On April 4th I jumped on the #100DayProject and committed to hand lettering something on a daily basis for 100 days. Honestly? I went back and forth, hemming and hawing over wether to give this a go. My reluctance stemmed from a fear that I wouldn’t be able to see this project through to the end. I ignored my inner type A voice that was shouting “don’t start something you know you won’t finish,” and…dived in. I may not last 100 days but who knows, maybe I’ll surprise myself. 

I’m so damned proud to report that I’ve made it to Day 27 and have absolutely LOVED every minute of it so far. Already I feel like I’ve learned so much. Nothing “big” that I can articulate just yet, more like a series of little discoveries like the ability to consistently doodle letters that I’m happy with (B’s, H’s, A’s, O’s and V’s – yay for muscle memory!) and knowing that I struggle with K’s, M’s and N’s…..and G’s…..and any word that ends with Y (boo for muscle memory!). 

This past weekend I took a brush lettering workshop taught by Nicole Miyuki and it was SO SO SO amazing. 

I can’t say enough great things about the class – being able to learn from a pro at the craft, being in the company of other creatives that share an interest in lettering AND getting one on one coaching…the experience was priceless! Let me preface this by saying that I’ve taken a few online lettering and watercolor courses and then tried to figure things out on my own. I thought it was my preferred way of learning because –> total introvert here! But learning in the workshop setting was so good for my creative soul. I had so many “aha” moments and Nicole has this incredible ability to teach the fundamentals and also hone in on each student’s unique style and help us develop it. I learned more in 3 hours with her than I did 3 months muddling through by myself. I shared all of this on instagram already so my apologies if I’m sounding redundant. I’m including this bit here for those of you that have ever considered signing up for a workshop but hesitated because of time constraints. I get it, it’s hard to carve out in your schedule to the time do something for yourself. But think of all the time you’ll be saving because you’ll pick up the craft faster. It’s worth it. You’re worth it. 

One of the aha moments? M is a letter that I struggle with. Sometimes I like the way it looks and other times I hate it.  For the life of me I could not figure out why that was and it frustrated me to no end.  Nicole was able to point out what I was doing and I think it’s going to make all the difference going forward. 

When I started this project on April 4th I thought that 100 days was an awfully long time to sustain a daily creative habit. Now, 27 days in, I feel like I have so much to learn and that I’m just barely getting started. Now, 100 days seems like a blink of an eye. I hope I’m feeling this way on Day 79. 🙂

Follow my #100DaysofLizLettering progress on instagram.

Are you doing the 100 Day Project? Leave me a link in the comments section so I can check it out!