4.50

5

March 21, 2014

Everything I ever hoped for and more!

I stalked the ups driver, I counted the days, I checked my email daily and when it finally arrived I tried to consume all the delicious information in one day but alas, it is so packed full of information, instruction and beautiful art I had to slow down and savor it.

If you are looking for a beautifully illustrated, marvelously written book on the art of lettering this is the one! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to complete each and every challenge. Joanne Sharpe has written a book that will help be become a better artist but also has me asking myself the hard questions. Questions like why I do this, am I willing to put the work into this art form and how I will use the knowledge once it is mine. I

I cannot recommend this highly enough...not enough stars and not enough praise for Joanne Sharpe.

5

March 20, 2014

I got my book and am doing a happy dance

Love the format, illustrations and instruction. This book is fun. I tried calligraphy and it wad too rigid for me. This is playful and perfect.

5

March 19, 2014

Become the artist you were meant to be!

The art of whimsical lettering teaches you how to create letters and journals filled with many different ideas! Joanne recommends types of paper to use as well as what markers to use!

3

March 31, 2017

Less about lettering than about mixed media techniques

Although I enjoyed this book, it wasn't what the description and reviews implied. I was looking for a book to basically learn about lettering techniques, brushstrokes, alphabets and fonts, etc. I've been practicing from YouTube and pinterest, but I learn best from books. This book has very little lettering instruction - it basically tells you to learn to love your own handwriting style. It's mostly about different types of media for your lettering. I did learn some things about painting and masking that I didn't know, and this is definitely an inspiration to branch out from the black and white lettering projects I've done so far. However, I definitely wouldn't recommend this as an instructional book, especially for someone starting in hand lettering that is looking for practice and technique.
(Disclaimer - the workbook in my pic is just some of my pinterest practice stuff and not from this book)

4

Oct 12, 2016

The Art of Whimsical Lettering is a colorful, inspiring instruction book on the art of crafting stylized fonts and lettering.

Every page is alluring with bright messages, bold fonts, and loud colors. The author introduces several playful approaches to the use of color, shape, shading, and embellishments. And the book offers a comprehensive introduction to myriad pens, paints, and types of paper.

It's regularly emphasized that practice is essential, and the author is very encouraging to readers The Art of Whimsical Lettering is a colorful, inspiring instruction book on the art of crafting stylized fonts and lettering.

Every page is alluring with bright messages, bold fonts, and loud colors. The author introduces several playful approaches to the use of color, shape, shading, and embellishments. And the book offers a comprehensive introduction to myriad pens, paints, and types of paper.

It's regularly emphasized that practice is essential, and the author is very encouraging to readers about accepting their personal style:

Practice really does make perfect, and it's important that you embrace your own personal perfection. While you're making efforts to learn a lettering style, my best advice is to embrace your work as "perfectly imperfect."

Several fun, helpful exercises are provided for honing various lettering techniques.

If nothing else, The Art of Whimsical Lettering ignites creativity and inspires self-expression. ...more

5

June 22, 2016

Much More Than Just a Book!!!

Let me begin this review by admitting that... 1. I hardly ever purchase 'How To' books, as I feel I can usually figure things out on my own without depleting my already meager budget... and 2. I very rarely ever write reviews. That all being said, you must now realize how AWESOME I think this book is!!!
I have been following Joanne Sharpe for quite a while, first noticing her magazine tutorials and articles, then stalking her website, and eventually signing up for one of her online classes... which I totally enjoyed. When I realized she had written this book, I was excited... but didn't purchase it. I get mad at myself when I purchase these kinds of books, flip through them, then toss them aside to gather dust as I continue to practice on my own. Do you do that too?? So... that's why I don't buy these books any more. Well... one evening while surfing the Internet searching for inspiration for another project I was working on, I stumbled upon her AOWL Book Club. WOW! I was blown away!! An author who enhances the printed lessons via FREE online classes???? Now THAT's what I call going above and beyond!!! I watched a few of the videos... then immediately purchased the book!!! I really like Joanne's style of teaching... and am THRILLED she keeps me going back to the book and dives deeper into the lessons. Finally... A 'How To' book that gets USED instead of just sitting on the shelf. I was so in love with this idea.. that I purchased her other book, The Art of Whimsical Stitching and actually PAID for the online class that goes with it!!
Why are you still reading this review? Click the 'buy' button, pull out your paper and markers, join her book club, and get creating!!!

1

January 2, 2017

Whimsical Instruction Too

Very confusing lay out, little in way of actual information that will encourage or detail what you need to understand about "Whimsical Lettering."

4

July 7, 2017

I love fonts. I purchases this book because it looked ...

I love fonts. I purchases this book because it looked like fun and I have an issue with breaking the norm. My creativity doesnt always come out. Ineed it ia a fun book with looks of ideas, from fonta, to backgrounds, even embroidery. Mixed media of colored pencils, gel pens, watercolora, brush pens, etc. Really good book to start off with!

5

April 26, 2014

Great Book for the Mixed-Media/Journal Artist.

As is made fairly clear from the title and the style of the cover of this book, this is a book about whimsical lettering. Although I do not wish to disparage calligraphy, it is not my style, nor do I find it appropriate for the type of artwork I produce. I am very happy to see a book addressing a less formal approach to lettering. This book is an excellent introduction to lettering for people who work in mixed media who wish to utilize their OWN handwriting and style. Try a few of Joanne Sharpe's simple techniques and you will be surprised at how great your own handwriting can look. I really like that my own handwriting not only looks great, but retains an element of style that is distinctly my own and suitable for my artwork. This book is inspiring, accessible and the illustrations are a delight. A very welcome and useful addition my collection of mixed-media books.

1

January 11, 2016

Hate it

Should have listened to the reviews. This was a complete and utter waste of money. It doesn't teach you to write better, in fact, I have no idea what this book is supposed to do.. it's pointless. It's basically a book of how pretty the author can write, and nothing more. Ugh..

2

June 10, 2016

Not as described!

I'm actually returning this, as it's not a "how to" book in my opinion. It does have a lot of samples, examples of doodles from her journaling, but not how to do or practice writing the letters. It's pretty though.

2

October 23, 2015

Look Carefully

I anxiously awaited the arrival of this book, but I was very disappointed. Maybe my expectations were wrong - I was looking for a book that offered instruction on different styles of whimsical hand lettering. What I got was a book that encourages you to develop your own style, and frankly, the lettering in the book didn't look whimsical to me, it just looked sloppy. I personally believe you need to learn the basics and try different hand lettering styles before you can develop your own. Just my opinion. I would not recommend.

2

January 20, 2016

Disappointing

This book was not helpful in exploring lettering. Most of the lettering was the same; the author just changed up the backgrounds.

4

Dec 01, 2016

Inspiring explanation of how to embellish your handwriting in a variety of fun ways. Particularly useful for those of us who write a lot in art journals. :)

4

Jun 08, 2014

I adore Joanne Sharpe's art! This book was a fun overview, but her online classes are much better: I highly recommend them if you like this book.

5

December 17, 2015

Gorgeous and Playful Book

This is a gorgeous book! Every page is bright, bold, and colorful, with lots of sample art journal pages filled with....well...whimsical lettering! The book starts out with a few pages about what materials to use to get different results with your lettering - pens, markers, brushes, inks, paints, paper, card stock, etc. That's followed by more pages showing what kind of results you can get with the various tools - thick or thin lines, the moods you can convey with playful or serious lettering and more. There are exercises on how to get started and how to experiment outside your comfort zone. And lots more pages of samples and ideas. Fun to just look at and be inspired by, but also plenty of great content and instruction. I think this is my new favorite art book! Grab some pens and paper and have a great time!

3

February 14, 2017

Could be more dynamic but still it is ok.

This book is not quite what I expected. It is still good, but thought it would be more of a workbook and instruction book, and thought there would be a wider selection of fonts to practice and learn.

4

Oct 10, 2016

Filled with inspiration

This book is filled with so much! Tips, tricks, ideas, prompts. It is great! It also has quite a few photos through out to help inspire your own creativity.

Probably the best though is its overall message which is to embrace your art and creativity and make it your own.

5

Feb 26, 2016

This is a fun, fast, and inspiring read filled with lots of examples. Sharpe convinced me that I had it within myself to create fun lettering for my poetry.

1

March 13, 2017

Meh

I'll be selling this one, I found it unhelpful and lacking in any real instructions.

1

July 9, 2015

One Star

Esperaba más!

2

March 12, 2016

Two Stars

good book but not what I was looking for in how to do various lettering.

2

January 16, 2016

Two Stars

Not what expected. Just pictures of writing. No tutorial.

2

September 20, 2015

Underwhelmed

It seemed to me like this could have been a blog series. I read this through KindleUnlimited, so I didn't pay for it. If I had paid for it I would be super irritated, but if you have KindleUnlimited, go for it! You'll breeze through the book in about 10-15 minutes I'll bet.

3

December 26, 2016

Does NOT cover font creation; the focus is on decoration of existing letter shapes. Assumes knowledge of cursive.

Covers a large number of potential decorations for letter shapes, along with guidance on how to use different media for letter-based art. What it does not cover, and what I had been looking for, is HOW to vary the shapes of letters to actually create new fonts and styles. It was frustrating for me to flip through the book and see the ways in which the author modified letters -- introducing angles into traditionally curved lines, joining or not joining letters, adding serifs or not, changing proportions of parts of the letter, etc -- without this material being addressed directly and systematically. Given my focus on the actual letter shapes, and on systems of introducing whimsy to lettering, I found the most useful pages to be pages 78 through 80.

As a side note, the author assumes knowledge of cursive, which I understand is not taught in schools as frequently as it used to be. There's no need for the reader to already know italics or other calligraphic fonts though. If you know cursive and printing, it's a dive-right-in sort of book.