Ready for the Inktober challenge?

The Inktober challenge is perfect to practice lettering and I am going to help you to do it :)

Hello dear friends,

Today is the 22nd of September and in a big week starts the Inktober challenge.

inktober

A post shared by @inktober

Let’s put it simply, the Inktober challenge works around a word each day as a prompt you use to create an artwork. It can be anything, as long as it has something to do with the word or the day. In my case, it is lettering, with or without illustration. There are several versions of the Inktober, with different words but I will use the official one.

A good opportunity to practice

You know how much I attach importance to practice and these challenges. Here are some posts I did write recently that are directly related to practice:

• What about doing a Lettering Challenge together?

• A few tips for your Lettering Challenge and a new workshop

• Back from vacation with a big idea for you!

In the last one, I offered the idea to take the opportunity of Inktober to help you practice daily, to help you setup a routine for 30 days and maybe longer if you will. So I asked you if it would help you if I start a Discord where we could chat about daily routine, fears, struggles, procrastination, but also Lettering of course :)

You were 29 to answer the poll and 90% to say YES to the idea.

Let’s practice together!

The idea behind the Discord is to help you. I don’t want you to spend your day on it, I really want you to create more. But if you struggle starting, I want to create a place where you can chat about it. You don’t like what you did? You can share it too. I will do the challenge and share my thoughts too.

Also, I will try to post a few ideas on how to “do the work”, how to accept the discomfort and start creating.

The Discord will be really simple with one or two channels. Maybe one so everybody can introduce herself and one dedicated for the Inktober. I will see if it needs more. What do you think? Don’t hesitate to take this opportunity to join a kind of group or community, It really helps to go further and improve your art. Practicing everyday for sure improve your art but it does also brings a higher self esteem and improve your mental health. So let’s do it! But yes, it is not easy. Not easy to find the time first. And then find the idea. This is where sharing together can be helpful so you can see you are not the only one struggling.

Also we use the Inktober challenge as an excuse to practice daily. But just like for other challenges, I don’t ask you to publish on Instagram everyday and you can miss a day. IT IS ALL OK. Not pressure, no bigger stress :)

Here is the link to the Discord to join me to try to sketch daily for 30 days in October.

Also we might be 2 or 20, I don’t really care. This is mostly an experiment and I will see if I can manage it. If I can keep it simple, it should be ok. Hopefully. But I don’t want it to be a monster. But I am optimistic and I am convinced it can a great place to exchange and share feelings or ideas or sketches. Don’t forget the feedback opportunity too.

Again, I don’t want to take more time from you, I want you to create. But I know it can help. And maybe you come at the beginning, find a routine and never comes back. That’s totally ok, that is actually the goal of all of this. Come whenever you struggle or when you need feedback :)

I hope to see you there and I will do an update here every week.

News of the week

First tshirt visual ready!

I finally took a decision on which visual I want to use for my first t-shirt and it will be this one:

fran6

A post shared by @fran6

There is my favorite colors palette, some great lettering and illustration. Also it is all about the outdoors so the mix is perfect to me. I am not sure yet when I will be printing it. I might actually do a presale so I know which sizes of t-shirts to order and avoid too much stocks. I will let you know as soon as everything is ready for production.

New dates for my “Lettering to font” workshop at ILT

My workshop with I Love Typography will be taking place on the weekend of 4th and 5th of November. If you want to spend the weekend together drawing funky letters and making a font out of it, you can take your ticket here.

Artist of the week: Type High Design

Today I would like to introduce you to the work of Scott Cameron and Matt Riley, aka Type High Design. They create wood type and this is fantastic work. We see so few people still producing wood characters that they deserve a small shout out. Unfortunately, they decided to close their business so you will have limited time to order but I hope they will still communicate around it. I might buy some characters before they close but right now, finances are so low, I can’t do anything :D

Here are some great pictures of their work:

typehighdesign

A post shared by @typehighdesign

typehighdesign

A post shared by @typehighdesign

typehighdesign

A post shared by @typehighdesign

typehighdesign

A post shared by @typehighdesign

typehighdesign

A post shared by @typehighdesign

Book of the week: Freehand New Typography Sketchbooks, by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico.

This week, I asked Pierre-Etienne, one of my paid subscribers, to talk about a book he shared with us on the Paid Membership WhatsApp group. He seemed to be so enthusiastic about it that I asked him to write a few words. Thanks Pierre-Etienne.

Most type designers immediately recognize Benguiat’s Souvenir, or Hoefler’s Gotham through their perfectly balanced anchor points, or via the delicate spread of ink on paper, thanks to carefully placed inktraps. But which designer has never dreamt to be a fly on the wall in the master’s workshop, and be able to discover the first drafts, the accidental stroke that gave birth to a world famous design, the countless iterations and curves nudging? That’s exactly what Stephen Heller and Lita Talarico allow us to do in “Freehand New Typography Sketchbooks” where 70+ designers (also letterers, or figures like Niels Shoe Meulman, or Milton Glaser share their sketches, would it be on the back of a napkin, or in a dedicated sketchbook. This book is extremely liberating, showing that everyone can face doubt, struggle, can be the harshest critic, or that happy accidents happens when you experiment. Here’s hoping that this book will unlock new creations!

A few pages pages of that fantastic book:

The paid membership corner

I did not publish any paid post this week but next week’s will be again about Letterpress training and probably about stencils I plan to sell.

Also the benefits are now, I think, well detailed. When getting a paid membership, here is what you get:

• “Behind the scene” weekly or biweekly posts where I share my daily life as a letterer and printer.

• Access to the WhatsApp group where we chat mostly everyday about type, where I share ideas or pictures of what I work on. I also ask for feedback or help, like what are the best colors, etc.

• You get to test my WIP fonts and get a commercial licence of every new font that comes out.

• You get access to bimonthly “Draw with me” sessions on Zoom.

• And to finish, I plan to do small online lectures about habits, but also lettering, and as a paid member you get access to these for free, where other subscribers will have to pay.

And all of this for €5/month or even cheaper if you pay annually. You can also become a paid member just to support my work. This is really important to me to continue offering you valuable content. Here is the link to subscribe:

This is it for today. I hope you have a nice and sunny weekend. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about the Inktober challenge, the Discord or even the paid membership. I will be happy to help.

Take care,

Francis