Everything New is Old: Lettering & Vector

In my lettering, I take inspiration from the greats. One of those greats is a UK-based sign maker named Dave Smith. His slow-developed skill for creating old-world, top-quality works astounds me, so I thought I’d try my hand. Attempting to capture an old-world-ephemera feel, I worked up a lettering illustration, then vectorized it for digital use. As most good things do, it started with a sketch. I tried to channel my inner Dave to make the sketch as detailed as possible.

While I have not acquired the skills necessary for gold-gilding windows, this foray into old-style lettering was quite gratifying. The process of vectorizing the image was also fairly painstaking, but the ability to play with the graphic’s colors or print it in large format is certainly worth the trouble.