I go over the project as a whole here, but wanted to share the hand lettering process I followed for Erin O’Malley’s title card design separately.
After establishing the character and layout direction, I did some type research to find the right influences for the lettering. I love this step and if the timeline allows, I’ll seek out interesting and unusual sources preferably in person at the Letterform Archive or a library.
For this project, I wanted to reference both old Hollywood- and the flash art/tattoo style art direction for the project as a whole. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a lot on the lettering history of tattoos- I’m still curious about that.
Mood Boards
The Letterform Archive has a stunning collection of type specimens. They were able to pull references for me based on the old Hollywood and tattoo lettering description.
The lettering on a curve seems simple but if you look closely, each letter is adjusted to be wider on the outward edge to keep the spacing from making large gaps.
Sketch to Final
Here’s a typical process for lettering- a rough procreate sketch for direction approval, a tighter procreate sketch and then the vectoring once the concept is approved.
And you can see the way the letterforms evolve along the curve in a way you can’t manage with out of the box type.