Towards the end of last semester, I was looking for a way to procrastinate (no surprise there), and thought the perfect way to spend the afternoon would be to draw a special 90th birthday card for my Grammie Esther. I found a cool font that I liked, and decided to recreate it by hand. I had seen a lot of hand-lettering recently, and I thought it was really cool! So after a few hours, I was surprised that my efforts turned out better than I had expected. Thus the seed of hand-lettering was planted.
The more I looked at other works of hand-lettering, the more I fell in love with the idea. I began paying closer attention to the smaller details of fonts and signs. By exams, I had decided I wanted to do a 365 project - starting January 1st, I would do (at least) one piece of hand-lettering a day for an entire year. Committing to that project was pretty daunting. But I knew that if I wanted to improve a lot at lettering, I needed to practice it regularly. So I did some research on materials, bought myself various sizes of black Micron pens (they're awesome!), and a notebook to get myself started.
My first month of hand-lettering was awesome! The necessity of a piece a day fired up my imagination, and I attempted things I thought beyond my capability. I found that when I took my time and worked hard and carefully, the pieces turned out better than I had imagined. As I continued to post pictures of the pieces, family and friends began to encourage me to try to sell some of my work. I thought that was silly, I wasn't anywhere near good enough for that.
Towards the end of January, intense fatigue set in. Not with the project, that is. I was physically exhausted all the time. 3 naps in a day? I rocked that. I found out that it was due to my pregnancy, and of course, I celebrated. I began planning different ways to announce it - with hand-lettering of course! But I also began to realize that it might not be feasible to complete the project. I had missed a few days because of illness, and felt pressured to make them up by doubling up later on. That really wasn't the point. I didn't want to feel like it was a chore, something that just had to be completed.
By the time my energy started to come back, I lost our baby (more about that
here). I wasn't in a place to work on lettering every day. So, I took a little break. I grieved. Still grieving, to be honest. But after a little time, I started looking outwards again. Ideas for lettering pieces started to form. I created a piece that was - and is - incredibly dear to my heart. It's my favorite yet, mostly because of what the words meant to me after losing our baby. After I finished it, I decided to aim for 3 days of lettering a week. More, if I felt like it. It was a way to continue the project, knowing that some days I just can't handle picking up the pen.
Now, back in January, when family was encouraging me to sell my artwork, I had looked into opening an Etsy shop. It looked like a neat way to sell my work, but I was put off by having to pay to list items. It's not that much, but it still bugged me, enough to use that as justification for not doing it. Well, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like maybe I was not doing it because I was scared of rejection, and worried that no one would buy anything. The thought annoyed me in a way - I was never that way as a kid. Growing up, I would set my mind on something, and go get it, regardless of what my peers thought, or even what my family thought. But now, I seem to by hyper aware of what other people think regarding my work. For the most part, what others think hasn't been an issue, only how I view my work as compared to other work. Bad idea. I'll never be good enough in my own mind by comparing my work to other people's. So I'm continuing to put my work out there to be enjoyed, and constantly trying to only compare my work to earlier versions in order to see improvement.
Now then, for this week. Earlier this week, a friend of mine (who has a super cool Etsy shop of her own) posted a link on Facebook that would allow someone to get their first 40 listings for free if they opened their Etsy shop through her link. It looked perfect! My main objection, paying to list items, would no longer be a problem, at least for a little while. I could try selling some things, and if it didn't work out, I could shut down the shop before I had to start paying for listings. So before I could talk myself out of it, I went ahead and opened a shop. !!!!!!! Commence nervous butterflies in the stomach. I put up a few items, made a banner for the store, and posted the link so my friends could see it. That was yesterday. Last night, I received my first order! I just about jumped out of my skin. I'm still really excited about it!!! All of the pieces for sale at the moment are made to order, so this morning I got to sit down and create a piece for someone. I can't wait for them to get it, and I hope it brings them as much joy as it did me in creating it.
Letters are something we take for granted. We don't think about them all that much, unless of course you're a graphic designer or an artist, but the impact a carefully created piece has can be incredible. It gives me great joy to create things, especially if that thing might bring a smile to someone else's face. Even if no one else saw my lettering, I would still love doing it. The process from basic sketch to a finished inked piece is so much fun to see. I love that moment at the end, just after I finish erasing the last of the pencil lines, and finally get to see the completed work, something that - not long ago - had been just a figment of my imagination. My hope is that people can look at my work and smile.
So, without further ado, here is my Etsy shop!
