Anyway… One spring afternoon after turning in my homework, my history teacher, Mr. B, told me to see him after class. Mind you, I was the straight-A student who never got in trouble, so I was terrified.
After forty-five nerve-wracking minutes of class, I walked up to his desk. He held up my homework and said: “All this art and doodles? When you get to high school and college, your teachers are going to tell you to stop. Don’t ever stop.”
I’ll never forget how unexpected and supportive his comment was.
While I went on to study business and data analytics in college, I never stopped lettering. I didn’t need to be an artist or have a lettering business in order to be creative; it was just a part of my everyday life. It was a way to make my class papers and grocery lists a little more fun. And since you’ve picked up this book, then you’re probably wired the same way.
We wrote this book to guide you through creative script lettering so that you can stop wasting time feeling stuck and start spending more time creating.
As our lives become more and more digital, I want to remind you: Don’t stop using your hands to make a creative mess. Don’t put down those pens and markers. Don’t stop adding that personalized touch. Don’t ever stop creating. My sincere hope is that this book will help you do just that.
Xoxo,
Jillian
From Jordan
Growing up, math was my favorite subject. I competed in math and science competitions in grade school, my favorite high school classes were geometry and physics, and I studied engineering in college.
So, why do I love calligraphy and lettering?
Calligraphy is a science as much as it is an art. My affinity for math has always been accompanied by a passion for art, design, and creativity—especially since I grew up with an incredibly artistic twin sister. We spent much of our childhood experimenting and creating together. We had every craft-related Klutz book…friendship bracelets, nail art, origami, handmade cards, and of course, lettering.
When I got back into learning lettering as an adult, I wanted to know exactly how to make each shape, the correct angles to draw the lines, and how to make the letters look beautiful. I needed rules to follow, I needed to understand the logic behind this art.
And this is exactly how I will help you!
If you use a planner or bullet journal, I’m guessing you like when things are organized and easy to follow. Calligraphy might seem daunting, but this book is going to guide you through it, starting with the basics and then building on that foundation in easy-to-follow steps. You’ll learn how to write specific words in a variety of styles to apply immediately and directly to your journal.
So, whether you are creative and artistic, mathematical and logical, or a combination of both, I believe you can do this!
Your lettering friend,
Jordan
From Jillian & Jordan
Keeping track of our daily lives has always been important to us, from grade school throughout adulthood. When we started to incorporate hand lettering into this ritual, we became obsessed.
We’ve studied calligraphy for several years and have taught the skill to hundreds of students in-person and thousands online. We’re taking our in-depth knowledge of this craft and consolidating it into a format that directly relates to planners and journals, giving you exactly what you need to get started with lettering in a non-overwhelming, easy-to-implement way.
Over the years, we’ve developed our own unique styles, which surprises a lot of people considering that we’re twins. So we made it our mission to crack the code on lettering styles. There are so many ways to express an idea or change the tone simply by switching up letter variations or other basic elements. Here’s an example of Jillian’s style (top) versus Jordan’s:
We’ll be sharing a variety of alphabets with you in this book so that you can understand and try new styles as well. We’ll show you a basic alphabet, then demonstrate how new styles and variations can be created with lots of examples. In fact, you’ll get six lowercase alphabets, twelve capital alphabets, and over 350 word examples throughout the book.
If you are new to lettering, you’re probably not looking to buy all the fanciest calligraphy supplies or take an intensive year-long study of this craft. Instead, you’re looking for the top tips that you can quickly apply to beautify your everyday life. That’s what we’re here for.
How to Use This Book
One of our strongest beliefs is that you must learn the basics before you can break the rules and find your own style. So, that’s how we organized this book. We encourage you to work through this book chronologically rather than skipping around so that you can build on a strong foundation.
There’s room to apply what you’re learning right away, or you can grab your favorite journal and keep it close by to practice. We’ve also added our top tips at the end of each chapter to help summarize and reinforce what you’re learning along the way.
Our most important piece of advice when using this book is to keep going. Even with our help, you’re not going to get a perfectly hand-lettered alphabet on your very first try (we sure didn’t!), but we can promise you that with just a little bit of practice each day, you’ll soon see results that you can be proud of. Plus, we’re cheering for you.
Happy lettering!
Jillian & Jordan
Founders of Loveleigh Loops
Chapter 1
How Do I
Incorporate
Lettering Into
My Planner?
One of our favorite things about lettering is that you can use it anywhere you’d like! Since there’s a limited amount of space on every page, though, it would be hard to fit in every word with decorative lettering. So here we have suggested some places that work best:
Page Titles (e.g. “Future Log”)
The main title of a page is one of the best places to add lettering. Why? Because titles are usually short, important, and larger than the rest of the words on the page. Titles are meant to stand out, and lettering is a great way to make them pop. Plus, since most titles are only a few words, they’re less overwhelming to tackle than an entire paragraph.
Section Headers (e.g. “Mood Tracker”)
Sections within a page or spread, such as a habit tracker, can get lost if there are a lot of notes or doodles around it. Lettering your headers is a great way to define each section and convey what it’s all about. Making the words “Water Tracker” or “Exercise Log” look fancier may even make you more excited to reach your goals!
Lists (e.g. “Books to Read,” “Healthy Meal Ideas”)
Similar to section headers, list titles are usually very specific, which makes them a great place to add lettering. The words can be decorated to match the theme of the page, and spending time lettering them makes them harder to forget.
Full-Page Quotes or Dividers (e.g. “Summer!” or a full quote)
An entire page that’s dedicated to a quote or lyric is like a giant blank canvas for your lettering! This works especially well with a longer quote because you can pick the most important words to letter, and write the other words in a plain style. A full-page divider, such as the start of a new month or season, is