When Life Gives you Lemons…
I’ve wanted to add a lettering project to my portfolio for simply ages, but just haven’t managed to get around to it… so I decided to sign up for the Make Art That Sells: Lettering Bootcamp from February to April this year, to give myself that little push.
And what do you know? Even before the course had started I’d already thought of a lettering project that would be just great for February - lovely bright lemons and pancakes!
Developing my process
Planning blocks
I started by writing down the phrase that I wanted to letter: “When life gives you lemons, squeeze them on pancakes” and then sketched some rough thumbnails for how I might compose the piece, thinking about the hierarchy, size and style of the lettering I might use and placing this into various shaped blocks.
Lettering options
As part of my lettering course, we’ve been given samples of lettering styles to copy and adapt - and one of them seemed perfect for the word ‘lemons’ as the little rounded diamond shapes even look a bit like lemons.
I drew out my main words that I wanted to have a particularly hand-drawn feel, including ‘Lemons’, ‘Squeeze’ and ‘Pancakes’. I decided I’d just use an appropriate font style from my design software for the ‘filler’ text.
Letters + Illustration
I knew that whilst I wanted to make the lettering the star of the piece, I also wanted to include some illustrative elements. I drew out some lemons, lemon blossoms and leaves and a stack of pancakes on a plate in a loose style using a very thin fineline pen, before adding some watercolour washes.
What’s your favourite pancake topping?
Whilst I do love a classic pancake with lemon juice and a generous sprinkling of caster sugar, I tend to lean towards savoury toppings and I particularly enjoy some grated Northumberland Cheese Company nettle cheese or some Hammond Charcuterie traditional n’duja sausage for a bit of spice!
Fancy some footie…
… Medieval-style?!
If pancakes aren’t your thing, maybe a spot of football is? I've recently discovered that Alnwick is one of only five places left in the country that has a Shrovetide Football match. The tradition here dates back to at least 1762 when the rival parishes of St Michael and St Paul played a game of medieval football through the streets of the town - although it was subsequently moved in the 1800s to The Pastures beneath Alnwick Castle, to avoid the damage to the shops and houses!
Commencing at 2pm on Shrove Tuesday every year, the Duke of Northumberland starts the ‘game’ by throwing the football from the battlements of the Alnwick Castle barbican to the waiting crowd below; the game is won by the first team to score two 'hales' (or goals). These goals stand nearly 400m apart and the game could involve up to 150 people on either side, as well as scores of spectators!