Looking for ways to make your lettering/designs/artwork stand out online? Think about all the gorgeous quotes you see out there in the world and all the amazing artists, designers, and letterers producing incredible work. What is one thing that none of them have? Your words.
Your words are something that no one else can produce, and they’re a powerful way to show your friends/followers/clients/customers what is unique and interesting about you and your work.
What if I’m not good at writing?
Chances are if you think you’re “not good at writing” you aren’t writing much, and you aren’t writing in your own words. You’re trying to do what I call “writey writing” which is writing that sounds like a fancy writer wrote it.
This is the kind of writing that so many newbie artists use when they want to be taken seriously, but it sounds totally contrived and fake. One way to get around that is to start a stream of consciousness writing practice — daily, weekly, monthly — whatever you can keep up with!
How do you do it?
Here is what I do: write down an idea. Anything you think or believe. Let’s say, for example, you think people think too much about the past and regret things that actually help them make good decisions in their daily lives. That would be a terribly long quote right? How would you even hand letter that?? Now start writing about that idea.
Write down everything you can think about it and don’t focus on spelling or grammar or punctuation. Just get down words, even phrases that don’t make sense or don’t really mean anything. Write it like you are talking to someone directly. What would you say to someone who regrets their past? Why don’t you regret your past?
Usually during this process things will start coming to the surface. You’ll be able to distill your idea into a tiny little quote that says it all.
My idea went from:
some people think too much about the past and regret things that actually help them make good decisions in their daily live
to
everything you’ve done informs everything you do
Now the short quote encapsulates what I want to say: that everything we do, even the embarrassing, wasteful, humiliating, devastating things, lead to everything we have today. In short, we need all the terrible things to get all the wonderful things.
This writing process is super simple and can be done by anyone with a pen and a piece of paper. When it comes to your own work, I truly believe that there is nothing more beautiful than your own words. Especially if you include a bit of background about it when you share the artwork/lettering/design online. If you try it, I would love to see your quote! You can tag me on Instagram or Facebook @lizkohlerbrown and if you want to join everyone you can tag the post with #writeyourlettering
p.s. I’m running a contest in my Facebook group for anyone who wants to enter their quote for a chance to win a 6 month Skillshare membership. To learn more about the contest, join the group here.
