Really Kim? This is making you cry?
It was day 2 of my pledge to practice lettering every day for 15 minutes a day.
It seemed like an excellent plan.
Til I began…
I’d just installed the letter builder tool from Design Cuts.
I’ve scrolled past it so many times. But after watching Stefan Kunz do a LIVE lettering training for Design Cuts I was hooked.
He and Ian Barnard (also amazing) offer 2 tools for letterers. The letter and grid builder.
Stick with me… this will make more sense… soon.
Anyhow this morning I googled how to use the letter builder tutorial.
I watched Stefan’s step by step and it seemed doable to me. (almost easy).
Til I began. It was like I’d forgotten how to form letters at all.
It was awful.
Before I knew it… there were tears.
Check it out. No judgment please. : )
I was so caught up in the discomfort of new I didn’t even notice the letter builder wasn’t aligned. (which is practically automatic.)
?
‘Really, this is making you cry?’
Awe, I remember this.
What it feels like to learn something new. It’s HARD.
It’s easy to do the things you’re good at.
The night before last I watched Peggy Deans’s fundamentals of lettering class as well. (that’s how my renewed lettering commitment began)
Peggy stressed how important regular lettering practice is.
Every time I’ve attempted to learn hand-lettering I’ve skipped the basic practice moving straight to attempting to write pretty quotes.
I completely skipped the basics.
What’s even more bizarre about my feeble attempt today is as far as handwriting goes… I’m pretty good?!!!?
Hmmm.
The tears cleared. (possibly after I whined to John about ‘all the hard things’ in my life. lol)
I won’t blame you if you’re thinking this is what you’re crying about?
I know there are so many bigger things in our world and lives to be stressed and sad about.
But, if I’m honest…
It wasn’t my bad lettering that made me cry. It was bigger than that.
Lack of sleep, life… Personal stuff.
You know…. how it goes.
So my lovely, permission to cry as you pick something and suck too. It’s ok. Tears actually feel pretty good.
♡
But, I promise your brain/my brain wants nothing to do with sucking at all. It’d much rather we stick with what we’re best at and that’s that.
And so today…
I invite you to pick something to suck at too….and join me as we fumble along.
If lettering is something you’d like to explore… Check out the FREE trainings from this week’s Design Cuts birthday celebration.
So many amazing sessions and deals to be had.
Another one I loved was on the fundamentals of typography by Chris Do. Amazing.
Note: full disclosure all links in this post are my Design Cuts partner links. If you purchased from the site I will receive a commission. thank you for your support.
OH and … how ’bout this gorgeous merino wool magic sleeve. There are magnets all around the edge … keeping my iPad safe and sound in such a beautiful case. ♡
magic sleeve from Scott Nedrelow
Over to You
Thanks for stopping by, my lovely.
What might you like to get better at? Are you willing to suck first?
Do tell.
:)
with love & gratitude.
xx
Kim
p.s.
need a little boost? check out one of my earlier ‘styled’ stills… (which at the time I was rather proud of).
it’s amazing how we grow as we go.
Kim,
I have the Lightroom mobile synch working. It has taken since January! and I have a web page set up. It’s not great, but it’s a start at becoming ‘real’, and sadly an opportunity for realizing how many very sucky photos I take. The web page through Adobe portfolio is supposed to take an hour. Ha! It took two weeks. Now that I have it the3y ar only going to keep it free through December. Of course!
Through it all I have kept on texting to my friend each day the 3 things we are grateful for. She made it through oral defense and will compete her PhD this spring. Writing. Trying. Crying.
Thank you so much!
Candy
Candy… Bravo… well done.
i love that you’re still messaging gratitude every day. that’s just so beautiful.
writing, trying, crying….
oh my.. i get that.
xxx
Lettering by hand has taken me a few years of practice, but I see growth and am confident in it for the most part. I’d like to try digital lettering but haven’t taken the leap. Tech stuff brings me to tears…website, email links and all the set up take me forever but slowly I dig away at it.
you’re lettering is so beautiful Bonnie. little by little … things get done. hope you’re well my friend. xxx
I get this is so many ways. It’s kind of mixed for me because learning new things helps keep me feeling alive and growing yet it definitely can, and often does, result in tears. So far, the tears haven’t stopped me just like they aren’t stopping you. I know we look at your talent and have a hard time imagining you struggle with anything creative so thank you for sharing not just bts of your photography but of you life too. ♡
oh Deb. my lovely friend. the struggle is real. ♡ 😂
you are amazing. and I love how you keep moving forward. it’s beautiful.
thank you for such sweet and encouraging words.
xxx
Oh Kim, that’s the way I feel when I try to work with Photoshop! You guys are so good that you make it look easy, so I watch the videos, get all excited about what I’m going to do, and then five minutes in I’m stuck! But I’m determined I’m going to conquer this thing, because although it’s easier to stick with what you know there is always something inside of us pushing us to improve, to acquire, to get better at something and not remain at the place we are at. Thank you for your honesty because if someone as talented as you struggles then there may just be some hope for me! If anybody can do it I know you can and I am looking forward to seeing your creations!
Oh hugs to you Kim! I don’t plan to do hand lettering or any related skill as I leave that to others and then I buy their work. Win -Win! But oh do I get your tears. Now I know to stop before it gets to that point and walk away from the device. Come back after a cuppa tea or coffee or just some reading time.
But you took me back to 2008? when I bought whatever version of Photoshop was available then, when it was still called Photoshop. Period. I was taking some classes at the Community College so I got it for the student price. A BIG discount. I installed it and the tears started shortly thereafter. I tried I cried and that went on for a good bit of time. No one I knew worked in PS and on line resources were scarce. I watched Ali Edwards add photos to the templates she sold and yet never grasped quite how she got the photograph ONTO the .psd file. I totally understood the concept of layers (the sandwich analogy) but until I finally saw someone’s hand and where to click etc it was a mystery I cried through. I eventually gave up on the full Photoshop and went to PSE4? which was in more common usage among digital scrappers. Now, as much as I view tutorials on PSCC each time I go into it and start a project there seems to be an upgrade or something to change my basic screen. I realize I need to give something up to find the time to keep trying and trying til I get over that initial hump. I was there once but slipped back into my quicker and easier PSE2019. I’m dropping a bit commitment in most of December and January just to have time to block out to really get a handle on PSCC.
I did shop at DC yesterday after getting over my ‘exploding brain’ as Tom and Matt said with a few too many classes. Fun to see techniques I really didn’t plan to learn or use but lots of fun. I bought Anna Aspnes bundle (and really wish she were a Mac user…) and then later got The Ultimate Brush Toolbox, The Ultimate Flower and Leaf Branding (just because it was so beautiful and I may make card sets for friends), Brayered Mask Collection – I use masks a lot, the Cahier de Botanique, and then Anna’s Artsy Cards Traveler & Wild Autumn FotoBlendzz No 1. Money well spent!
I’ve temporarily abandoned PSP and PSE (which I find much easier) in favour of doing real watercolour painting and that in turn sparked my interest in exploring illustration using Procreate. I’m finding this very difficult but I will persevere. I tried following Abbie Nurse’s Design Cuts tutorial and managed to complete it even though I wasn’t entirely happy with the results. But it’s all part of the learning process. We all have to start somewhere and no-one masters a skill in 24 hours!