Finished up my second lettering carving today. This piece was done on an 8×10 linoblock I had just collecting dust on my shelf. I have an 12×12 also collecting dust but I think I’m going to get started on my third drawing for my Voodoufairy series before I try to tackle another carving. You can see this and other carvings I have in store at: http://qrumbley.com
I have a confession, I have a background in graphic design…and I hated it. Hearing the word “kerning” makes my skin break out in hives (figuratively). A great amount of my graphic design studies consisted in learning typography and needless to say, I was about as passionate about typography as anyone can be about watching grass grow. I wanted to draw not learn about letter spacing and typefaces. But because everybody said you can get a stable job in design and every affordable college and university in my state seemed to be discontinuing their illustration curriculum, I found myself unwilling being funneled towards graphic design.
I ended up graduating with a degree in Urban Planing with intentions of getting a masters in Landscape Architecture, which is another story in itself. But life got a hold of me and I found myself in the Health Administration field wiling away my days scanning medical records while periodically doing freelance work designing logos and brochures. Surely not the glamorous life of creativity I had dreamt of in my younger years but as the saying goes “It paid the bills.” The wonderful thing about experience is its truth. When you’re young, you’re idealistic and a bit naive. It’s not until you truly experience a thing that you realize whether it is right for you or not.
Looking back, I’m glad that I didn’t become a designer, I probably would have been miserable regardless of the pay. I really like the freedom of doing my own thing and being able to experiment. And this recent carving was just that, an experiment that turned up a new interest: lettering. I had been thinking about trying it out for a week here but I had some hesitations due to my distain and past experience with typography. But to my surprise I didn’t know that lettering and typography are two different things. Back in college my professors talked about them as if they were the same but to my salvation I stumbled across this wonderful article that explains the difference and put my nerves at ease. In a nutshell lettering is simply drawing letters and that’s right up my wheelhouse; drawing. I was fearing that I was gonna have to learn all the specifics of typography all over again just to design and draw letters for my carvings. I’ve been spared the horror. With relief I can continue to indulge my new interest. I’ve been looking for some kind of over all focus for my linocut work and nothing has really appealed to me. I feel this will be a good fit. I’m always collecting quotes, short sayings and inspirational words. Why not carve them?
This recent carving was a first attempt and it came out pretty decent. I have some work to do learning to draw letters but I’m sure it won’t be long before I’m drawing up some nice pieces.
Taking a breather from drawing and working on a little lettering design carving. I’ve been thinking about getting more into typography and lettering for my carving designs, so here’s my first attempt. Something simple. Nothing too fancy.
A lovely set of Koi carvings I have in store.
Carve & Draw 