with
Jessica Hische
Learn lettering from artist and New York Times Best-selling author, Jessica Hische. Creatives from all disciplines will benefit from Jessica’s teaching everything from pricing, client management and pitching projects to illustration & lettering techniques and creative processes.
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"Often workshops sound very promising but then dont meet expectations. This one totally did! Was even better than expected because of very honest straight forward information. Jessica is an inspiring role model (for women) in the industry."
Session One: Illustration & Lettering: The Business Stuff
In this 3 hour session which is an expansion on Jessica’s popular Dark Art of Pricing workshop, we’ll cover a ton of information on how to manage client relationships, prepare a Scope of Work and contract, price a variety of projects, and discuss the process for pitching books and negotiating royalty based contracts. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of working with agents and artist reps, the importance of delegation for growing your business, and even cover equity-based compensation as a freelancer.
This session is for creatives at any professional level looking to tighten up their business strategies, feel confident asking for higher fees, and gain a better understanding of the complexities of running a creative small business. On top of knowledge shared in the session, students will also walk away with an SOW and contract template for future use and a handy PDF for referencing pricing in the future. Plus this session will be recorded and live to re-watch for two weeks after the workshop!
What You’ll Learn:
Understanding your creative process for better time management and scheduling
Drafting a scope of work to share with prospective clients
Creating your own contract for use on projects
Making changes to existing contracts for better terms
Navigating advances and royalty-based earnings
The pros and cons of working with an agent or artist rep
Building confidence in pricing your work to negotiate higher fees
Tips for self-promotion and managing your online presence
Session Two: Illustration & Lettering: Improving Your Process
In this 3-hour session, Jessica will walk through her process for different kinds of projects—commercial lettering and illustration, children’s books, and logotype work—from the brainstorming and concept stage to sketches, comps, and final art. We’ll walk through the development process from Round 1 through finished art for logo projects and do a live critique of an existing mark to show the thinking and strategy behind logo refresh work, discussing ways to perfect your logos or letterform-based work.
This session will include live demos at each stage of the development process including best practices for vector refinement and drafting to create perfect curves and easily editable files. Students can choose to work alongside Jessica during the brainstorming and sketching phases to develop their own lettering artwork. Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, and the font design software Glyphs will be used for demonstrations. Students will walk away with a better understanding of how to use each of these softwares for illustration and lettering and with plenty of tips and tricks for maximizing their own creative process. Plus this session will be recorded and live to re-watch for two weeks after the workshop!
What You’ll Learn:
How to begin ideating to generate good concepts
From the “bones” to the “clothes”: inventing letterforms
How to spot common mistakes in letterform drafting
Establishing typographic hierarchy to improve legibility
Adding flourishes and swashes to lettering work
Best practices for vector drafting
Knowing when to stop: establishing break points in your process to limit overworking
How to stay motivated and push through creative blocks
What you’ll learn
Ideation and Concept Generation
Inventing and Refining Letterforms
Typographic Hierarchy and Legibility
Vector Drafting and Process Management
Pricing and Proposal Skills for Type Designers
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Meet your instructor
Jessica Hische
Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and New York Times Best-selling author based in Oakland, California. She specializes in typographical work for logos, film, books, and other commercial applications. Her clients include Wes Anderson, The United States Postal Service, Target, Hallmark, and Penguin Books and her work has been featured again and again in design and illustration annuals both in the US and internationally. She’s been named a Print Magazine New Visual Artist (20 under 30), one of Forbes 30 under 30 in Art and Design, an ADC Young Gun, a “Person to Watch” by GD USA, and an Adweek “Creative 100”.