I channeled my inner circus magician for this!
Yesterday, I created a handlettering cover design for my erotic Tarot card deck. If you watched my recent process videos on Instagram, you probably spotted a little precursor of this logo popping up at some point. Seeing as my Tarot cards are fully handmade, I figured it would only be fitting to have a hand-written logo, which encapsulates the love and dedication, but also the intensity, uniqueness and fun of my work. I am so happy that I filmed the process, it makes my day and probably the next one, too.
In creating this logo, I incorporated a very insightful hint about "The Handwriting Effect" which I discovered on an Instagram channel called @whatdrivescustomers (https://www.instagram.com/whatdrivescustomers) and which resonated a lot with my idea of my brand. Also, I wanted to create an ambiguous tension between an anachronistic style and a modern content - something which I probably read on the same channel, too.
You can watch me draw this logo in this timelapse video.
The handlettering is done with 3B pencil on paper without reference. I used a Pentel Sign Brushpen to ink the outlines and a Sharpie pen to fill in the dark areas. After scanning the drawing, I vectorized the shape using the PROTRACE plugin in Sketch and manually adjusted the nodes of the shapes to make it all a bit smoother. I placed the logo in the middle of my Tarot card frame, which I designed in Sketch, too.
On a fresh sheet of paper, I created a second drawing with a stack of "paralell" lines which I then used as a background, masked by two oval sections in the upper and lower area of the handlettering.
After experimenting with colors for a while, I found that a mild, de-saturated pink works best with the effect I am going for, and I kept the handlettering in black and white to have the stark contrast in the writing, too.
Finally, I added a third paper-based drawing: I used 4B pencil and 6B graphite pen to create a smudgy patina on paper, which I scannend and used as an overlay, adding a grainy texture.
How do you feel about the result?