27 Things I've Learned That Can Be Applied To Hand Lettering.

In honor of my birthday (this past Monday, June 15), I decided to make and share a list of valuable things I've learned this year that can also be applied to hand lettering. 

27. Choose happiness and joy. Though things may not go well or as planned each and everyday choose to be happy and choose joy over sadness. Life's too short.

26. Get organized. Being organized is a skill, one that many people don't have. When you learn to be organized you can create systems that will help you get through your activities. 

25. Surround yourself around the people you want to influence you. Want to get in shape? Find some fitness friends. Want to be a better hand letterer? Subscribe to those artists and connect with them, find someone in your local area. You are influenced by your top five friends. 

24. Make genuine connections. The term "network" has been over used and beaten to the ground, and with social media like Linkedin saying, " Please add me to your network" it just screams I'm looking to connect so I can get something in return - though I may not really know you. Genuine connections will take you farther and you'll build lasting relationships with people around the world. 

23. Get out the house. Find some local meetups and see what people are doing. Go to a conference and listen to a speaker, in the same or different field. It will influence you, and you'll learn something new.  

22. Read more. When I was younger I used to compete with a classmate to see how many books we could read in a week. We were in fifth or sixth grade, and each week we would check in to see how many books the other person read. Some how she managed to increase her reading speed. When I think about it now she probably learned how to skim/scan the pages of a book really quickly at a young age, it now comes in handy and I can skim pages and articles quicker.

21. Find an accountability partner or group. I have a few of them. One for financial, one for fitness and one for getting up early to write. It's so much easier to disappoint ourselves but when you have someone else in your corner cheering you on and motivating you to keep going, you'll more than likely try even harder not to disappoint them.

20. Write, Everyday. One of the accountability groups is based on EWDW. #6amclub (really the #5amclub on the east coast) but we've created a group to get everyone on board and everyone just messages in - feet on the floor. Which means, " I've gotten out of bed, I am ready to write". I use my writings for blog posts, reflection and relief.

“How to apply this to hand lettering: choose your quotes, messages or phrase you wish to hand letter in advance. Maybe seven for the week, and practice one each day.
”

— Donia

19. Reserve time for the things you enjoy. Family, fitness, fun, your passion! Everyone has 24 hours in a day and we all choose how to spend them differently. Set aside time to practice your hand lettering put it in the calendar so that you don't derail from it.

18. Be a professional and learn more about professionalism. Everything from the way you talk, walk present and the way you write - choose to be a professional. It will give you greater return in so many ways.

17. Get focused. Remove the distractions, put your phone on airplane mode, turn your wifi off and take some time for yourself. Thinking, reading, gaining knowledge, understanding your purpose or the reason you are choosing to do something - like lettering, will help you get focused on the steps to reaching your goals. Besides, unless you have stock in Facebook or work for them, why are you spending so much time on there?

16. Rest. overworking yourself will only increase your stress and anxiety. Work hard and rest harder.  

15. Research. I've been learning so much about marketing, ways to improve my writing, communication and simply putting myself out there. I am sure there is another artist of African American descent that can relate to me and my struggles. Perhaps I can learn from someone else or someone can learn from me. 

14. Learn the rules. Rules aren't everything and many people don't like them. Some people like to break them and others are ignorant of them. Rules exist and you need to know them - especially to avoid trouble. 

13. Listen to your intuition. Anytime I've had a gut feeling and not listen to it, I always regret it later. I sometimes say to myself, '" if you listened to that feeling in your gut you wouldn't be here," or " you know you saw that one coming". That inner voice we have can save us from so many problems. I am so happy when I do listen to that intuition. You might be surprised what you'll gain if you listen to that inner voice sometime. 

12. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Humility is a great character to have and asking for help can be a very humbling experience. Though at times we can do it all on our own, we can save time, money and resources by simply asking for help. 

11. Know Why. "Because I felt like it," is such a cowardly answer to give. Dig deeper and know the reasons you believe in something. Learn to form your own opinions and be sure you are confident, firm, in your beliefs. Though your reasons, and or theory might change - at least have something more than, "because I felt like it," to back it up. 

10. Be Confident. I know you don't just wake up and decide to be confident, but I do believe there are steps you can take to get you to that place of being confident. 

9. Curiosity is one of the best ways to learn. You have a keen interest in learning something and you'll better retain the information. Stay curious and you'll learn more outside the classroom. 

8. Gratitude. Showing others how thankful you are, that you appreciate them can make their day. Be grateful and show gratitude. 

7. Learn how to Learn. This is deep. When learning something new we are excited and want to jump through the steps. But when learning to learn, we should take our time to absorb the information. 

6. Critics exist. They're either saying good things about you or they are saying ba thing about you. Either way, they exist. 

5. Sharing is caring. (Just not germs). When sharing your work, you put yourself up for criticism. Learn to not take things personally, learn to be objective, sharing your experiences will help someone else in the long run.

4. Practice. Practice, practice. Practice makes perfect. Though we still try to achieve perfection, practice will build any and every skill and can surpass talent if one is willing. 

3. Curate. Choose one thing and focus on that. Get really good at it, then you can find other ways to be creative. Just be sure to curate, then branch out from there. 

2. Knowledge is powerful. Share what you know, and people will thank you for it.

1. Start before you're ready. Even though when you start things may - and more likely not be perfect, you will still have some place to look back at how far you've come. 

What are some things you've learned? 

Building Your Own Cheer-Leading Squad

You know for some time now, as I'm learning what it takes to build a brand, I've also been on a journey to drop a few pounds (since February 2011). When I first started my weight loss journey I was about 165-170. I wanted to get back between 155-165. I was loosing weight by going to the gym, having a personal trainer, and doing P90x with my roommates back in college. The heaviest I've been was 190lbs... Can I get off trail for a little bit here?-

I realize that I get very easily distracted.. For example, at this very moment as I'm typing this, my mind shifted from blogging to bead making. Prior to even writing on the subject I want to address here, I was actually going to type away about, "systems vs goals in order to get things done." It's here, in the midst of my shifting thoughts, that I realized that having a way to stay on track on the journey to your goal(s) is an absolute necessity. I've learned that one of the most effective & important ways to keeping yourself from getting distracted is to have a cheer leading team to keep your momentum going in the direction your want to head in.

How do you that? One simple way is to tell people what your goals are. You do need to set a goal, but you also need to have a support system that will help you work to maintain that goal. For my weight loss goals, I have people checking in on me to see how my progress is going. I have a personal goal to strive to log my food in, "My Fitness Pal," daily for a year. Joining a gym where you get free guest passes, also helps. I can bring someone along every time I go to the gym, and it can be the same person each time. It's a great motivator having someone willing to meet you at the gym. Multiple accountability partners helps in the long run. I'm also in a challenge with my co-workers (Summer bodies bro) to see who can loose the most body percentage weight. I am excited for the scale to go under 180.

As for lettering, I've used instagram as my cheer leading squad. As I see my numbers increase in followers, likes, and comments; I like to see it as people on the sidelines cheering me on. However if I don't get a like, its OK I'm not doing it for them. At the end of the day I do it for me, my future and the overall bigger picture that I can't even see right now.

Being connected with other people who are both aware of, and encouraging you in what you want to accomplish is a great way in helping you focus and keep from being distracted. Unfortunately we will occasionally have our moments when we wander off....but it doesn't have to be the end. You have a set back? Don't worry, Pick up where you left off. And think about the reasons and causes you fell off. The more honest you are with yourself, the better you'll feel, the better you'll do when get back to it, and the easier it'll be to be even more dedicated.

Actually I lied,... it doesn't get easier. It gets harder to be more dedicated. But when it begins to feel more like a chore, always remember the 'WHY,' behind the things you do. It helps to alleviate the doubts that circle around us. I want to leave you with this question:

What good is your wealth if you don't have your health?

The Primary Basics: Typography and Hand Lettering

I must admit that I was not ready for todays blog post. I wanted to write about the anatomy of type, have a full page illustration on it, my own diagram - it all sounded great in my head, until I began to put my pencil to paper. All that I wanted to share with you, can not be executed in the time I allotted myself. Instead, I have decided to share with you the very basics and I have a free gift for you that can be downloaded for your use as you get started in your journey to hand lettering. I am showing up today, to give you the very primary basics before we even enter the anatomy of type. We can call this the primary basics to typography and hand-lettering.

Before I start let me share a story with you:

Remember when we were in elementary school, learning how to write? We were given these really large lined papers, and sometimes the paper had dotted lines that created our alphabets. We were supposed to trace those lines and report back to the teacher and show our squiggly had writing skills. Tracing those dotted lines allowed us to build muscle memory while practicing our hand writing. Over time we learned to create words, phrases and so fourth.

Todays we are covering the base lines that are encountered when practicing hand lettering. You can think of these lines as guides, and while I am providing a template for you, feel free to learn how to create your own so that you are not limited by tools.

Here's are some questions to think of:

Do you know what your letters sit on? A base Line. Do You know what the X-Height is? The Cap Height? Is the Ascender above or below the CapHeight? Where does the descender fit in all of this?

While our elementary lined paper kept it basic with three lines, one of them being dotted lines, we are covering six lines.

Ascender: An upward vertical stroke found on the part of lowercase letters that extends above the typeface’s x-height.

Cap Height: A line marking the height of uppercase letters within a font.

x-Height: The height of lowercase letters reach based on height of lowercase x; does not include ascenders or descenders.

Mean Line: Imaginary line running along the top of non-ascending, lowercase letters. The mean-line falls at the top of many lowercase letters such as “e,” “g” and “y

Base Line: The invisible line where all characters sit.

Descender: The invisible line marking the lowest point of the descenders within a font.

That's it for our lesson today! Download the free page template so you can get started on practicing your lettering.

Have more questions? Subscribe and send your questions to me about the anatomy of type. I look forward to hearing from you.

Change: noun - the act or instance of making or becoming different.

Change defined as a noun is the act or instance of making, or becoming different. Change is difficult - but none the less it is very much necessary, especially to see growth. Here on the blog look to see changes that will be happening very soon. Think about what happens when you here, "there are going to be some new changes around here," usually in a work place people get nervous or fearful that they are going to loose their job. Change doesn't always have to be associated with negative thoughts. The changes here are positive and will encourage my growth in hand-lettering. Here are some things to expect:

New Blog Post days: will be every Wednesday, beginning March 4th, 2015.

I want to deliver more value to you as I chronicle my journey, so you can expect to see my daily word post over on instagram.

I want you to share what I am learning as I chronicle my journey, you can expect shared tips and resources on how to get better with your hand-lettering journey.

While this is a very shortened post, I am eager to see where things go from here.

What are you struggling with on your hand-lettering journey? Share below in the comments section.

Know Your Worth

Have you ever been in a place where you make or do something for someone and because you are their friend you charge them less money - thinking that it's a favor to them. Perhaps you've agreed to make a birthday cake for their child and you know they have a tight budget, and they know you have really awesome skills in bakery and in the kitchen. You agree, and it takes 5 hours - from grabbing the ingredients, prepping, baking and beautifying this cake for their child. in the end they pay you $30.00. Is this really worth your time? Really let's think about this and lets break down more of what this friend is asking you. They know you are worth far more than 30.00 and the way you've made this cake - its worth at least 100.00. Would it be better to have given them this cake for free and they tell everyone you made it and how much it would cost? I think the latter is true.

We as artists and designers need to know our self-worth. 30 divided by 5 equals 6. This means that your friend is paying you 6 dollars an hour. Oh wait! Did we calculate travel, the ingredients or just your time alone? when did it become ok to get paid for a huge favor less than what is worth. Ok $30 is low-balling right? Lets say they pay you $50.00. Is it even fair to you, obtain for the costs to get the ingredients?

Perhaps the friend instead purchases all the ingredients, now they are asking for your time and your skills. It's now three hours of your time - is it worth it?

My Experience 

I think an important question to ask is how bad do need the money? Why am I doing this?, And what value I am bringing for my client. I once was designing a flyer for someone and was charging $50. Little did I know - due to my lack of research and experience that 100 wouldn't even cover the cost of printing out the flyers they needed. After designing the flyer, they went on to tell me how it is done. In the back of my head all I could think of is if you know how you want this to look, why am I designing this for you?

I chose to let the client go. But they still paid me 50% as that was non refundable. I wanted to give that money back and say no thank you. But they were doing right by paying for what time I had already dedicated to working on their project.

I think its good to have these experiences because it teaches you how to do thinks more professionally. I now know that my fliers would start at a higher rate.

At times I think people think its ok not to pay designers what they want because they can't see the value of art work or the details that go into making such great design work. So much of this is subjective to ones opinion. Design can always be improved and made better. I also realize that people will pay for what they want and what they think is good.

Think about all the famous artists that have passed away, and what their work is now worth. some millions. Though many have passed before their time their work speaks for itself. It shows that they had what it takes to develop style, characteristic and growth in a medium of their choice. Lets not forget that these famous artists were often times commissioned to do great work. if people in the times of history can respect the time and understand the monetary needs of an artist, why then in the 21st century would people rather find the "cheapest, most affordable" person to do their design and or art work?

The Point of it All

Lets show respect to great artists and pay them as so. So whats the point of all this? I write all this to say remember to charge what your worth. Remember to show your clients the value that you are providing them. Good work doesn't happen overnight, it takes years to build. Lets start knowing what we are worth and start charging what we are worth. Remember to find the right client by talking to them and getting to know what their needs are. Just like your client, you matter prove them this much is true.