Good lettering is not mechanical, but is good design. The lettering which the draftsman in practice is called upon most frequently to make consists of a rapidly executed statement, upon a drawing, descriptive or otherwise; the style most suitable, therefore, is a simple one which through practice he learns to do readily. Now and then a design of a group of lettering is called for, such as we find in the titles to working drawings, but more frequently even this is very plain and executed in some one style throughout.
The beginner is apt to approach the subject with the misconception that lettering is a form of mechanical drawing, that the use of the straight-edge is in order, that the various letter forms and the spaces between them can be figured out by measurement; unfortunately books on lettering have been apt to encourage this misconception by containing large alphabets, very rigidly analyzed as to proportions, etc., with little explanatory matter attached, so that the impression is left that mathematical exactness is most important. In this respect, ordinary printed lettering from type is not an instance of good lettering, for the forms come together as best the may and do not produce a uniform result. This lack of harmony can easily be detected by any one who has keen perceptions.
Fundamentally good lettering will be good design. Just as the designer of fabrics or wall-paper takes his forms and distributes them over prearranged spaces in a uniform and pleasing mariner, so the letterer takes his more rigid forms, his letters, and distributes them uniformly in his prearranged spaces so as to give a combination pleasing to the eye.
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| From a copy of St. Cuthbert's Gospels in the British Museum. |
The beginner is apt to approach the subject with the misconception that lettering is a form of mechanical drawing, that the use of the straight-edge is in order, that the various letter forms and the spaces between them can be figured out by measurement; unfortunately books on lettering have been apt to encourage this misconception by containing large alphabets, very rigidly analyzed as to proportions, etc., with little explanatory matter attached, so that the impression is left that mathematical exactness is most important. In this respect, ordinary printed lettering from type is not an instance of good lettering, for the forms come together as best the may and do not produce a uniform result. This lack of harmony can easily be detected by any one who has keen perceptions.
Fundamentally good lettering will be good design. Just as the designer of fabrics or wall-paper takes his forms and distributes them over prearranged spaces in a uniform and pleasing mariner, so the letterer takes his more rigid forms, his letters, and distributes them uniformly in his prearranged spaces so as to give a combination pleasing to the eye.
A knowledge of free-hand drawing is essential to facility in lettering because the eye is then trained to see form and to judge of effects; moreover, lettering to be skillfully done should be treated much as a free-hand drawing is treated, that is, the more finished kind, by a step-by-step process which deals first with the broad simple effect and proceeds to the details gradually in the order of their importance. To use a concrete and extremely simple illustration: The development of a letter should proceed in a method similar to that in which we should draw a straight line between two given points; the first thing to do is to get a sense of direction between the points by passing the hand to and fro and indicating it by a few tentative strokes here and there; these can be added to by others, connecting them, the whole being not a line but a series of more or less connected and overlapping marks giving general direction; this can be refined, repeating the process, working in a more and more restricted area until the line assumes as much exactness as desired or that the draftsman is capable of attaining. The treatment of the line is typical of the process in any free-hand drawing no matter how complicated; the motive comes first and the details afterwards. An isolated letter should be drawn in this way; in the same way a word or one of words, or a combination of lines and styles." Victor T. Wilson
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