Brush Lettering Workshop

[Alma]

Hello all!

I have a few questions. I will be doing a brush lettering workshop pretty soon. A friend of mine, who has a type of loft work space, asked me to do one. Which is good because it is pushing me to step out there and teach what I have learned so far. But I am/feel a little overwhelmed.

I need to make a few decisions and was wondering if you guys can help me?

Tools:
I am debating whether or not to provide all of these tools:

• Set of Crayola markers per person: I learned with crayola markers as they helped me learn to control the hand and the turns
  
• One Tombow Fudenosuke Soft Brush Pen
• One Pentel Aquash Waterbrush pen and ink to fill it up with
• Paper and clipboard
• Pencil with erasers
• Eyedroppers to fill pen barrell
• Small ruler
• Paper with drills printed? See below.

Do you guys think this is too much? Too many tools?

Handouts?
I am also debating whether or not I should provide handouts? There is so much online, downloadables, free print outs, and styles.
My biggest concern is that I would like to provide a foundation for the participants to develop their own styles or flare. I think that as they get more comfortable with it, they will naturally will want to letter each letter properly. So, I was thinking of doing something like basic strokes or drills to learn the angles and position instead of printables with each letter for them to repeat?


Times
The workshop will be a total of 4 hours divided in two days. One evening and the following morning.

Lastly: Overhead projector?
My friend thought it would be a good idea to get one. I have been looking online and have no idea where to start? What do you guys recommend?


The workshop will be right after July 4th. So, I am kind of in a hurry because Amazon has the cheaper price on the waterbrush but fi I am going to order it, I have to do it now. They ship very late. I am just a little nervous and would like some guidance?

Thank you!!

Alma

[schin]

The tools sound expensive! Clipboards can add up, and those waterbrushes are expensive too. High supply fees may deter students... I'd just ask your students to bring the more common stuff like the rulers, erasers and pencils or they can share yours. The students are probably more interested to pay for the markers and brushes than to rebuy stuff they probably already have. Paper will be important though if you're particular.

I think handouts will be super important, it's a nice take-home. You can tell them to go online etc but they're not going to... even a simple abc handout would help.

Projectors are also super expensive. Groupon usually has them for cheap, but I've never bought one myself.

Good luck!

[Alma]

Thank you Schin!

I found clipboards for $1.00 on Amazon but I understand your points.
(By the way, I follow you on Instagram!)

The workshop fees will include these tools. I probably should have mentioned that. :-)

And the projector is also because I am interested in recording lessons for possible online archival.

Yes, if the workshop fees did not include these tools, I would not buy them either.
I think I would like to offer not just a class, but a nice environment too. Does that make sense?

I will definitely prepare some handouts then! :-)

Thank you for your help!

[Bianca M]

I do think a printed exemplar is a good idea.  I, too, encourage my students to develop their own style of brush lettering, but some people aren't ready to  do that at first.  Others are ready, and some do want to create their own style, but still need a launch point.  Each group needs a visual reference- not just for a lettering style, but also for proportions, etc.  And, even though there is a ton of stuff online, they may likely be coming to you because they like YOUR style!

It's nice of you to consider offering so many tools, but I think people may get distracted with too many options.  if you decide to offer all three pen options, maybe hang onto them and hand them out in stages.

Best of luck!

[Alma]

Thank you Bianca! That is a good idea! 

[jeanwilson]

In thirty years of taking classes and twenty years of teaching, I have never seen a class that did not provide an exemplar. It is good to include the basic strokes. But giving them only the basic strokes without the full alphabet will make it very difficult and I suspect the students will be frustrated.

The exemplar should be a 100% reproduction of the lettering using the same marker or pen that you will be using in the class.
Inexperienced teachers teach the letters in alphabetical order. A difficult and confusing way to teach. Experienced teachers group the letters that are constructed with similar basic strokes. i, n, m, u, etc.

4 hours is a very short amount of time. Introducing a marker, a brush pen and a water brush will take up a lot of time. Filling water brushes with ink does not seem like a good use of time. I love the water brushes and they are great for beginners, so you might show them how to use them filled with water and using a set of watercolors. I often do that at the end of a class as a fun alternative.

If this is your first time teaching, hopefully the class is small enough that you can have people gather around and watch you demo the basic strokes. The projector is fine for very large classes but with 15 or fewer people, you really don't need one.
Demos for the whole class work well as you go through the basics. After that, most of the teaching happens as you circulate around the room and help people with individual problems.

Most classes have a wide range of skill levels so don't expect to keep everyone working at the same pace. Expect people who will race ahead and others who will zone in on the fine details of the first three letters and hesitate to move on.

Teaching is interesting and you learn a lot as you go along. My best advice is to recall the things you found most helpful in your own studies and implement them in your class - while at the same time - incorporate the things that you feel are your strong points.

Ask for feedback after the class. You learn a lot from students when you invite feedback.

[Alma]

Thank you for your help Jean!

I made a mistake in the duration, the workshop will actually be 6 hours: 3 on Friday and 3 on Saturday.

Will keep all of this advice in mind! Thank you!

[jeanwilson]

Traditional classes are usually 3 to 4 hours, once a week for at least 5 weeks and up to 12 weeks.
Students have homework and bring it back each week. The instructor can review it and the pace of the class is pretty slow.
Weekend workshops are usually 6 or 7 hours per day for two days.
Some traditional teachers refuse to accept offers to teach classes that are one or two short sessions.
They can be pretty vocal about how it is impossible to teach anything traditional in such a short time.
I have taught classes that were just two hours. I did not call them a class - I called them an introduction.
I always explained the difference between fun lettering and traditional classes and showed examples from each kind of class.
I think there is a real value in the short introductory classes using markers.
Be sure to take gift tags and place cards and show them how much fun they can have just writing names.
It's always nice to include a useful application with any kind of class.

Give them some links to places where they can continue learning online.
Be sure to keep contact information and build a list of names in case you decide to teach more classes.

I also forgot to mention that with marker classes I like to use regular notebook paper for practice.
Beginners like easy to find materials.
There are some really fun tutorials using Crayola markers online.
Graph paper is nice, too, if you are doing an upright style.

[Alma]

Thank you Jean for all of these suggestions!
Will keep them in mind!

Love the idea of gift and name tags! I think that would be a great and fun thing for them to do!