I have recently completed a typography shirt design for the Threadless “Drawing” competition. I’ve always loved hand-done typography, and have recently started to give it a go. By no means am I an expert (this takes me WAY longer than it should) but I attempted to document the process for all of you to see. Hope ya like it, and feel free to VOTE FOR IT HERE!
![Type1](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type1-1193x1250.jpg)
It all starts with a stupid little doodle in my sketchbook. I thought it might be ironic to do an elaborately drawn version of the most common comment I get by “non-artists.”
![Type2](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type2-937x1250.jpg)
Next I started working much larger in my sketchbook – playing around with they style of type to use.
![Type3](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type3-1250x1250.jpg)
After sitting on the first version overnight I decided I wasn’t very happy with it. Above is my second attempt, this one will be the base for the design.
![Type4](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type4-1250x1250.jpg)
The only part that I still wasn’t happy with was the “Figure” text – so here is a revised version of that.
![Type5](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type5-937x1250.jpg)
After all this rough sketching is done I like to put the sketch on a lightbox and use it transfer the drawing onto a cleaner sheet. This way I can use a ruler to alight the text and really get the clean edges I’m looking for. Since the final for this design will be the actual pencil drawing, this stage is important.
![Type6](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type6-1103x1250.jpg)
![Type7](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type7-937x1250.jpg)
Here are some close-ups of the final setup.
![Type8](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Type8-e1396837406188-937x1250.jpg)
Once the drawing is outlined it’s time to render the drawing from top to bottom! This is one of my favorite parts.
![AICD_finalpencil](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/AICD_finalpencil.jpg)
This is a scan of the final pencil layer.
![AICD_finalhighlight](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/AICD_finalhighlight.jpg)
Then I used the lightbox AGAIN to create a “highlights” layer in pencil. All the lines I put down here will be turned white once they are scanned, so I have to kind of think in reverse.
![Screen shot 2014-04-08 at 8.08.16 PM](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screen-shot-2014-04-08-at-8.08.16-PM.png)
Example of the final layering…
![StickFigure_final_threadless](http://www.briancook.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/StickFigure_final_threadless.jpg)
TA-DA! The final is done and READY FOR YOUR VOTE on Threadless! It’s my 100th submission to Threadless! Holy cow!