4 Reasons Why You Should Learn Hand Lettering
It can sometimes be pretty hard to find the motivation to start a new skill. The fear that you’ll never get good or you keep putting it off for one reason or another. But you should forget all that, sit down, and take the time to learn hand lettering!
I’m here to tell you to stop making excuses, and just mcfreaking do it you hecking goose! I’m sure I’ve said this before but hand lettering is an extremely easy skill to learn! If you put time and effort into it you will get better. I promise!
So now that you’ve decided to learn a new skill you might be asking yourself why hand lettering? Why should you learn hand lettering over another skill such as pottery or nail art? Well, let me tell you why young grasshopper.
Related: Books to Learn Hand Lettering
Impress Your Family and Friends
While your friends and cousins are getting PhDs, birthing children, or traveling the world, you can one-up them all with beautiful letters. Every time one of them graduates with a new degree or pops out a new human, impress them by giving them a handmade, one of kind, hand-lettered card. They’ll be floored every time. And trust me, it never gets old hearing things like “wait you wrote this by hand” or “you have really good handwriting”. Not only that but how totally delighted will your mom be everytime you give her a hand-lettered card for her birthday or Mother’s Day! Mom’s love that sort of stuff.
Related: How I Design and Print My Own Greeting Cards
Make Money
Isn’t making money doing something you love doing everyone’s dream? Start an Etsy shop offering envelope calligraphy, custom signs, wall art, etc. The possibilities are ENDLESS! Do a few quick Etsy searches to see what services are in demand and what you should price them. If you’re just starting out I would suggest slightly lowering your prices and then as you make more sales and gain credibility you can begin to raise them. Make sure to always snap pictures of your work so that you can grow your portfolio and show future clients examples of your work. It’ll also help you track your progress so you can see how you’ve improved. You can also reach out to friends and family and see if they need anything done. I would also recommend reaching out to local businesses and see if they need your services.
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Save Money
Once you’re confident in your lettering abilities you can save money when planning your own events. Whenever you have a party or if you’re planning your own wedding, instead of hiring someone to make all the pretty letters, you can do it yourself!!!! Designing and addressing your own wedding addresses is time-consuming but cost-effective. And having a stunning welcome sign at your housewarming party is the perfect way to emphasize that you’ve Totally got your life together.
Feel More Productive
I don’t know about you but I have major issues with productivity and procrastination. Usually, if I’m told to do something the amount I want to do it decreases by at least 95% and I just lay on the couch watching the new episode of Rupaul’s Drag Race. Since learning hand lettering, my unhealthy TV binging has dramatically decreased. I genuinely enjoy sitting down for hours working on new lettered pieces, practicing my letterforms, updating my Etsy, or writing new blog posts. And because through this, I feel like I am contributing to society in a way, I feel much more productive. Even though my audience is pretty small I like to think that my blog posts help to inspire like-minded people and that receiving something from my Etsy shop brightens someone’s day. It’s nice not to feel like you totally wasted your entire day!
Related: Hand Lettering Services to Provide to Clients
Have a Creative Outlet
In college ,I studied environmental science. I’ve always felt like I’ve been in a weird mental place where I do have a tendency to think more logically but also crave being creative. Being a STEM major, that more logical side of me was obviously favored over my creativity. I longed for a creative outlet throughout college. I dabbled in crochet, beading, needle felting, and video making. Nothing really stuck or made me feel excited for more than a few weeks. However, it’s been nearly six months since I started my hand lettering journey and it’s still something I try to do every day and more importantly I still enjoy doing it. As soon as I sat down to learn hand lettering I was hooked. I knew this was the hobby for me. I don’t feel myself burning out the way I used to. I’m passionate and excited to work on my latest lettering piece when I have time. Nothing makes me happier than getting a new client and knowing that I’m about to make money without feeling like I’m actually working.
