TIP #75: 7 Hacks for Hand Lettering for Greeting Cards

TIP #75 7 Hacks for Hand Lettering on Greeting Cards

It’s greeting card season again, but when isn’t it? There are opportunities all year long for making and sending handmade cards. These 7 hacks will help your students find success with creative hand lettering on every card-making occasion. 

1.) Build a resource bank of ideas

Encourage kids to use a journal or sketchbook to collect lettering styles they like. As they copy the letter styles and shapes they see around them, they’ll build muscle memory for drawing them in their own projects. And as their collection grows, they’ll also have a place to go for inspiration when they need it. 

2.) Change your layout without erasing

You know that pink eraser at the end of your pencil? It’s not only for erasing! You can use this eraser to “sketch” a rough layout for your card. Then you just “wipe away” any areas you want to change, without having to erase anything! 

When you have your basic eraser-sketched layout just the way you want it, you simply trace over those eraser lines with pencil. Then wipe away your original eraser sketch.

Just remember, eraser-sketching is only for working out the general placement of where things should go. Save the details for your pencil!

3.) Skip the guidelines when you can

For simple layouts you can skip the step of drawing guidelines and just let a straightedge be your guide. This is a great hack for hand lettering quick, informal signs and posters, too.

A “straightedge” can be anything from a ruler to a piece of cardboard with at least one “straight edge”. It doesn’t need any markings or measurements on it, but ideally it should be as wide as (or wider than) your paper.

Lay your straightedge with its upper edge where you want the baseline of your letters to be. Then draw your letters directly above it, using the straightedge itself as your baseline. Any descenders can be added after you draw the main body of your letters. This saves you the tedious step of having to carefully erase the pencil lines under all your letters.

4.) Easily center your hand lettering

Write the word(s) you want to center on a smaller, separate piece of paper in the size you want them to be on your finished card. Next, lay that paper centered on your card, directly above or below where you want your finished lettering to be. Then use that as a guide to carefully copy the letters onto your card using the same size and spacing. 

Lettering on a curve? It’s easy to get your words spaced just right! Start by laying a piece of string along the curve from beginning to end. Then, fold the string in half and use it to mark the center point on the guideline where your word or words will go. 

Next, determine the middle letter (or letters) of your word(s) and draw them at the center of your line. Then, work outward in both directions, drawing your letters from that center point backward to the beginning and then forward from the center to the end.

5. Design your own fonts

It’s fun to get creative with hand lettering and design your own original fonts. But where do you even begin?

The easiest place to start is with basic printed-style letters that you then build onto or change in some way. Some things to consider… Will your letters be slanted (italic) or vertical? Do you want serif or sans-serif letters? Will your letters be tall or wide? Do you want your letters to be simple or have a decorative motif? Will your letters be solid or have an outline? The sky’s the limit, but just make sure you’re consistent when you apply your design choices.

Try to avoid using too many different lettering styles on your card. Usually just one or two is best. Fancy letters can be difficult to read so use them sparingly. Keep in mind the most important thing about lettering is that it communicates its message clearly!

6. Use correct spacing between words

Correct spacing between words is another important factor in helping your message be easy to read. 

The general rule is that you’ll want to leave the space of an upper case “E” between words made of all upper case letters. For words made of lower case letters, leave the space of a lower case “n” between words.

7. Draw with a light touch

Drawing with a light touch is the key to success in any hand lettering project, as it is in any project that involves drawing. You can always go back and make your lines darker once you’re sure of them. But it can be hard (and sometimes impossible) to erase completely if your lines are too dark to begin with.

No matter the holiday, handmade greeting cards are always appreciated. These 7 hacks will help your students create their own greeting cards with hand lettering they can be proud of.

an inspiring quote:

“Don’t confuse perfection with excellence.” ~ Michael Hyatt

Lettering is one of those art forms that can bring out the perfectionist in all of us.

Kids especially tend to compare their own hand lettering with what they see all around them every day. But most of the lettering they see is created digitally, so they’re not even comparing apples to apples.

When perfectionism strikes, it can be paralyzing for anyone expressing their creativity, no matter their age. But to stress over not being able to create something “perfect” is irrational… perfect is not even possible!

In their book, “Art & Fear”, authors David Bayles and Ted Orland say, “Perfection itself is (paradoxically) a flawed concept.”  In other words, the idea of something being “perfect” implies a standard that doesn’t exist. Not only is “perfect” subjective (different for everyone), it’s also changing all the time, so it’s a moving target.

Since perfection is not attainable, a better goal to strive for is excellence… doing your best, learning, and growing. It looks different for everyone, so it keeps things interesting. And most important of all, it’s possible to achieve it!

a question to consider:

What upcoming holiday or occasion will you have your students make handmade greeting cards for?