Hand Lettered Inspiration

A few months ago I was somehow directed to the blog Ephemera Assemblyman. It's basically collections of really neat, assorted old photos, documents, prints, etc. I love it. Today I saw this post on calligraphy art. So so pretty! And inspiring. I seem to have fallen out of practice as far as drawing since high school. I think doing some lettering drawings would be a good way to get back into sketching. As a graphic designer, I am naturally a typophile, so letters and fonts are art forms to me.



Images from Ephemera Assemblyman

It just so happens that a couple weeks ago I finally watched the movie The Pillow Book. It revolves around a woman who is obsessed with calligraphy, specifically written on her body. She is constantly seeking lovers who have beautiful calligraphy skills, and she also teaches her self to make beautiful word art on men's bodies. It's a gorgeous movie, though disturbing. The lettering are magnificent.




So, hooked on the pretty, I've wandered around the Internet looking for more calligraphy art. Here's some nice examples, and links to a plethora more.


Art by Jordan Jalev, via this Design Roof post.




Art by Natasha Mileshina, via this Smashing Magazine post, which is so very very full of lettery goodness.




Wine label design, via another über-amazing lettery goodness post on noupe (click on each image in that post to see more works by each artist!), which also had more Jordan Jalev:




And this delightful ode to Sir Mix-a-lot:




I love love love this idea that Lettercult is doing. Alphabattle, in which designers/artists can submit their interpretation of each letter of the alphabet. So fun!! Check out some of the A's:







And, of course, there's a calligraphy flickr group, for even more daily pretties. I love me some flickr groups!

Alright, I hope you are as inspired as I am. Gonna go raid my markers now.