Calligraphy to Vector Tutorial

[ewigginton]

I had saved this tutorial a while back. I've not gone through all the steps but maybe it will be helpful to someone else?

[Link no longer works.]

[Emily]

Thanks for posting this! It's now added to my never ending list of stuff to try... 

[Erica McPhee]

Thank you for sharing this! I'm going to have to try it. Is it me or do some parts of her before look better and some parts of the after look better? For example, look at the junction of the h, e, and s in the after. It looks like there are black spots/marks there and they aren't in the before.

[Emily]

I was wondering that, too, Erica, like maybe the before and after photos got mixed up? 

[Linda Y.]

I hope it's okay to make this comment - what Erica mentioned in her Contemporary calligraphy tutorial about how important basic letterforms are is very evident in this example.

Courtney's lettering is absolutely darling and beautiful, no question about that - maybe I'm "oldschool," but I find the legibility difficult. I understand it's her own unique style, and I don't mean any disrespect, like I said her lettering is gorgeous. But I have trouble with the "turn" she uses at the bottom stems of the lowercase h, n, and m. I read the finished poster and thought, "Huh? when pretty ti____es arise?" Pretty tissues? AND I'm actually a Decemberists fan

Maybe it's just me...

[ewigginton]

I have a feeling the before and after did get switched around. I read a little of her bio and she is a graphic designer teaching herself calligraphy via books. I was most interested in sharing her method of cleaning up her calligraphy via Ai since Schinn had posted she had to redraw her lines for a job. This method might have saved her some time. I was just happy to find the tutorial!

[Erica McPhee]

Doh! Actually, if I had taken the time to read the tutorial, I would have seen she addresses those marks. She's talking about smoothing out the curves like at the bottom of the h and e which definitely look better in the after. She then talks about how to get rid of those "nuggets."

Lynda, it's fine to comment. I agree. Courtney is a talented designer and she is developing a nice style. However, in the samples on this page, legibility is difficult. I could not make out the last word (arise). This is a common issue for ALL calligraphers. I sometimes go back and look at things I have done and scrunch up my nose and think "wha....what was I thinking?!"

I have seen things on Instagram almost daily that I can't read. I think it is important we take note of these examples as it helps us to be cognizant as we go forward. I'm going to talk more about this when I do the videos for contemporary/modern calligraphy.

I agree Ellen, this is a good find!

[Linda Y.]

Lynda, it's fine to comment. I agree. Courtney is a talented designer and she is developing a nice style. However, in the samples on this page, legibility is difficult. I could not make out the last word (arise). This is a common issue for ALL calligraphers. I sometimes go back and look at things I have done and scrunch up my nose and think "wha....what was I thinking?!"

I have seen things on Instagram almost daily that I can't read. I think it is important we take note of these examples as it helps us to be cognizant as we go forward. I'm going to talk more about this when I do the videos for contemporary/modern calligraphy.

Thank you Erica. I wanted to point out the issue of legibility and not sound disrespectful to another calligrapher's work. I've had this discussion with another calligrapher friend of mine (Li of Fat Orange Cat Studio in Boston who is self-taught) about the fine line between "artsy calligraphy" vs., let's say, calligraphy on a bride's invitation envelope so that it is legible to the Postal Service and can be delivered to her honored guests. I absolutely adore many of the popular modern calligraphers' work but I just can't read some of the text. Again, I'm coming from a traditional line of thought and think calligraphy should serve both form and function.

Ellen, sorry for the off-topic - thank you for sharing this tutorial with us. :-)

[Erica McPhee]

Thanks Linda,
I think this is a very important topic which doesn't receive much attention because it is difficult to tactfully discuss it without offending. But I am going to address it in depth soon so thank you again for reminding me. I know calligraphers who have had envelopes returned to the bride undelivered because of legibility!

P.S. Sorry for misspelling your name!

[Linda Y.]

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic in more detail. Thanks Erica!

And no worries about the spelling, I do get both versions! Funny because my husband's name is Bryan and he gets Brian all the time

[Lynda]

Hello,

    This is my always confused face.  She said to scan in grayscale.  I believe my scanner also has a black and white, and color mode to scan in.  When do you use which?  Is she saying even if your scanning something that's in color to use grayscale? 

Then when you bring it into photoshop there are your choices of grayscale, RGB and CMYK.  Do you also put it on grayscale there?  I thought printers want it to be RGB. 

Confused in PA.

Thank you~
Lynda

[Erica McPhee]

I can't talk about Illustrator (yet - finished my 2nd module today)! But I always scan in color. I have tried scanning in grayscale, b&w, etc. I just find the color works best for me and keeps the sharpness better. But I think that could probably vary by scanner. However, if you scan it in b&w or grayscale, you can't get it back into color (that I am aware of). Scanning it in grayscale or b&w does not capture the color information. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong! 

[Linda Y.]

[Disclaimer] This is my own preference, so it may or may not work for everyone

When I know I'm going to vectorize my work, I always write in black ink (Sumi ink for the dark black it produces, as recommended by Master penman Pat Blair) on white paper, and scan at Black & White. When you vectorize, the topmost priority is the integrity of the shape and form of your letters, not the color. You want the contrast between black & white to be easy for Illustrator's trace tool to pick up. The cleaner the work, the easier it will be to work from when you tackle the Bezier tool!

[Linda Y.]

If anyone is interested, I was browsing Tumblr and came across Neil Tasker's Skillshare class on how to digitize your lettering work:

http://www.skillshare.com/classes/design/Love-Your-Letters-Communicate-Visually-with-Words/393632797

[Erica McPhee]

Thank you Linda! I am working my way through Laura Coyle's class (hope she finds another venue - her classes are too good to let go to waste).

I think this brings up a good point, too... sometimes when I scan my work, I want to keep the subtle variations in shading that using walnut ink creates. I would guess you can't use that in Illustrator then. I clean it up in a completely different way than I do lettering for black and white (and then coloring) in Photoshop. I don't do the Threshold adjustment (which really converts to strictly black and white eliminating color (shades of gray). Instead, I adjust the levels. Then I use the Hue, Saturation, Lightness (Value) to color it. This gives it a watercolor look. (It's on the tutorial list!)

I wonder though how this could be used in an Illustrator document.