I've been working on the tutorial for Marilyn for a while - so - the next few blurbs will be short - because I get long winded with my tutorials.
It would not be unusual for me to write a name 5 or 6 times to get it to where I like it.
Before we even begin to look at all the variations - you need to understand that the key (IMHO) is figuring out which letters to put next to each other.
1. is fine - but RIL has too many straights - needs some curls - more than the one on the Y - and N is straight again. Also there are no thicks.
2. adding some thicks helps - making a curly L helps - the Y has a different curl option
3. I didn't care for the second R so I went with a curly R - and a little bit of curve on the L - and took the curl off the Y
4. I wasn't paying attention - and made the bowl on the A too big on 4 so I had to reduce it - and it looks so much better. IMPORTANT - leave some space within the name - don't let each letter fill up all the space. In traditional lettering - we aim for consistency in the space/strokes - but with anything that you want to look wonky - you want to be inconsistent. This is one of the hardest things for me -- too many years of being consistent and I just gravitate back to consistency. So when I am trying for wonky and it doesn't look right - I have to look for places to mess up the *even-ness.* That's hard to put into words -- I might try again later. On top of that - you need the wonkiness to be somewhat subtle. Too much wonky can distract from the overall effect.
5. I was happy with the choice of letters - pondered a non-curly N - and did not bother to put in thicks and thins. Got a little bouncy - and put some variation into the heights of the letters. Once again - after years of being consistent - it's hard to remember to be in-consistent.
6. One more thing to ponder - hooking the AR together - if I were to do a finished one - I would go with either 5 or 6 - both are way better than 1-4
Most of the time - when I take the time to do rough drafts - I end up with something that I like better. I hardly ever look back at the first one and say - oh - I nailed it on the first try. A few times - there is a freshness to the first attempt - but that's not the norm. It might happen if I sit down with one style and a bunch of names - and maybe I get warmed up with the style - and the names start to flow.
I do know -- that with MishMash - it is hard to remember all the variations -- we'll start with some vowel options. Notice the basic shapes - square, round, oval, triangular, rectangular. Consider both caps as well as lowercase.
Notice the various doo-dads that can go on either end of a stroke. How many serifs are there? Straight, slab, square, pointed, curly - subsets of curly - tight, medium, loose, round-ish, oval-ish. Weights of strokes - variations from thick to thin - and how much contrast.
It's exponential.
Very helpful! Thanks!
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