Apparently, 10,000 hours makes you an expert. I have no idea how many hours I’ve done, but I can tell you that practice alone won’t do it. Here’s some sneaky tricks I have discovered along the way which make my lettering practice more economical: Try to avoid using standard copy paper. It’s very abrasive and can quickly ruin the tips of your brushpens. I find that my Tombow tips start to get furry and lose their clarity quite quickly when using copy paper. What’s the solution? Any paper with a coated or finished surface. Even butcher’s paper, despite it’s ugly…

When I’m teaching lettering workshops, I like to bring my old sketchbooks along for students to thumb through. I don’t edit the books, they are warts and all. It shows students that we all make mistakes, and that not every piece is successful. I like to explode the myth that successful designers all have pristine sketchbooks, filled with page after page of perfect pieces. And sketchbooks are marvellous at revealing process. So, with that in mind, here are my top 7 tips for keeping a sketchbook: 1. Avoid blank-page syndrome. I keep a list of inspirational phrases, funny words, names etc…