Brush Lettering: Expressive Styles
Brush Lettering: Contemporary Style Collection
Brush lettering for identity, campaigns, and social commentaryThis collection of brush lettering shows a wide range of styles, all made with the brush. I use many different papers to achieve the different effects. These examples are a mix of projects done for clients and ongoing studio work. I am always looking for new ways to use lettering to express voice and contemporary culture.
Brush Lettering: Design Through Gesture
The brush is one of the best tools for creating expressive lettering. The softness of the brush makes it feel like an extension of the hand, flowing, organic, and natural. Synthetic brushes or other brushes with a stiff fiber can be used for controlled forms that look almost drawn, like “Loveables” above. I almost always start a project with the brush, as a way of thinking. Then if the work needs to be refined or vectorized with very crisp edges or particular adjustments for style or legibility, I am at least working from something that started with life-force, connected to intuition.
When I design a logo in a contemporary brush style I go back and forth between pencil sketches, napkin doodles, and direct work with the brush. Direct work is based in calligraphy, the act of designing with gesture in the moment. Instead of planning and designing each mark I trust in the motion of the brush to find interesting patterns of shape and space.
Other portfolios in the Calligraphy and Expressive Lettering Collections mix brush technique in with other styles. This set gives you a good idea of what pure brush lettering looks like, so if you are trying to find a look for a project you can visualize it and give a name to what you have in mind.
My brush calligraphy is influenced by many years of studying and practicing Asian calligraphy. I use mostly Japanese sumi brushes and ink. The texture of the papers I use adds unique character to the strokes. I also use some of the same techniques with pens, twisting and turning them to give a similar feeling to the characters but with a crisper edge. Sometimes a project brief requires that the work “look Asian” which is tricky because when styling a Roman alphabet with a sumi brush it is easy to make something that looks “Oriental” in a cheesy way, with the kind of retro typographic colonialism popular in the ’40’s and ’50’s. I try to steer away from that whenever possible. Where Madmen meets Zen one hopes to create work in good taste. Projects here include a fashion line for Harley Davidson, branding for restaurants, icons for Neiman Marcus and title design for books. The practice of this kind of work requires stillness and extreme focus. It is both spontaneous and completely controlled. When I have a commission for brush work I turn off the internet, put on hypnotic groove music or Indian raga and dive into another world.
Designer, calligrapher, lettering artist. 