Don't become a transfer slave

[sam]

There's a time and place for using a computer to aid in lettering, and there are times when it's impossible or impractical. Here's an example of it being impractical. I'm a computer graphics geek, but it was faster, easier, and more rewarding to do this layout by hand.

These are Mardi Gras medallions and were hand hammered for a slightly rustic look, so their surfaces are not as smooth as I would have liked. They are also very thin and difficult to hold securely to minimize vibration during engraving, but that's the daily life of a hand engraver.

During the layout I counted the letters and started with the center letter and drew my way to right and then the left. Laying them out to the right is no sweat. Going to the left is a bit awkward but you get used to it.

With the limited space available I opted for a 50/50 uppercase to lowercase ratio.

My advice to beginners is to learn to draw lettering. Time is money and the computer can be a great aid, but don't allow yourself to become a slave to transfers, because whatever extra profit you've made using the computer might quickly disappear as you fiddle and fumble around trying desperately to transfer something when drawing it is simply the best way to go.




Drawing right-to-left...awkward at first.



Starting the layout with the center letter results in a centered line of lettering.

 

[dlilazteca]

So thats how you kill a transfer zombie, JK

Thanks for the great advice

 

[leo]

We'll sam I am a fan of your work and teaching and try to practice all that you tell us I started watching your work about a year ago and I always say if you want to learn engraving learn the Mr. Alfano way pencil and paper and I don't use computer for that reason so I do practice a lot of drawing for that reason here some pic of what I done the books in the pic is what I have for referral and I don't use any kind of magnification

 

[GTJC460]

I couldn't agree more. I quickly found that lettering on "jewelry" type items rarely works well with transfers or it takes way too long to get a good transfer and be profitable.

Great layout tips and tutorial

 

[Big-Un]

I tried computer layouts and found I just wasted more time than necessary. Laying out lettering by hand is much faster for me and I don't feel I have wasted my time fooling around with the technology I can't seem to conquer. Same with laying out scrolls. Oh well, old school I guess.

Bill

 

[Southern Custom]

Just cut two knives today where the space was odd. It's rarely worth it to make a transfer for small items like this. About the only time I do it now is for the occasions when I need to cut multiples of a lengthy section of text.
For those learning to draw lettering, I've always said that one can learn all they need to know from J.M. Bergling's book "Art Alphabets and Lettering". This is once some fundamentals are learned of course and there is no better place for that than Mr. Alfano's wonderful lettering video.
Layne

 

[sam]

Bravo Leo!! Great to see your sketch page full of practice drawings!! :clapping:

 

[monk]

leo: your attitude seems to have served you well. it shows in your work. i learned the hard, dumb way. i still suffer many of the bad habits i acquired 30+ years ago. the newbies are way ahead of the game today. assuming one can't afford to take a class, today, with the info at hand, there's no reason to start out with bad habits. thanks for showing your drawings and work.

 

[leo]

Thank you sam and monk

 

[Joacim Jansson]

I totally agree with you Sam

A good way to learn to draw text is to take a writing pad
Sketch the support line and lines of slope of the font you selected.
Start by sketching out a page with the capital letter of A in different sizes (3-7mm)
Next page with the capital letter B, and so on, until you've done the whole alphabet.
Then start again with lowercase and do the same thing but then size (2-5mm)
Getting the same slope of the letters are very crucial.
To repeat something often, creates a muscle memory.
I have tried this on my apprentice, with very good results.
And I promise that it is time well spent to do this.

 

[Thierry Duguet]

Like most thing there is no rules, one need to adapt to the circumstances and to one's character. I find useless to draw letters on paper, I find it too different from what one do on metal, should I want to practice I will do it on metal it seems to be a more realistic, a more practical approach to the task. I do not think that muscle memory transfer well from paper and pencil to metal and chisel. When one learn to engrave strait lines one does not start by drawing strait line one take a piece of metal and practice on cutting strait lines so one will get the feel for it.

 

[don hicks]

Like most thing there is no rules, one need to adapt to the circumstances and to one's character. I find useless to draw letters on paper, I find it too different from what one do on metal, should I want to practice I will do it on metal it seems to be a more realistic, a more practical approach to the task. I do not think that muscle memory transfer well from paper and pencil to metal and chisel. When one learn to engrave strait lines one does not start by drawing strait line one take a piece of metal and practice on cutting strait lines so one will get the feel for it.

Thierry;
I agree it is not the same drawing a letter as cutting one but when I started to try lettering I didn't even know what a script letter A looked like. After finding a book on lettering , I started to practice drawing the script alphabet on paper . I can now draw a script letter A no problem. I can draw a lot of poor script A's in the time it takes me to cut one poor A. The paper and pencil speeds up the learning curve. I would agree there is no substitute for cutting once you know what shape to cut.
Regards
Don