By: Kendall Schneider
Do you ever see something and just think, man I wish I could do that…? Or create that? Or make that? Me too. I used to experience this a lot. A couple of years ago I started following several hand lettering artists on Instagram. People who turn words into an amazing piece of art with pencils, pens, and even watercolor paints. I was so in awe of their artwork and found myself wishing I could do something like that.
I saw post after post and to be honest was so jealous of their talent. I told myself I could never be good at hand lettering. I told myself that I didn’t have the discipline, the patience, or most importantly, the talent.
I don’t know what got into me, but one day I decided that I was going to try to create a painting and hand letter the words. I grew up creating art in general, so the background wasn’t a problem, but I was anxious to try the words. So I went to Hobby Lobby, bought a watercolor canvas and some paints, as well as some random pens and markers that I hoped would work for the lettering. I hoped for the best and just did it.
Let me tell you, it was not that pretty. The background was pretty, but the lettering was a little sloppy and uneven. It didn’t flow that well. But, it wasn’t that bad. I was a little discouraged, but not enough to stop trying. I watched videos, wrote the alphabet over and over again, and bought a bunch of canvases to practice on. Slowly but surely, I began to improve…
Fast forward to today, and I have an Etsy shop where I sell original hand-lettered canvases. As soon as I found the courage to give it a try, I quickly fell in love with lettering. It is a great way to relieve stress and spend some time being creative. In fact, I wish I would have started a long time ago! If I hadn’t been so scared about not being good enough, I could probably be even better than I am now.
All of this being said, if there is something that you are really interested in, or something that you think is incredibly cool, just give it a try. You never know what might happen. Sure, you might fail like I did the first couple of times, but whatever it is just might turn into your new favorite hobby.
So, as C.S. Lewis says, “Courage, dear heart.”
