{{Short description|Art of drawing letters}} {{for2|lettering in comic books|Letterer|the American sports related term|Letterman (sports)}} thumb|Custom lettering on the spine of a 1960s book '''Lettering''' or '''handlettering''' is a term for artfully drawing letters, instead of writing them simply. Each letter is created with attention to detail and has a unique role within a composition.<ref name="HLFB">{{Cite web |title=Hand-lettering, Calligraphy, Typography: What's the Difference? |url=https://www.handletteringforbeginners.com/blog/lettering-calligraphy-typography |access-date=29 Feb 2020 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427234401/https://www.handletteringforbeginners.com/blog/lettering-calligraphy-typography |url-status=dead }}</ref> Lettering is created as an image, with letters that are meant to be used in a unique configuration. Lettering words do not always translate into alphabets that can later be used in a typeface, since they are created with a specific word in mind.<ref name="Jessica">{{Cite web |title=FAQ |url=http://jessicahische.is/aseriousoversharer |access-date=29 February 2020 |website=Jessica Hische}},</ref>
==Examples of application== [[File:Sir Harry Johnston memorial plaque.JPG|thumb|A memorial plaque by Eric Gill|alt=A stone memorial tablet with deeply engraved lettering]] Lettering includes unadorned lettering used for purposes such as blueprints and comic books, as well as decorative lettering such as sign painting and custom graphics, posters, for a letterhead or business wordmark, lettering in stone, lettering for advertisements, fileteado, graffiti,<ref name="Sign Writing and Glass Embossing2">{{Cite book |last=Callingham |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/signwritingglass00call |title=Sign Writing and Glass Embossing |date=1871}}</ref> or on chalkboards.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foster |first=Walter |title=Creative Lettering and Beyond |publisher=Quarto Publishing Group USA |year=2014}}</ref>
Lettering may be drawn, incised, applied using stencils,<ref name="FF DIN: Digital Block Letters2">{{Cite web |last=Pool |first=Albert-Jan |author-link=Albert-Jan Pool |title=FF DIN: Digital Block Letters |url=https://www.fontfont.com/staticcontent/downloads/FF_DIN_Round_Digital_Block_Letters.pdf?1308319796 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330135712/https://www.fontfont.com/staticcontent/downloads/FF_DIN_Round_Digital_Block_Letters.pdf?1308319796 |archive-date=30 March 2017 |access-date=14 December 2016 |website=FontShop}}</ref><ref name="Lettres à jour: public stencil lettering in France2">{{Cite web |last=Mosley |first=James |author-link=James Mosley |title=Lettres à jour: public stencil lettering in France |url=http://typefoundry.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/lettres-jour-public-stencil-lettering.html |access-date=12 December 2015 |website=Type Foundry (blog)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=MacMillan |first1=David |title=Why No "Type Designers" Here? |url=https://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/typemaking/history/no-type-designers/index.html |website=Circuitous Root |access-date=2 July 2022}}</ref> or using computer software. Lettering that was not created using computers is commonly referred to as hand-lettering.<ref name="HLFB" /> The term 'letter cutting' is used particularly for inscriptions cut in stone, such as for a memorial plaque.<ref name=LTM>{{cite web |url=http://www.traditionalmasonry.co.uk/TraditionalCraftSkills/LetterCuttingAndCarving.aspx |title=Letter Cutting and Carving |publisher=LTM Group Ltd |location=Scotland}}</ref>
right|thumb|Brush lettering practice by artist Emmanuel Sevilla In the past, almost all decorative lettering other than that on paper was created as custom or hand-painted lettering. The use of fonts in place of lettering has increased due to new printing methods, phototypesetting, and digital typesetting, which allow fonts to be printed at any desired size.<ref name="Not a font2">{{Cite web |last=Simonson |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Simonson |title=Not a font |url=http://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/not-a-font |access-date=14 December 2016 |website=Mark Simonson Studio (blog)|date=8 February 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Lettering is not type2">{{Cite web |last=Coles |first=Stephen |title=Lettering is not type |url=https://fontbureau.typenetwork.com/news/article/clear-definitions |website=Type Network |access-date=2019-07-25 |archive-date=2021-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427234402/https://fontbureau.typenetwork.com/news/article/clear-definitions |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="The Misery of Edwin Drood2">{{Cite web |last=Johnston |first=Alastair |title=The Misery of Edwin Drood |url=http://www.booktryst.com/2012/10/the-misery-of-edwin-drood-bad.html |access-date=14 December 2016 |website=Booktryst}}</ref><ref name="The Golden Age of Hand Lettering in American Advertising2">{{Cite web |last=Shinn |first=Nick |title=The Golden Age of Hand Lettering in American Advertising |url=http://typeculture.com/academic-resource/articles-essays/the-golden-age-of-hand-lettering-in-american-advertising/ |access-date=1 April 2017 |website=Type Culture}}</ref>
== Related artforms == {{blockquote| Calligraphy is based on ''penmanship''; it’s essentially "writing letters." Lettering, on the other hand, is based on ''draftsmanship'', i.e. "drawing letters." |source=Joseph Alessio<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Joseph Alessio |date=January 17, 2013 |title=Understanding The Difference Between Type And Lettering |url=https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/01/understanding-difference-between-type-and-lettering/ |magazine=Smashing Magazine |access-date=8 May 2021}}</ref>}}
Lettering can be confused with similar terms, such as calligraphy or typography.
Calligraphy is known as a more rigid process, that requires learning the formal shapes of letters and often combining thick downstrokes with thin upstrokes. This style of writing is generally created with dip pens and inks. Some calligraphers and hand-letterers say that calligraphy created with brush pens becomes lettering or faux-calligraphy,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Difference Between Hand Lettering, Calligraphy and Typography (+ Why It Truly Matters) |url=https://letterlanedesignstudio.com/blog/2016/3/22/the-difference-between-hand-lettering-calligraphy-and-typography |access-date=29 February 2020 |website=Letter Lane Design Studio|date=22 March 2016 }},</ref> but others believe that the approach used to create the letters is more important than the tools used to do so.<ref name="HLFB" /><ref name="LetteringDaily2">{{Cite web |title=What is the Difference Between Hand Lettering and Calligraphy |url=https://www.lettering-daily.com/difference-between-hand-lettering-and-calligraphy/ |access-date=29 February 2020 |website=Lettering Daily|date=3 October 2018 }},</ref>
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spacing, and spaces between pairs of letters.<ref>{{Cite book | author-link = Robert Bringhurst| last = Bringhurst | first = Robert | year = 2004 | title = The Elements of Typographic Style | edition = 3rd | place = Point Roberts, WA | publisher = Hartley & Marks | isbn = 978-0-88179-133-4| title-link = The Elements of Typographic Style |p=32}} </ref>
Part of the reason why these misconceptions are common is that some font shops categorize their fonts as "hand-lettered", "illustrated" or "calligraphy". Said fonts can begin with a hand-lettered alphabet that is then digitized and turned into a repeatable system. This identifies them as type design rather than lettering.<ref name="HLFB" />
One particular lettering website defines the three terms as follows: Lettering is the art of drawing letters, calligraphy is the art of writing letters and is related to the idea of penmanship, and typography is a repeated system of letters or the art of arranging type.<ref name="HLFB" />
==See also== * Typeface anatomy, the graphic elements that make up letters in a typeface
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}}
Many textbooks on lettering or books of example alphabets were published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Those linked below are free to read at archive.org. * {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/textbookonletter00inte |title=A Textbook on Lettering and Sign Painting |publisher=International Correspondence Schools |year=1902 |location=Scranton, PA |oclc=1085618630}} * {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/modernpaintingha00arms |title=Modern painting, hardwood finishing and sign writing |year=1914 |last1=Armstrong |first1=George D. |last2= Hodgson |first2= Frederick Thomas |last3= Delamotte |first3= Frances George |publisher=Sears, Roebuck |oclc=1049637942}} * {{Cite book |author-link=Edward Johnston |last=Johnston | first=Edward |oclc=1158486814 |url=https://archive.org/stream/writingilluminat00johnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up |title=Writing & Illuminating & Lettering |year=1917 |series= The Artistic Crafts Series of Technical Handbooks |editor= W. R. Lethaby |publisher=John Hogg |location=London, England}} * {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/musteralphabetev01unse |title=Muster-Alphabete : verschiedener Schriftarten in den neuesten Formen |language=de |year=1880 |oclc=1049698520}} (sampler)
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Category:Typography Category:Signage Category:Calligraphy