VOLUME TWO

All content &

illustrations by
Dina Rodriguez

Edited by
Allison Lewis

Designed by
Letter Shoppe
in Portland, OR

Printed by
Blurb

First Edition of 50
2017 All rights reserved
© Dina Rodriguez

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VOLUME TWO
 52 LETTERS WITH STEP BY STEP ILLUSTRATIONS

lackletter, also known as Old English or Gothic, was used in some of

the first books in Europe in the 17th century. This dramatic style is
recognized by it’s thin and thick strokes with elaborate filigree and
serifs that help give it an aged appeal.

In the next few pages, you’ll learn both upper and lowercase letters so you can
create any phrase you desire. Unlike many lettering styles, Blackletter is unique
in the way each letter is formed. Instead of creating a skeleton, you need to
build up each letter shape by shape to replicate the look of a f lat brush or nib,
like those typically used for calligraphy.

STYLE FEATURES

TALLER THAN BUILT WITH HOOKS ALONG ADDED CURLS

IT IS WIDE FLAT SHAPES THE MIDDLE TO THE TOP

Cap Height

DRAWING GUIDES X-Height

In addition to your cap height, x-height, and Extra Guide

baseline, you’ll need to add additional guides

to help keep your serifs aligned. Then include a Extra Guide
Baseline
descender line that goes below the baseline.
Descender

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VOLUME TWO
VOLUME TWO

ANIMAL HEAD TUTORIAL

Create a sticker with filigree using an animal head and your favorite
curse word. I’ll walk you through my process of drawing custom
embellishments, whitch you can use to help fill in the negative space
around your blackletter phrase. Once completed, you can upload your
project to patreon.com/lettershoppe/community for a critique.
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STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR CONTENT
To get started, choose a short 2 to 4 word phrase that uses your favorite
curse word, and think of the animal that can best represent your message.
For my project I choose, “Fuck it,” something I say on an almost daily basis
for one thing or another.

When I think of “Fuck it,” I think of strength, power, and just general
badassery. So for this piece, I’ll be using a wolf head to help illustrate my
phrase. Since this message is aggressive, I thought having a wolf showing
some teeth and snarling would be the best route.

STEP 2: DRAW THE ILLUSTRATION FIRST

To start, select a photo for reference to create the sketch of your animal
head. Feel free to trace an existing photo or create your own unique animal
face. For this project, I’d recommend using a face looking straight on rather
than tilted or in profile so you can easily mirror your illustration for a more
symmetrical layout.

D R AW I N G C H A L L E N G E

Draw a line down the vertical center of your illustration and just draw the
elements of one side of your animal. Then duplicate and f lip it so your piece
has a center focus. You have the option to add facial features or just use the
silhouette of the head to leave more room for your content.
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Draw an inside margin along your head to make sure that your lettering and
supporting elements don’t touch the outside lines. Since this project is for a
sticker, we want to make sure we have a nice die cut image that doesn’t have
any complicated shapes.

STEP 3: CREATING GUIDES FOR BLACKLETTER

Once you have your animal head, you can begin to sketch out ideas on
where to place your lettering. You can choose to fill up the entire face with
lettering, or just a section of it, like the cheek, forehead, or mouth. For my
drawing, I decided to keep it simple and placed my lettering front and center
on the forehead for a real statement piece.

Since you have to build up each letter shape by shape, you should set up
guides to keep the letters staying aligned and even.

Typically, you have a cap height that refers to the top of your capital letters,
a baseline that goes along the bottom of your letters, and an x-height
that measures the top of your lowercase letters. For this style, since it’s
condensed, the x-height is pretty high and should be placed 1/3 between the
baseline and cap height.

If your phrase has letters like j, g, and p you’ll also want to include a
descender line that goes below the baseline. This indicates where the tails of
letters should end. You can also use the descender line to mark decorative
swashes and curls that come off of the capital letters.

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I personally like to add additional guides that mark where my serifs and
chiseled strokes go. Since this style has so many shapes, the more guides
you include, the easier it will be to keep your letters looking consistent.

STEP 4: BUILD YOUR PHRASE SHAPE BY SHAPE

For placement purposes, roughly draw in your phrase along your guides to
make sure every letter fits inside your illustration. Be sure to leave plenty
of room between each letter so they don’t overlap and look clustered. Then,
using the Blackletter type style taught in this book, begin to draw out your
phrase shape by shape.

Since Blackletter can be hard to read when only capitals are used, I would
recommend using title case or sentence case for your piece to ensure that
your hand-lettered project remains legible.

STEP 5: ADDING IN LIGATURES

Before you start adding any filigree, look for any opportunities to customize
your phrase with ligatures. Ligatures are a great opportunity to help fill the
gaps around your letters to help your piece look more complete.

D R AW I N G C H A L L E N G E

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If you have a t, l, b, d, or h in your phrase, you could include a f lourish along

the top of your phrase that creates a wave over your lettering by extending
the main stem or crossbar. Or, if you have any letters with a descender like g,
j, p, and q, then you can have a f lourish underlining your phrase as well.

I always like to make the capital letters in my piece stand out with a f lourish
weaving over or under the other letters.

STEP 6: TIME FOR FILIGREE

Once you have your lettering in place, you can begin to draw in different
pieces of filigree to help fill up the negative space in your animal head. When
placing in your first stroke of filigree, try to follow the natural movement of
the face, and don’t feel the need to fill up every nook and cranny.

When drawing filigree, I typically start out with a few C and S swirls and then
add additional pieces coming off them, almost like adding branches of a tree.
Just be sure not to overload your pieces with filigree - there is such thing as
filigree overkill.

Just like how we drew the head illustration, I want you just to draw one side
of the face so you can later mirror to the other side.

Now fill the leftover empty spaces with accents like dots, drops, and bursts
so you can have an even amount of illustrations throughout the face. When
adding these elements, be sure to follow the f low of your line work. No
straight, boring lines needed here.
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Duplicate your artwork and mirror it on the other side. You may need to edit
a few decorations in case it doesn’t perfectly line up with the other side of
your lettering.

STEP 7: REFINE, INK, AND PRINT

Once you have the blueprint for your piece, you can now begin to refine and
edit as needed. At this phase, take several breaks so you can come back to
your drawing with fresh eyes so you can easily spot mistakes.

When proofing your work, check for spacing and weight of all your elements
to make sure all your letters and filigree appear balanced.

When you’re ready, ink your piece slowly and carefully for a smooth, even
line weight. I ended up going with monoweight filigree so my piece wouldn’t
look too cluttered.

Then I scanned in my artwork into Photoshop to clean up my line work

and add subtle inline graphics, whitch helped my phrase stand out. I
D R AW I N G C H A L L E N G E

then inverted the color, making the piece stand out in white agaist the
background, and sent it off to be printed as a die cut sticker.

If you decide to create a sticker from your piece, I highly recommend using
stickermule.com. They are the same service I use to create stickers for all
my printed zine patrons, and they do an excellent job.

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 UM
OLLU
VVO NO
MEE TOW E

Boom goes the dynamite! This style was tough, but

you made it through. You’ve learned the ins and
outs of this Blackletter style and added it to your
skill set. You’re awesome!

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 THANK YOU PATRONS

Haijin Kim Brain Lawrence Christina Gibson

Melanie Roberts Gina Allen Melissa Hamming
Stephanie Murphy Rafael Aceituno Christina Mellinger
Annie Tasker Savannah Solis Therese Patterson
Neil Vilppu Charlie St Monica Leslie Yang
Tonya Renound Lindsay Crenshaw Katarzyna Sobol
Adine Close Chow LeLand Kysha Plante
Jaclyn Myers Marissa Mac Jan Davidson
Una Kravets Gina Allen Pamela Howell
Rebekah Schiffer Jessica Bell Brenda-Mae Teo
Shannon Wilson Ashley Durand Emily Schramm
Zoey Rivera Julie Johnston Kevin Michaud
Samantha Hoppes Marissa Mac Cindy Ashwal
Amber Garcia Doris Jetz Luisa Soto
Gus Rodriguez Bear Edwards Manar Hisbani
Diana Perkins Brandon Sargent Star Arnold Brown
Kristen Jones Neenah Saucedo Christina Mellinger
Brook Gossen Alison Baxtor Karla Gladstone
Lisa Evans John Stefanik Marion Alfano
Vivian Chan Lisa La Angelica Rodriguez
Romy Llich Crystal Joyner Kelli Jenkins
Julia Porter Meghan Paine Will Merchan
Tyler Blair Hannah Franklin Kevin Michaud
Sarah White Eugenia Hauss Chazona Baum
Khanh Ho Erika Dillon Terrea Riggs
Jonathan Jenkins Katja Haas Erin O Ceallaigh
Maria Godinez Malin Sandelius Alyssa Shimko

Thank you to all the amazing supporters on Patreon for making this project possible.