Love for Hand-Drawn Type

When it comes to type, I'm a sucker for anything with a human touch. There's nothing more unique! And when it comes to Valentine's Day, I'm a big believer that home-made gifts trump store bought. Unless the store sells flowers :)

Last year, I decided to forego the Hallmark store and create my own card for hubby. I've always admired intricately-shaped type illustrations full of flourish, but always thought my handwriting was too sloppy. Above is a new take on that card I made hubby last year for Valentine's Day. I love its curly cues, rhythm and movement, and its sketchy, imperfect style is definitely me.

As my Valentine's gift to all of you, I'd like to share some other examples of beautifully-executed hand-drawn type. 

With expressive line work, even a single letter can become a piece of art. The letter 'M' means nothing to me, but I wouldn't mind hanging something like this on my wall!

Letter M. Alphabet symbol from shutterstock, Copyright Viktoriya

Equal parts illustration and typography, hand-drawn type really shines in editorial and advertising applications. UK-based illustrator Kate Forrester intertwines her type and images into beautiful, flowing compositions. 

Source: Kate Forrester

I especially love it when the type becomes the illustration, as in this advert for Always. Check out Kate's website for more inspiring examples.

Source: Kate Forrester

I could probably write an entire entry on chalkboard type alone, but here's a fun example by Mandy over at dear musketeer:

Source: dearmusketeer.blogspot.com

Precise or sketchy, funky or elegant, understated or over the top—hand-drawn type has a certain something to it that you just don't get with a standard font. If you'd like to feast your eyes on more great work, Pinterest has hand-drawn type boards as far as the eye can see. Warning, you may lose track of time and emerge from your Pinterest coma hours later, overstimulated and dry-eyed. I'm not saying this happened to me...but definitely a friend of mine.

I'd love to feature reader submissions in a future post. So break out your pen and ink, your chalk, your watercolors, your markers, and/or your digital tablet and start experimenting! Then send me some love!

Happy V-day!