Artful Alphabets
55 Inspiring Hand Lettering Techniques and Ideas
Joanne Sharpe
North Light Books, 2018
144 pages
Art how-to, Art reference
Provided by NetGalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The cover is wonderfully colorful with a hand-drawn alphabet created by the author. It’s a perfect example of what’s inside for you when you delve into this fun book. While the colors may make you think children, this is not a child’s level book unless you have a protege artist.

Ms. Sharpe has created fifty-five different alphabets from her own handwriting for us to see just how this works and to give us ideas to work with and jump off from. All we have to do is pick up the tools of the trade and jump! And she gives us a brief section on what basic tools are needed to do this. She has pictures, pictures everywhere to show you how to do each and every type of alphabet that she shows and the pictures include the tools being used to create the letters so you can see how they are used. Even erasers! I have tried some of the basic ones and find them quite easy to do. Of course, they look very different in my handwriting than they do in Ms. Sharpe’s writing. And that’s the whole idea! Each alphabet is unique because it’s hand-written by each artist. You don’t have to be an “artist” to be an Artful Alphabet Artist. You just have to be willing to have fun!

My favorites? Probably #s 8, 14, 18, 19, 22, 24, 26, 35, 40, 41, 49, 50, & 51. Sorry, I like most of them! These are the favorites that I think I could really attempt doing successfully. Which ones could you do?

I highly recommend this book for those of you who love to doodle or like to write fancy or would like to try. It’s really quite easy and lots of fun. These alphabets are great additions to any type of journal or planner, invitations, letters, notes or your name inside a book. Add a cheery note over your desk or mirror, anywhere you’d like.

I love arts and crafts. I am very crafty and can design and make just about anything but I suck at art. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. This book has 55 wonderful and artistic Alphabets to draw. The go from super easy to some I personally will probably never try. These are all amazing and super cute and will work for pretty much any project I can come up with. There are step by step instructions to help along the way.



I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com and chose to leave this review.

Joanne Sharpe is the queen of artistic lettering. This is another book that make artistic lettering achievable for non artists.

I am working on improving my hand lettering and appreciated this collection of 55 fonts. It contained plenty of illustrations that make it easier to replicate Sharpe's style.

This book should not be turned into a digital book. It doesn't work. This needs to be only a paper book where you can easily see both sides of the pages and the art. I really cannot review this or give it a rating.

There's an illustration in this book that reads "even if you can't draw you can do this." Sold! The book contains 55 lettering styles that range from the adorable to the formal and it includes a list of supplies you may want to use, an introduction to the basic techniques as taught through the lettering, and plenty of encouragement to relax, use your own handwriting as a basis, and create. #ArtfulAlphabets #NetGalley

I’m not much of an artist, but I think I could draw all of these alphabet ideas. It’s a great way to be creative without spending a lot of money.

I love Joanne Sharpe her books and videos are easy to follow and have a ton of instructions for all things lettering.  This book again has a lot of easy to follow ideas and instructions with plenty of photos to help you learn different letting techniques.

I was able to read a digital ARC of this book through Net Galley. I really enjoyed it and found it to be delightful and inspiring. There are 55 alphabets featured and what I really like is that the author teaches you how to use your own handwriting to make each one, not copy hers. You write the alphabet in your handwriting and then use a different technique each time to make a fun font (for instance, you draw around each letter and fill in some lines much thicker than others, or you fill it in with dots and then erase the lines so you have a sort of polka dot font.

The author is upbeat and encouraging, and the art is colorful and fun. This is a book I'd be tempted to buy after reviewing the digital version, and it's one that makes me feel capable of recreating the fonts. Whimsical and fun, it would be great for kids, too.

It's a lovely book, full of joy of creating art. It's like turning a kid and experiment but now with the ability of an adult. The author shows 55 artful alphabets from the quite common to the very fancy ones, done with a wide selection of mediums (no need to buy everything, use what you have). For each of them a page shows the technique in an extremely simple way (2-3 easy steps) while on the next page all the alphabet is shown. The process is not rigid, the author encourages the reader to personalize the alphabet with his/her own style. I recommend this book not only to those who do scrapbooking and kind but also to anyone who want to boost his/her own creativity.

What a fun and informative book!! Joanne Sharpe is one creative woman, and she is able to impart her artistic skills in an easily understandable and encouraging way. She discusses the different types of supplies she uses, and gives full examples (upper and lower case) of each alphabet style with easy to understand instructions.

There are endless ways and occasions to use these different lettering techniques. This would make a great reference book for anyone who needs/likes to embellish lettering.

Many, many thanks to NetGalley and North Light Books for allowing me to read and review an e-ARC of this wonderful book!!

I was hoping this book would be more innovative and inspiring. Un happily though it is mostly a series of hand-drawn alphabets without much instruction about making them. It presumes that the reader knows how to do this. In addition it has more elaborate phrases and letters that remind me off zentangles.

I would be happier if it had been better suited to beginners.

A book full of colours and wonderful images, with good example and tutorials on the different types of graphic alphabets.
I really enjoyed and cannot wait to try some of the examples myself.
Recommended.
Many thanks to F+W Media and Netgalley

This book is so much fun, full of colour, ideas and information. It is just the book to have on a cold winter's day, a book to draw one out of the doldrums and to inspire some fun interpretation of the alphabet.
Good for children and adults of all ages and guaranteed to keep all amused for hours. Perfect for anyone who is keen in making journals

Got this from NetGalley to review.

I have roughly four billion books of fonts. I use them as inspiration when I need to do some kind of decorative lettering in a painting or art journal page. I loved Sharpe's first book about whimsical lettering, so I fully expected to love this one, too.

It did not disappoint. There are more than fifty examples and instructions on how to create some really interesting lettering by hand, using a ton of different mediums -- including a bunch that you probably have on hand but never thought to use for lettering. (Chopsticks and ink, anyone?)

But what I REALLY love about this book is that it's not about the fonts. It's not really about looking at the examples and recreating them exactly how they're shown. Instead, it's about taking your OWN handwriting and using fifty-some-odd *techniques* to render it in a way that looks completely fresh and new. Everything from watercolor ombre techniques to adding new serifs -- I was seriously amazed at how many minor tweaks I could make to my *own writing* and have it look completely different than the boring ol' usual scripts.

(In fact, I would have finished going through it a few hours quicker if I hadn't been so inspired that I was compelled to put it down and try a bunch of things in my journals, just to see how they'd look. Every one of them turned out fantastic, by the way.)

I can't wait to incorporate more of Sharpe's techniques from this book into my own pages. If you liked her whimsical lettering book, you'll love this one. I know I do.