Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy

This gives quite a good first and basic look into calligraphy. And it's definitely a book you'd need a physical copy of to properly take advantage of it. All in all, a must have for anyone who's interested in the subject and would like to try their hand on beautiful lettering.

Modern calligraphy has been on my list of things to learn for a few years now. I see all of the beautiful typography created with this style of writing and it is fantastic. I attempted (and failed) a few times to recreate the calligraphy and it turned me off to learning it at all.

This book is super informative. It has the same style of teaching as a kindergarten child’s letter learning books. Which means it is easy for me to follow it and attempt it for myself.

I will be putting some serious time in with this book to see if I can actually learn how to do modern calligraphy.

This ARC was courtesy of netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased

I nice starter book for calligraphy right from beginner through to easily accessible little projects. This is a great digital copy but for serious entry into calligraphy you would need to buy the physical book to get the best out of it - which I definitely would recommend

Really enjoyed this and would recommend buying a physical copy if you are seriously wanting to enter the world of calligraphy

I was Gifted a digital copy of this book by Quatro Publishing Group. (Thank You) My review is my own opinion.

I love anything to do with Calligraphy so this book looked like it would be brilliant. I did like it but have to say that it would be much better to buy the actual book and not have it digitally.

The book goes though lots of techniques and tutorials with practice pages for you to try out the lettering yourself. Lots of step by step tutorials which are easy to understand. It works through from using an actual pen to doing the writing digitally. Great book.

This book is a little light on the calligraphy techniques, but it is fantastic on its main focus: how to digitize the lettering and make interesting projects with them. The level of detail for the use of illustrator and the sample projects was great for anyone who already has a handle on calligraphy and wants to use it to make larges projects. It will be a great resource for hobbies, for creative party planning, and even for small business ideas.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book!! Full of great tips and tricks. This is a good book for those who are looking to learn a bit more about lettering, but who have practiced it before. There are limited practice sheets, but really helpful tips. I love that the author included a supplies list, that includes pens she uses as well as additional technology when moving lettering to a digital format.

I would highly recommend this book to any one interedted in furthering thier lettering practice.

This book is so useful! I have the Adobe apps for drawing, but after going through this book I went ahead and bought Procreate. This is a great way to illustrate what you can do in Procreate and it is nice to have those step by step instructions on how to create fun effects. I recommend this book for anyone who has an iPad and an Apple Pencil.

I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of knowledge about digital hand lettering in this book! I am mostly interested in modern calligraphy and hand lettering on paper. But the clear step-by-step guide and the beautiful illustrations made me very curious about doing calligraphy digitally.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

A nicely done book on elementary calligraphy and lettering basics including tools such as brush pens introduces the reader to the art form. Ms. Kim then moves on to calligraphy on a tablet, from digitizing your hand drawn materials to actually producing art on a tablet. Finally there are plenty of examples and practice sheets to work with. I was a little put off by the cursive script used in most of the book as I found it frequently hard to read. Other than that, the book is very well done.

Wow! I’m so glad I received this book bc it is perfect! iPad Pro has opened a whole new world to letterers and Procreate is genius! Many letterers are venturing to this way to work and publish bout some don’t know how or where to begin and this book is wonderful! Learn to make brushes and stamps and shadows, work with layers, on and on! Beyond the iPad aspect this book is still great. There are tips and drills and techniques. Tools are always detailed and pictures are modern and fresh. It’s an informative and helpful book, but it’s also beautifully designed and modern!

This is a fantastic and interesting book that can teach anyone some beautiful calligraphy. A good book for anyone interested in this subject.

First off, the title is a little misleading. While this book goes into detail on Procreate and Adobe Sketch, there is still plenty of beginner tips on basic brush lettering by hand and on paper. There are lots of brush and hand lettering guide but what makes this stand out is the explanation of digital works as well. It is a good balance. It has some good tips on digitizing your art using camera, scanner, software etc and ideas on projects you can make with them . Great book, good tips not found in other ones. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the digital ARC to review.

I’ve used a few online guides to help me with lettering.
It’s such a beautiful art and this book totally captures that and makes drawing letters so much easier!

I have recently purchased a Apple Pencil to use for my crafting and painting and found this book. For someone who loves to be creative and make things that people will love, this book is perfect. This book was easy to read and I learned several new things to do while I am learning how to do hand lettering. The instructions were great and I was able to work on a few projects. For those who are looking to do something using ProCreate and more on their iPad, this is the book for you11

A clever and easy to follow guide to lettering.

Lovely illustrations and details description and instructions that are easy to follow. Ideal beginners guide.

This is the book I’ve been looking for. Why? Because it has a section on calligraphy using apps and iPad. I do a lot of drawing on my iPad because I can do it anywhere anytime. Now I can add words to my pictures which using a text box and set alphabet just doesn’t give the effect I want. L would like more books on how to use an iPad creatively please?

I've never really read a calligraphy book before but I enjoyed this a lot although, as another reader suggested, a physical copy of the book would be better to have to apply the steps.

This is a total beginner book, even has the anatomy of a pen so you know complicated terms like pen cap and pen body. Baby steps people. I appreciate that they included the Crayola marker too as a valid option to use. And yet the applications and final projects look like this book can take you from beginner to advanced by following their simple instructions and practicing.
I love the detailed directions giving each stroke of the pen. The letter practicing on lined papers remind me of all those terrible handwriting lessons in which I utterly failed as a kid. I’m a lefty so it was always torture trying to get the right angles and strokes. I don’t know what to do for me as a lefty with calligraphy. I would have liked some mention of that in when discussing how to hold a pen. I’ve given up the idea of doing calligraphy. That’s why this book appealed to me so much. The thought that I can use a tablet with stylus made this a must try for me. The app recommended is called Procreate for iPad. It was about $9.99 with in-app purchases too. So that is not a large investment. Half of the book covered how to use this app while the other half covered how to do calligraphy on paper. The images from the app look beautiful and it even showed printed applications of your calligraphy project.
This book was beautifully done and I think following the instructions will really up you calligraphy skills.
I agreed to read this book as an advance copy thru NetGallery. This is my voluntary and honest opinion.

This book really impressed me. It has 2 parts: pen and paper calligraphy and creating with the iPad Pro and iPad pencil. I specifically knew nothing about the creative options available with the iPad Pro and pencil, so that intrigued me.

I dabbled in calligraphy years ago. Perusing Pinterest in the last several years has reawakened my slumbering artistic side. The most important tips from the first part of the book: pressure and practice. Ms. Kim suggests that changing the pressure you apply depending on the direction of your pen strokes is key. Her mantra is up=thin (lighter pressure) and down=thick (heavier pressure). Then all that’s left is to do is to practice the skill of fluidly and constantly tweaking the pressure as you are writing. The author saves us so much time by suggesting all the best tools of the calligraphy trade; cool pens and papers.

The creative choices and possibilities with the iPad Pro are endless. First of all, you can change the applied pressure when writing on the iPad Pro, too, to get a real calligraphy brushstroke effect. Here are a few skills the author taught: how to make a background look stamped or patterned, how to change the color of your word, how to make your word glittery, how to give your word a gradient of colors, how to achieve a blurred or paint swirled background, how to incorporate calligraphy onto a digital photograph and make it look 3D, and how to make actual vinyl words you can print..

And lastly, the author walks you through several projects including name tags, party invitations, making a cards and how to print out vinyl lettering to be transferred and placed on other objects.

Here’s my warning: once you read this book, you will want to go out and buy all the supplies. Not only the cool pens and papers, but the iPad Pro and the pencil too. If you already have those tools, then reading the book won’t be as financially dangerous.

I received a digital copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinions.

3.5 stars

This is a pretty useful guide, especially for beginners; it goes into detail with a lot of stuff that I think it's fair to assume most people reading this book will already know, but it's good to cover all your bases and the author isn't overly repetitive about it, either. There are tons of great tips for Procreate, though if you're looking to use another program for digital lettering, you're probably out of luck.

It's also worth mentioning that the first half of this book is actually about hand lettering, not digital lettering, so if you've already perfected hand lettering (or don't want to/aren't able to do it for whatever reason), you won't be able to use the first half of the book. I'd say the marketing for this book could use some work.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lettering is my favorite! I love picking up as many books as I can on lettering and this one did not disappoint!! I feel like this book is a total beginners guide however, you can take what’s here and make beautiful art! I love how this book helps you along with a digital app to be used with your tablet and stylus. The app recommended is called Proceeate for iPad. This book is equally divided between beautiful lettering using the app and how to do calligraphy on paper.

If you’re looking for a book to help you with a beautiful calligraphy project this is the bookfor you! My lettering has improved greatly with dedicating a little time each week to practice with books like this.

This arc was courtesy of Netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased.

This is a perfect book for those who are interested in doing calligraphy in the modern times and with technology. Kim starts off with the basics, and assists readers with lots of drills. Then she provides inspirations for projects that can be done on the tablet. The images are absolutely beautiful and the format of the book is easy to follow, I would recommend to all my artist friends,

A lovely step by step book. It starts with modern style brush calligraphy, setting out several alphabet fonts to try. Then it moves on to how to use that calligraphy digitally - using an ipad pro.

Really clear, good step by step instructions, great for a beginner to get started. I'd recommend it.

Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy goes over the basics of how to do calligraphy in a modern sense. It covers brush pens, tablets and other modern methods, and then quickly goes over many ways to use your calligraphy through various programs and printing methods (such as vinyl overlays). This book would be good for someone who is looking for a simple overview of the choices available and a quick guide for getting started.

This is extremely helpful since it targets beginners by teaching them first to get used to modern calligraphy before jumping to digital to build some muscle memory. What I loved the most about this book is that there are some exercises on different font styles and how to connect each letters to the next.

After you get used to modern calligraphy, the author teaches you how to do digital lettering using an iPad. Besides the settings and other art tools, there are some tips on how to draw backgrounds and editing your calligraphy in photos. The project parts is my favorite from the second half of the book. I wished that the author added some more people in the inspirational gallery since the two shown were really good.

Definitely will try to go find some of the pens that were recommended and start practicing before decorating my journals.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it. I plan to recommend that my library purchase this book for our collection.

A perfect book for beginners like myself. I love the art of lettering and calligraphy and was so excited to read through this informative guide. The steps are clear and easy to follow and Shelly Kim covers everything, from what pens to use down to the best app for digital lettering. Its definitely a book that I will be buying a physical copy of so that I can make use of the worksheets!

A good start to transfer over physical calligraphy to the digital world. Nice for those who want to do more with their calligraphy. the book is a nice starting point.

was blown away by this book! I loved all the instructions, particularly the section on Procreate, which I've wanted to learn for quite a while. The lettering itself is really beautiful, and Kim's instructions are clear and easy to follow. The photographs are lovely, and, along with the illustrations, help to make this book a great resource for anyone wanting to learn this skill. A great practical and creative book!

Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy is a tutorial guide for both beginning hand calligraphers as well as readers looking to expand their options with digitizing their hand-lettered paper projects and manipulating them with graphics software.

Due out 27th August from Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 144 pages and will be available in paperback format.

This was an interesting niche book for both calligraphy and digital image manipulation. The author presupposes no previous experience with calligraphy and spends a fair bit of page content showing the tools and supplies needed for practice and progress.

The book is split into four main sections. The first 25% of the book contains illustrated hand lettering practice pages and alphabet tutorials. There are both script and non-script alphabets illustrated as well as a very short tutorial on negative space, flourishes, and placement.

The next 3 sections cover digitizing on different platforms and for different uses. The tutorials include specific screen by screen instructions for scanning, cleaning up, and manipulating the images. About 20% of the page content (section 4) contains step-by-step tutorials for projects including using foil letter on a laminating machine, digital silhouette cameo machine with vinyl letters, printed card-stock name tags, and 5 others. All of the included tutorials result in -gorgeous- and professional looking finished projects. They had me itching to drag out my laminating machine and (literally) sent me online comparison shopping for a silhouette cameo machine!

This is an inspirational and well made book. This would be perfect for papercrafters, scrapbookers, fabric crafters (with heat transfer), and so many other media (decoupage, furniture refinishing, pyrography, glass painting, jewelry).

The book also includes an inspiration gallery (and it is inspirational), along with a links section, slanted toward readers in North America, a short author artist's statement/bio, and an index.

Really an interesting concept. There are masses of books on calligraphy, and no dearth of books on digitizing. Combining both into a specific focus in one volume was wonderful.

Five stars. I'm impressed.

Love this book!!! Love learning new ways of lettering. I will for sure pick up this book when it comes out. Great guide for beginners like myself.
Thanks Quattro Publishing Group, Quarry Books and NetGalley for granting my Wish to review this ARC.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group for the ARC!

I spent hours just staring at those pages and thinking: "Wow, this is such a beautiful book."

The reason I requested this title was because I was really curious about the softwares we need to make digital art, especially Procreate. I'm still a beginner, these techniques are too advanced for me. But the author makes everything sound so easy! I hope to get there someday.

I love lettering but I've got no skill for it. However, I'm always eager to learn and this book seemed a great starting point. I was right.
It's easy and well written, ideal for beginners like me, although I think it'll be so much better in paper edition (at least for me, I like this kind of books better in that format). Maybe it isn't deep enough but it explains the bases of calligraphy, how to start, the tools you need, some styles... Also, there's an overview of digital calligraphy (mostly for Apple users). The directions are clear and well explained, with pictures of the steps. There's also projects for you to try (I'm not so skilled yet, slow learner here).
You can find a little bit of everything and I think it's perfect for begginers and calligraphy lovers.

Amazing Book on Hand Lettering in the Modern Age

What a visually stunning book! I have done the standard style of calligraphy since I was a teenager (and I am more than double that age now!), so I have an appreciation for hand lettering and calligraphy. The book is not only beautiful to look at, but it is the perfect primer for someone who really wants to get into this. The book is structured into four sections. The first talks about the basics, including tools and strokes. The second section is about taking your hand lettering digital, and the third specifically talks about working with hand lettering on the iPad. Finally, the book ends with a series of projects. It is lavishly Illustrated with full-color photos of the tools, the hand lettering/calligraphy, and the steps to the projects. If you have any interest in this topic, I highly recommend you pick it up. If you read and follow along, it will set you up to be a good hand letterer--both by hand and in print.

Very impressive. Detailed instructions for calligraphy on paper using brush pens, as well as various programs to transfer to electronic devices. Includes using I Pad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate App.
Set up as if taking a workshop and
motivation to reinforce that you can do it, too.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

Handlettering modernized
Shelly Kim, the creator of the Instagram lettering account @lettersbshellis presents "Digital Hand Lettering and Modern Calligraphy. Essential Techniques Plus Step-by-Step Tutorials for Scanning, Editing, and Creating on a Tablet" published by Quarto Publishing Group - Quarry. She states that she understands the challenges of the readers of being overwhelmed by brands, materials, and just getting started. There are four major parts in the book: 1) Lettering Essentials, 2) Digitizing Essentials, 3) Lettering on a Tablet, and 4) Digital Lettering Projects. Kim gives an overview how to get started (calligraphy tools, brush pens, paper, calligraphy basics, various styles, and designing quotes) which is really helpful before starting with the digitizing. She also gives an overview about the digitizing and what is needed for it. She explains how to work in Adobe Illustrator or Silhouette Studio (which is free in the basic version). The instructions for lettering on a tablet are very detailed, especially how to use the Procreate app and Adobe Sketch. In the last part of the book the author presents great projects that can be copied or can serve as inspiration. She also presents the work of other artists in an inspiration gallery and lists the information for the resources which she used.
This is a great book with marvelous design, art, and photography that can be used by beginners and advanced artists. I also appreciated the detailed instruction for florishes and the fact that Kim allows the readers to reach out to her to share their own learning process. I did not appreciate the fact that her detailed tablet instructions are only for the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil, although she mentions other tablets and styluses but readers who do not own an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil are left to themselves to explore how to do the digitizing on other tablets. The book also contains only one practice sheet, it would have been nice if there would have been more.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#DigitalHandLetteringandModernCalligraphy #NetGalley

This is the book I have been searching for and didn’t even know it.

I have been trying to figure out how to use my Apple pencil and the software Procreate. I was excited to discover this book would give me instructions on how to use both. I could barely contain my joy when I discovered on page 12 that I will finally learn how to use my watercolor brush pens.

This book is amazing. It shows how to hand letter with different accents and flourishes then does one better by showing how to do the same on the computer.

Buy a copy now before I buy them for everyone I know and they are gone. It is that good.


I received an ARC from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting a review.

A great wealth of knowledge for calligraphy fans, new and experienced! I've been wanting to learn calligraphy and this was the perfect book to inspire my creativity. Things I didn't even realize were possible with my iPad, have me wanting to do all sorts of new projects.

This book was a great introduction to digital calligraphy. As a beginner in calligraphy I really enjoyed the book.

I loved the simple and easy to understand instructions. This was a very practical book that has inspired me to get creative.