How to Draw Fancy Letters

Series Summary

Drawing and sketching refers to two-dimensional pieces of art made by marking on a surface with a variety of mediums. Drawing tools can include graphite pencils, pen and ink, colored pencils, charcoals and chalk and pastels. It is the most foundational skill an artist possesses. The practice of drawing and sketching as an art form became widely popular in 15th-century Europe when paper became generally available. The famous journal of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci contains hundreds of sketches, brainstorms and observations that inspire draftsmen today. Almost every form of imaginable art involves some level of drawing or sketching. In this free video series on drawing, a professional illustrator demonstrates drawing a variety of objects. Find out how to draw superheroes, flowers, roses, animals and fancy letters. Get tips on using a gesture line to represent the motion of the figure, and understand the function of a line in art. Start drawing using this helpful art guide.

Video Transcript

"Joel Hickerson grindog.com. Today I'm going to teach you how to draw fancy letters. First thing, pick your letter. And we're going to start with a J. Now in this fancy letter, what I would consider it to be, a fancy letter would be something perhaps at the beginning of a manuscript maybe or a chapter in a book where the first letter J or T or S would start you off with a nice visual. So I'm going to start with this J. I'm going to make it big and thick so I can fill it either with a, oh some sort of ornate decoration or I can outline the center of it, give it a little bit of depth or perspective. Now we'll start, now what I'm doing here is basically just drawing the construction lines. So then I might wrap a vine around it even. You know, a little leafy vine that comes in and kind of makes it look a little more dynamic. There's quite a few things that those guys used to do, and I think they were illuminated manuscripts is where all this came from back then from in the churches and the bibles, would have a page of a, start off with a beautiful first letter that kind of set the mood for the rest of the book that you are about to read. O.k., so that could be some of the decoration. You could actually give it a little bit of perspective even, kind of rolling over to a one point perspective. O.k., give it shading on the inside. You could even you know, add a rose to the vine, anything to make this letter just a little more fancy. Alright, basically you get the idea. We're trying to make this letter kind of stand out, kind of lead you in to the story. And it could have scrolls on the inside. It could have different textures, anything to kind of make it special in itself. And then you could start off with the rest of the manuscript to follow. And that is one idea at least on how to begin this. And that how you draw fancy letters."