Lettering

What is it?

The lettering artist uses any technique appropriate to the job to draw letters, unlike the calligrapher, who generally uses the familiar strokes of the pen.

Hand-picked Links

 • Esperluette: Association pour la Promotion des Arts de la Lettre
 • Lettering Today and Tomorrow

Colleen Doran

Colleen Doran is an American writer/artist, film conceptual artist, and cartoonist.

She has illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, and dozens of stories and articles, including works written by Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Joe R. Lansdale, Anne Rice, J. Michael Straczynski, Peter David and Tori Amos, including The Sandman, Wonder Woman, Legion of Superheroes, Teen Titans, Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and her own space opera series, A Distant Soil.

“A Distant Soil” is considered a classic of graphic novel art and has been profiled in books, magazines and documentaries. It is listed in The 101 Best Graphic Novels by Stephen Weiner, and is a perennial in American libraries. It’s themes and style predate the now common manga influence in American art, and it’s epic scope, a story of more than 1,000 pages, was almost unprecedented when first published. The series has also seen print in Spanish and Italian language editions, and to date has sold some 700,000 copies.

Juanjo Lopez

Graphic designer, letterer and typographer.

I’m interested in old vernacular type designs, and determined to learn every aspect of manual typography, calligraphy, lettering, or letterpress printing.

I’m part of Familia Plómez, pre-digital typographic collective and letterpress workshop based in Madrid, and Unostiposduros.com, the most important spanish typographic website.

I have taught typography in several places, like IED Madrid and MrMarcel School. I have also taught type, lettering and letterpress.

Michel Derre

Typographer, graphic designer and letterer at the begining of his carreer, Michel Derre practices and teaches calligraphy since the eighties.

Jonathan Ball

Jonathan Ball has been drawing letters for as long as he can remember, but only recently started drawing them more correctly. He’s worked as a graphic designer since 2013 and suffers from a very unhealthy obsession with all things concerning type. The most recent symptom of this infatuation is font creation.

People in the field of Lettering

We know of 107 people who work in this field:

A George Abrams Frank Atkinson B Friedrich Wilhelm Bauer Jill Bell Alan A. Blackman Garrett Boge Brian Bolland Tony Booth Charles Borges de Oliveira Richard Bradley Paul Brannelly Gunnlaugur SE Briem C Elí Castellanos Chávez Margo Chase Joseph Churchward Charles-Nicholas Cochin David Cohen Oswald Bruce Cooper Chris Costello Carl Crossgrove Ray Cruz Choz Cunningham D Alan Denney Timothy Donaldson Michael Doret Albrecht Dürer E M. C. Escher Vera Evstafieva Roger Excoffon F Cleber Faria G Thomas Gabriel Gerald Gallo Sam Gambino Eric Gill Frederic W. Goudy Hector Guimard H David Hamuel Michael Harvey Michael Hochleitner Lothar Hoffmann Kris Holmes Gerard Huerta J Gustav Jensen Edward Johnston K James Kandt Thomas Kennedy Brian Kent David Kettlewell Crystal Kluge Rudolf Koch L Doug Larson James A. Lebbad Rob Leuschke Andrew Patrick Lines

M Charles Rennie Mackintosh Andrea Mantegna Mary L. Marino Anderson Maschio Dung van Meerbeeck Keith Morris Alphonse Mucha Igor Mustaev N David Nalle Brody Neuenschwander Elena Novoselova P Jim Parkinson Maxfield Parrish Daniel Pelavin Albert Pinggera Friedrich Poppl Herbert Post Gottfried Pott Howard Pyle Q David Quay R Arthur Rackham Jesse Ragan Stephen W. Rapp John Roshell S Rosemary Sassoon Kathy Schinhofen Peter Schnorr Paul Shaw Mark Simonson Susan Skarsgard Irina Smirnova Göran Söderström Richard Starkings Mike R. Stevens Nick Stewart Sumner Stone T Mary Trafton Jan Tschichold Hellmuth Tschörtner U Ludwig Übele Gerard Unger Leslie Usherwood W Martin Wait Julian Waters Samuel Welo Laura Worthington Frank Lloyd Wright Y Derek Yaniger Zakhar Yashchin Doyald Young Z Molly Z Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse Carla Zetina-Yglesias