and Carolingian. To create this, I first wrote out each individual letter on paper using the proper pen nib and technique for the specific style of calligraphy I was using for each word and letter, and then I scanned in all of the letters to use on my computer. Then I selected the letters in Adobe Photoshop and cleaned them up a bit. Next—now working in Adobe Illustrator—I worked on and decided what I wanted to do for the layout and color palette of the words in the quote I chose. Part of the assignment was for the final work to have that “homey” chalkboard-type feel.

Once I had the color palette decided, I applied the colors to all of the letters in their Photoshop files. Then I placed the letters all onto the canvas / frame in Adobe Illustrator to create the layout I planned. Once the letters were set in their places, I printed out what I had so far and started sketching what other little designs, flourishes, swashes, etc. to include in this work. Once I decided what I wanted to do for that portion of the design, I put all of those shapes and lines of those extra little forms into my Illustrator file utilizing the color palette I decided on.

Process

for Roman S
Roman U
Roman C
Roman E
Uncial Lowercase I
Uncial Lowercase S
Carolingian Versal A
Carolingian Lowercase V
Carolingian Lowercase A
Carolingian Lowercase I
Carolingian Lowercase L
Carolingian Lowercase B
Carolingian Lowercase E
Roman T
for Roman O
Uncial Uppercase A
Uncial Lowercase N
Uncial Lowercase Y
Uncial Lowercase O
Uncial E
for Roman W
Roman H
Carolingian S
Carolingian T
Carolingian R
Uncial F
Uncial R
Uncial T