First of all, I like that the author took her time to talk about ALL THE BASICS. She added definitions for the different terms used in lettering, added three different kinds of cursive alphabets (including the correct direction to draw each line) and provided examples on how to connect letters, add flourishes, embellishments etc. These might sounds like extremely basic things but I still found them useful since I hadn't looked at those guides since I was kid. Also, the book didn't feel childish at all, I guess because there were actual explanations in each section and not just "write the alphabet 10 times" exercises.

By the way, I actually loved the exercises! Since I started reading the book in order, the first thing I encountered were the Downstrokes & Upstrokes exercises. After those I tried writing the quote "All was well" from Harry Potter and I noticed I couldn't remember how to connect the W with the E (without it looking weird...) I ended up going to a section towards the end that added examples on how to connect letters and were to apply pressure while writing. Then I spent almost 2 hours practicing with the same quote. And I can confidently say that it went from looking horrible to not-that-bad. In one day!

I would totally recommend this book to hand-lettering begginers. Or to those who used to be kinda good at it when they were younger but don't remember how they did it. Once you're finished with the most basic exercises, you could go to the last section of the book which contains chalkboard art and watercolor ideas. And a really cute journal-ish section with 100 prompts to practice your hand-lettering. I have this book in digital format but I might get the physical version because of those prompts. I think the idea of filling the blank spaces in the book designed for practicing would inspire me to finish all the prompts!

Thanks so much to NetGalley for sending me a digital ARC to review!

I read an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair review. This book took a bit of time to review because it covers quite a few techniques and I didn't think it would be fair if I just browsed the book with out trying out the instructions and ideas presented. I love this book.It was so well written that even someone like me who is not terribly gifted at art can create beautiful lettering projects. The list of tools was quite helpful and the pens I purchased as recommended are lovely to work with. I read this book on an iPad mini and thought it was fun to be able to practice my letters using just my finger or a stylus on the practice pages provided. I would recommend this book for people who want to learn to create fun and interesting lettering projects.

THOUGHTS
Lettering With Purpose is a well-written and easy to follow guide to learning or improving your hand-lettering skills.

Brittany Luiz's writing style is immensely readable and her straightforward explanations of concepts and technique are concise as she explains a wide variety of lettering styles, fonts and media.

The book opens with an introduction to the author, how she approaches lettering tasks, and how she became involved in the hand-lettering world.

Each subsequent chapter deals with a different aspect of lettering; such as font choice, layout, embellishments, choice of medium, and digitising your finished piece.

The middle portion of the book concentrates on detailed step-by-step project how-tos for a wide variety of hand-lettered items such as a wooden chalkboard with quote, and a floral monogram suitable for framing as a gift.

The third and final section is all about practice! Alphabet worksheets to perfect a variety of fonts are followed by 100 prompts of lettering ideas to complete.
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE




I started off by copying a few examples, then put my new found skills to use decorating envelopes for this week's batch of cards for The Rainbow Cards Project.








So, how did I do it?
First, using a pencil, I sketched out my lettering (in this case, the name 'Ellie') then inked over it with a black Sharpie.



Using a lightbox made it easy to trace this onto my envelope, again using a pencil.



I then inked the outline with a fine-liner.



Before finishing off by filling in with a rainbow of colour.


RATING & RECOMMENDATIONS
Lettering with Purpose is a well-written how-to guide, suitable for both novice letterers and those with experience.

I would recommend this book for anyone wishing to learn how to create beautiful hand-lettered gifts or cards, or further polish their previous abilities.

Wonderfully descriptive step-by-step instructions, together with lots of clear photographs illustrating each step, mean I don't hesitate to rate Brittany Luiz's Lettering with Purpose with 5 out of 5 stars.


THE AUTHOR
Brittany Luiz is a talented hand-lettering artist, author & instructor.

She lives in Georgia, USA; where she also works as Social Media Manager for TOMBOW: the one-stop shop for craft, art & office supplies.

You can learn more about Brittany, her work, and her classes on her website brittanyluiz.com, or follow her on Instagram or Twitter.
DISCLOSURE
I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in return for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I started getting interested in the idea of hand lettering in 2016. At that time, I started Bible Art Journaling. So much of my personal style in Bible Art Journaling has been either getting an image in various mediums onto my Bible page that reflects the story or message or a particular Scripture or using word art to draw my focus and attention to a section or passage. Yet, even though I was big into word art in high school (not just drawing bubble letters, but typography in a bunch of different styles), my skills have severely declined as I haven't used those particular ones in upwards of ten years or so. And I've never branched out in calligraphy, faux-calligraphy, or hand lettering in this way before. I have watched many YouTube videos (tutorials, etc) about hand lettering. And so when I saw Lettering With Purpose available on NetGalley, I knew I had to check it out.

One of my biggest complaints is that the e-galley version that I received had to be read on the computer using Adobe Digital Editions. I've used this software for a few review books in the past, but it isn't my preferred method of reading a book. However, I figure maybe this particular book doesn't translate to a Kindle Edition in the best way. What that means for me is that when I came to sections where the book provides room to practice, I had to use a sketch book. This normally wouldn't bother me, except for the 100 prompts at the end of the book. And as this wasn't a book that I purchased for myself, there were restrictions on printing. All of that means that my allotted time I've been given to read and review this book will likely expire before I can make my way through each of the 100 prompts. And that makes me sad. But it does motivate me to perhaps go out and buy this book for myself once it releases anyway.

The tutorial content provided in Lettering With Purpose wasn't much different or much more detailed than I've found in the YouTube videos that I've watched. But Brittany Luiz does offer one particular tip that has helped me above all others that I've found. That's on the upstroke of a letter--which should appear thin in contrast to a thick downstroke--use as little pressure on the pen as possible to create the line. She also goes into a good bit of detail on the amount of pressure needed on the downstroke which helped me as well. I had previously been really struggling with making the transition between my downstrokes and upstrokes in thickness due to the incorrect amount of pressure I was applying to the pen in both cases. Beyond that though, I found most of the information presented was information that I'd already received.

One small frustration is that there were a couple of step by step tutorials within the book that required more products than your basic brush pen. These tutorials would be great if I had the products that she references on hand. But the materials needed aren't something that a beginner should likely have. These were great for showing some of the versatility in what all you can do with hand lettering, but disheartening as I didn't feel like I could actually complete the tutorials.

All of that being said, I'd be willing to spend the money to purchase Lettering With Purpose for the sole reason of the 100 prompts at the end of the book that I mentioned already. These prompts are ideas to help you determine what to hand letter when you're stuck, and specifically what to hand letter that will be meaningful to you and unique from the thousands or other pieces done by someone else.

Lettering With Purpose is a great guide to beginner hand lettering with a hint of the potential that it can become. Even though a lot of the information wasn't entirely new to me, someone just starting out and not having researched much at all about the art will find everything they need to know to get started. I particularly like the prompts at the end of the book to get you inspired with things that are meaningful to you that you can hand letter. Lettering With Purpose gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read Lettering With Purpose? What did you think? Let me know!

A very nice book which provides an introduction to calligraphy.
It was nice to see the author promoting the use of more modern writing tools as opposed to the traditional pen and ink.
I appreciate that the author is encouraging people to find their own style of writing but I personally would have liked to have seen some more examples for the beginner to copy and practise with. The digitised lettering section was an interesting addition.

"Lettering with Purpose" is a book teaching how to "letter" to personalize greeting cards and such. I once read a nib-pen calligraphy book that left me feeling so overwhelmed that I never even tried it. Besides, I wanted to use a brush and maybe not just with ink but with watercolor. Well, this was the book I was really looking for! The author teaches how to use markers or brushes (with watercolor) to make fancy-looking lettering.

She started by explaining the anatomy of a letter, how to make calligraphy-style letters, and suggested tools and materials. She talked about other styles of lettering, how to lay out a phrase to make a cool-looking design, how to digitize your work, how to add flowers and such as a way to fill in block letters or frame a phrase, and more. She provided a step-by-step guide for 5 easy-looking projects and 100 writing prompts to get you busy practicing various words.

This book left me feeling eager to try out lettering and made it seem both do-able and fun. I'd certainly recommend it.

This is such a cute book. I love not only the lettering techniques (and the colors!!) but also the added section on embellishments. As I was going through the book I thought how it would be of great use for daily journals and then lo and behold -- a section with prompts to use to practice lettering! Will be a great addition to art journals. Will definitely be checking this out further during the school year.

On the last couple of months I have took online courses and checked free tutorials to get in the hype train of modern lettering or faux calligraphy, but it was until I read this book that I finally felt like I had all the pieces together and could start my journey on the art of lettering. Brittany's instructions are very clear and every technique is complemented with visual steps and examples. It even includes 100 days of prompts to create beautiful phrases. What makes this book stand out is that it covers everything you will need know: from the basics of downstrokes and upstrokes all the way to how to digitalize your work, working with different tools like brush pens, markers, waterbrushes, chalks, etc and probably all the techniques I have seen on Instagram. You wont need other book to learn the basics.

I am a new fan of Brittany Luiz and let me tell you why.

Lately I have been hit with the “creative bug”, I have always wanted to understand drawing, in particular, how people produce such lovely and radical fonts. The author does well to encourage her readers to not be shy if they are concerned with perfecting their handwriting. It is not about perfect handwriting, it is about learning to express yourself through lettering.

Each page is full of clear instructions, guides, and photos. There is no way to misunderstand any of her instructions. She even gives details on how to get your lettering “digitized” for logos or your business using photo editing programs and she explains it in such a gentle and fun way you could be well on your way to producing great lettering art.

This guide comes complete with 100 prompts to inspire your own lettering so you can get started. Be warned that you will need the proper materials for this kind of art. The author is very clear on the kind of pens, brushes and paper you will need.

I think my favorite sections were the digital lettering sections and galaxy lettering. Very cool pieces of artwork and inspiring. In fact, Lettering With Purpose is such a great reference and guide to have, I added it to my “Wish List” because just reviewing the digital galley is not enough, I must have this book in my hands. Highly recommended!

*This book was given to me free for review from Netgalley

I have bought many lettering books, but this is by far one of my favorites. It is an engaging read with useful tips and plenty of space to practice. A must for people who want to express their creativity in writing

Years of procrastination and almost listening in meetings, lectures and during phone calls has left me with quite the repertoire of 'doodle designs' - this book though, is bound to send me to a whole other level! I found this book to have a whole lot more to it than other Lettering/Calligraphy books and online resources I've seen. The breadth of materials and techniques, combined with inspiring ideas for layouts, flourishes and all manner of decorative touches really sets this book apart.
AAAAND... Digitising my work! Not only as a fun idea but with step by step instructions!
This book is great for beginners but still has a lot to offer more seasoned letterers - highly recommended!

Love, Love, Love this book.
This book is beautifully laid out, it starts out quite simply with the basics of lettering, and has step by step instructions on how to gradually make your lettering that bit more special.
Once you get to grips with the basics it shows you how to add flourishes, embellishments, character and style to your lettering and before you know it your lettering is starting to look that bit more fancy.
The instructions are presented in a warm way, that appreciates that we can get a bit frustrated with ourselves if things don’t first appear perfect. The way the instructions are conveyed makes you want to practise and improve your techniques, as this is all part of the learning and lettering process.
There is a section for those who like to do things digitally too, which I could see being very useful to some people; for example I think this would be a great way to produce things such as flyers or party invites, that still keep that individual style.
It also has a step by step project section where you can use your lettering to make finished items.
The most useful section I think to me comes towards the end of the book… and I think many people might agree that once you acquire a new crafting skill… inspiration seems to suddenly vacates the building…. This book is not lacking in that… it literally inspires inspiration, and I find the 100 dynamic prompts section practically worthy of a book itself. It provides trigger points that you can then use to create a lettering project… and I can see myself popping back to this section in the book time and time again for inspiration when I have some spare time to get creative with my lettering.
With the skills and ideas in this book I can see myself going off with my new lettering skills and making my own jar labels, inspiration quote pictures, gift tags, greetings cards, in fact anything I can write on may get that additional fancy flourish…

I would say that that book does tend to focus on a particular brand of pen, but I wouldn’t let this put you off to much, whilst it’s a good pointer to the type of pens that are particularly suited to certain tasks, I’m sure other brands of suitable pen are available too. Myself I seem to have amassed an almost silly amount of pens and pencils in my crafty pursuits and with a bit of experimentation I’m sure I can use many of these to achieve similar results to those shown.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to get to learn and get to grips with lettering, and those seeking inspiration to keep their lettering skills flowing.

Cute book with step by step instructions to aid in the learning lettering. Easy to follow directions, colorful pages and practice sheets that I wish I could print out.

This is an incredibly creative and beautiful book. As a graphic designer, and paper crafter, I thought that this was a book that would 'speak' to me -- and it did. It told me I'm not creative or talented enough to handcraft lettering! I thought it would come easy to me given my hobbies/background, but it took lettering a step beyond which was wonderful. Colors, paints, brushes, pens, markers, different media (even showing '10 ways to draw flowers, banners, and ampersands)-- I was immediately humbled :) I'm not sure if it would help a beginner (such as myself), but it gave me great ideas for future projects.

Lettering with Purpose is a great handlettering book. Even if you're not a beginner, you will find some useful tips in it.

I loved how the author describes everything in a clear way and how she provides step-by-step tutorials to practice some of the techniques she talks about. There are a couple of fun alphabets included in the book, which you can practice by tracing the letters on the practice sheets. Other great content includes info about embellishments, ligatures, creating compositions, drawing flowers and so on.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to learn how to handletter.

This book is gorgeously laid out. It makes fantastic use of color, graphics, and typography. Which makes it visually pleasing and a breeze to use. It starts off with an introduction (Letter Basics, Suggested Tools & Materials, Pairing Styles, Creating Beautiful Compositions, Lettering Styles & Techniques, Digitizing Your Lettering, Complete Alphabet Ideas). Following that are three more chapters (Ligatures, Embellishments & Flourishes, Start-to-Finish Art Prints, Inspiration for the Journey). All three of the above chapters are then broken down into subcategories that are full of tips, tricks, ideas, and even blank spaces so you can practice your lettering techniques.

I LOVED this book. I am a bonified lettering addict. There is nothing I love more in design than beautiful and unique lettering, typography, etc. It can make or break a design in my opinion. This book was simply fun. It was chocked full of great information and inspiration, as well as fun projects. It was colorful with easy to follow instructions. It had beautiful graphics and made great use of fonts, and images. Not much left for me to say. Two thumbs up from yours truly.

This book was wonderful! It had beautiful illustrations and fantastic ideas on how to create letters artistically and originally. There was also a section on how to use Photoshop for your own creations.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn to create beautiful letters for signs, and their home, and for friends, whether it's gift cards, or something larger.

Great book for a beginner like me. It starts off with some basics and suggestions on tools that you will need. There is a section on making compostitions that I really liked. It then talks about different lettering styles and techniques with lots of pictures and helpful tips. The most useful part to me was the illustrations with different alphabet styles and embellishments, lots of step by step pictures are included. Fun projects at the end make this a great book for someone looking to improve the letter writing skills.

Absolutely love this book! It's packed full of useful info and lovely illustrations, and I loved the addition of the digital section, as well as the detail on colouring. I will definitely refer back to this time and time again.

I've always wanted to master the art of lettering, but never quite known where to begin. This book however, tells you everything you could need to know and more! The layout of the book itself is great - perfect complement of text to images and diagrams, and just enough colour balanced with white space. The tips themselves offer such clear explanations that you can't fail to catch on (although you'll need a lot of practise to make perfect in this area of creativity!), there are plenty of ideas for different typefaces and things to write and draw, and there are some really lovely motivational quotes scattered throughout the book. The book teaches you how to also do embellishments such as banners and doodles, a great accompaniment to any quote. You'll also find some prints from start to finish, so you can come up with your own full-page designs without much thought at all, because the ideas and tips are all there for you. Finally, at the end of the book there are 100 prompts for coming up with creative bits of text, such as practise your favourite quote. I absolutely cannot fault this book!