Graphic Designer & Calligrapher
This kids enthusiasm is great for those of us who are in the creative and many other industries. Because like he said “Everybody I know you can believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself you will know how to ride a bike and if you don’t just keep practicing”.
Just a little motivation to end the week. Now go and spend time somewhere else instead of sitting behind a computer screen.
Focus that is a very interesting thing don’t you think? How many times have you started something and then lost focus? Losing focus can be detrimental. The reason I say that is because one simple mistake will mess up everything.
Whenever I am doing a calligraphy piece and I am utterly focused and then I misspell a word by a letter or I have a line wave a bit (not straight) its because of me being focused poorly. You have to do your best to be focused. I’m not saying be so focused you forget about everyone else.
More so having a clear focused vision on what it is that you want to do. Especially with creating design projects being focused is important. When I am starting off a project for a client if I am not focused and confident all the way through then it will turn out poorly. I’ll admit I did experience this often. But now I know how to diminish that feeling immediately.
Because I want to be the best and so should you. You may be thinking yeah your talking about being focused right now, But I don’t have any clients or I cannot find a Graphic design job. Well you know what I don’t have any clients either and I have not been able to find a Graphic Design Job yet. You and me both have to hang in there. Remain focused and maintain your vision.
While your focused on securing that position and those clients you should be designing. Because if your not then it seems as if you don’t really care too much to be a designer for the long term. Remain focused and continue striving to improve and better yourself.
So far with my daily logo design I have not missed a day. I am very very thankful that I have not missed on yet. At times I felt like giving up to be honest. The beginning at first was pretty hard.
Then I started to gain traction. You know for example when you are running and you feel as if your a machine. There is nothing that can break your mental and physical focus and you just keep going. Another thing I learned is that I produce better results when I do the logo in the morning.
I have been focusing on local restaurants and businesses. A vast majority of them are pretty bad. More so a lot could use a lot of refinement. I was at first a little surprised at the response I was getting. The responses were from the actual companies. But even though I was getting responses I made sure to not let it go to my head.
And now here is the recent logos I’ve done.
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Tombowing using an orange Tombow dual Tip Brush pen. The quote that I did is We are clever but we are clueless. Tombow markers are good quality and the ink flows very well.
Here’s the Completed Piece
The tools that I use range from various materials. The picture above is of my exact tools. Of course I have more but I wanted to show you want I actually use day to day. The tools that I use may not work for your approach and or type of calligraphy.
For the calligraphy pad I use is a Strathmore calligraphy pad. The paper is woven and 20lb weight and 8.5×11. Before I was using computer paper. I will admit I improved a lot from using computer paper and etc. So starting out I would not recommend starting out with this pad right from the beginning. But really it depends on whether you want to spend the money or not. The reason I say that because you don’t want to buy something of high quality when you do not have a good grasp on how to use the tools.
The pens I use are pilot parallel pens. Sizes of my parallel pens are 6.0 and 3.8 mm. Parallel pens are some of the best calligraphy pens I have used. The only thing is the fibers that get caught in the nib of the pen. Cleaning them is very very simple.
Of course microns where would we be without them. I purchased the various colors to have a variety. A great thing is how the pens do not bleed. Also they do not interfere with the pilot ink.
Prismacolor color pencils are great for experimentation. These are good for taking a trip back to childhood. One thing I enjoy about using these are the possibilities.
Pilot 78g is the first fountain pen that I ever bought that was of good quality. The pen is of great quality and also the ink flows very smoothly. If you decide to purchase this make sure to get some extra cartridges.
The Staedtler lead holder and sharpener are two things that you should get together. Because sharpening the lead on the lead holder with the built in sharpener (the metal top) is pretty terrible if you want to get a good sharp point. Another thing is the lead dust that collects in the top.
Speedball calligraphy marker is an ok calligraphy marker. The nib is felt and it gets worn down pretty quickly. If you want to have a calligraphy marker that is cheap and good for practice I would recommend giving this a try.
Tombow markers are hands down some of my favorite brush pens. The quality of these are very good. But the nibs get worn down after a good amount of use. The brush tip to be exact is what gets worn down quickly. Storing these I keep them in the container you see here. Because before I stored them with one point down and it dried up.
Some more things I enjoy about Tombows is how the ink flows so smoothly. Also getting used to them just requires getting comfortable with it in your hand and then developing your own flow to your letters. By flow I mean size, shapes and etc.
Well there you have it I hope this will help you in getting started with your calligraphy journey and or what you should add to your current tools.
I recently came across this and I thought it was pretty funny. Because simply its something that you can easily see and it makes sense. Also its pretty interesting to see their logos used in such a way.
Stay tuned for next week I will be posting a series about? well you’ll have to wait and see. All I’ll can say its going to be something dealing with letters.
This is a very very good thing that will be useful for a lot of designers. Because we can search to make a logo a certain size and then have multiple files for the logo. This I believe will help avoid having that problem. The other thing I would wonder is what are they going to do with the logos that get uploaded to be tested?
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Before with twitter I would constantly be tweeting. Then after realizing that I am not providing valuable with those whom are following me. Also realizing how much time I am wasting posting uselessness. The first thing that I asked myself who cares about what I am posting.
So therefore I use buffer and it posts articles related to what I am interested in and those whom are following me. Because I am a graphic designer and interested in various other things. So those who follow me can expect that from me. Another thing is using that tool allows my account to not go stale. By going stale meaning not being noticed and active by my followers.
Go through your timeline and think of the various things you’ve tweeted and ask yourself who really gives a damn about this besides me? There are certain things that you can say to hold yourself publicly accountable. For example I tweet whenever I am doing insanity to be held accountable publicly and let others know that its possible to finish it. Because just think of how much we sit on our asses compared to other professions.
Remember think before you tweet and spend your time more wisely.
A video of me showing my process using a Tombow dual brush pen. I did not add any audio in this one, but for future videos I will do so. Let me know what you thought of this and if you would like to see more videos of me showing my process of calligraphy and etc.
If you are not proud of who you are I want to ask you why not? Whether you’ve graduated from college and you have not been able to land a job in the field you studied don’t worry. You should be proud that you have even made it this far. Just think of the people whom you studied with in school that just gave up.
This is part of the process of this thing called life. If you have graduated from design school or wherever you have to stay committed. Do your best to not be afraid of trying new things. Trying out things that they did not teach you in school matters. Just think what they taught you in school is from a book and your sheltered.
A great example is a mother who never really lets her children experience how it is hanging out with friends and other things. You will fail and fail some more. I have been failing and I know that it is something I cannot avoid. But what I can do is take notes whether writing them down or mentally and learn from it.
One major thing that shocked me was when I learned that right now may not be your time. Because you may want to be the best and change the industry you have the utmost passion for. Until the time comes make sure you are working on yourself and your skills. Because if you are working on yourself and improving your skills the time is going to come.
Have a great weekend.
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