Casuals
by Uncle Tim Heitkotter
Oh boy! We’re gonna talk about casuals! Casual lettering is unique to each artist as it incorporates a very personal touch, derived from the artists’ individual brushing techniques. We see these letter types everywhere, especially on antique posters or anything referring to the ’50s. In this age of electronic everything, when alphabets are now called “fonts” and spacing is called “kerning,” getting a real hand-painted look can be difficult, but only if the person drawing them doesn’t understand how they(casuals), work. I have seen some pretty poor attempts at the look I am talking about.
Featured here is a casual that I use all the time. It is a basic casual style that I draw, with subtle variations. The basic rules apply, when it comes to spacing, slanting and general layout. What this alphabet says is “WOW!” and “Come take a look!” It serves notice, while not being to authoritative and threatening. Like I said… it’s a very personal style that is comfortable to look at.
You will notice that there a kind of “double bump” on some letters like the “A” and the “O.” (Arrows.) This shows where the individual brush strokes begin. When the artist initiates his downward stroke, he pushes a little to set the brush in motion. Notice as the stroke comes down, it narrows a bit. The letter also has a slight curve to it. This shows, where the brush is slowly lifted and twisted to a point, as it ends the stroke. It looks like there are two bumps on the top because the letter takes two strokes to shape that part of the letter.
If you notice, at the top of the single stroke letters “K” and the “V,” there is no double bump but rather a widening on both side of the letter. (Circle.) This shows the little “push” we make, to begin the stroke. All the letters can be smoothed like this (the “W” and the “M”), if this is the look you are going for. The smoothing always looks better when it has a slight arc to it. Little nuances like this can give away an artist much like you can tell the difference between a Henry Goldfield rose and a Theo Mindell rose. All the other sign painters, in my old hood, knew my casual as well as I knew theirs. Now, all you have to do is design your own.
The examples show how a casual can be used in different applications. There is, of course, a lower case casual. I’ll let you make your own, based on the information I gave you. So, go to work. Pop quiz on Friday.
Remember to hold your pencil light and have fun!
Faithful servant to the trade,
—Uncle Tim Heitkotter
