Lettering vs. Calligraphy
I mean…do we really have to pick a side?
Years ago, when I first learned there was such a thing called lettering, there was a verzuz, so to speak, between the two disciplines on a website called Lettering Vs. Calligraphy. In it, lettering artist, Martina Flor, and calligrapher, Giuseppe Salerno, went toe-to-toe, challenging their skills and their choice of expression to create new letterforms every day…She drew and he wrote. .Visitors of the site voted to decide which they favored. The project became a book and an exhibition. It spurred a lot of great excitement around lettering and calligraphy for a whole new generation of lettering artists and calligraphers.
Go on over and click on a set to vote. Don’t forget to view the results to see which artist won the challenge!
But, these days since I’ve been doing both, it made me wonder, if either could be more suitable than the other for a given project. 🤔
Recently, I learned a new piece of history that I thought I would tell using calligraphy.
The Story of Uncle Nearest
It seems that Jack Daniel, a distiller and the name on probably one of the most recognized liquor brands in this country (if not the world), actually learned distillery by a man by the name of Nathan “Nearest” Green.
Mr. Green was a slave at the time and worked for the distiller/preacher who hired Mr. Daniel. It didn’t come out until 2016 when The New York post published an article spilling all the tea (er…whiskey) on the true ”secret ingredient” behind how Jack Daniel became a household name.
My husband happened to have this bottle hanging around his stash. Since whiskey and wine bottles are a common surface to engrave, I decided to grab it when he went out.
As I looked for a quote that I felt resonated with the idea of respecting the contributions of black and brown peoples to our shared American culture, I came upon this one:
“Mutual respect is the foundation of harmony.”
~Dalai Lama
I paraphrased this quote when I drafted it on the surface of the bottle since the word ‘respect’ is a word my husband used a lot when I first met him. I felt it deserved all the attention at the top! I found out later that the original version of the quote includes the words “genuine harmony”. I wish it had presented that way in my initial search (looking at you Google) since it certainly would’ve balanced the bottom of the bottle even better.
Still, I liked the look of the composition!
Technically, I’ve noticed I’m more of a purist and leave a lot of engravings natural. But, here, I added gold fill in the letters to match the bottle a little better too.
It’s pretty, right? I love engraving! 😍
But, I also love lettering! Can’t help it…and once I had finished the bottle, I started wondering what the quote would look like hand-lettered.
I told y’all, curiosity always kills this cat!
I started a sketch on the tablet, just to see very quickly if anything would come if it.
Lo, and behold, I liked one of the sketches! And I couldn’t help asking the community which discipline they preferred a la lettering vs calligraphy….even while it’s only me against me. 😂 FYI, as of this writing, lettering is winning 67% to 33%.
After I digitized the sketch, I tried it on a few of the photos I had taken to see if hand-lettering did a better job of telling the story of this whiskey brand.
I had a million permutations here, and these two were the favorites of the whiskey-lover in my household.
So, I put it to you…which do you prefer? Calligraphy, in this case, on a bottle…or lettering, in this case, on a screen?
And, as a side…I’ve been thinking it through…and, after much turmoil, I’ve come to the conclusion that Martina Flor and Giuseppe Salerno should bring back that game! 😂 I understand they’re busy artists….but, I’m convinced the community wants to see where things stand now…Or, at least, I do!
Hey, a girl can dream. 🤷🏾♀️
