Let me tell you about the time I was in the worst of moods.

Zero energy, grumpy face. Feeling very “woe is me.” Summer and the excitement of a new school year slammed to a halt as my kids got all the classroom germs, and like dominos the whole fam got sick. 🫠

There went the end of summer, ugh!

After two weeks we were finally better and feeling the cozy fall vibes, enjoying the colorful leaves that can transport you into a scene from Lord of the Rings. We even went apple picking that weekend. And my parents were in town, yay!

So why am I sharing this? The whole ordeal made me think of the lettering learning curve.

In the beginning, you’re excited and hopeful. Energy’s at a high, you can’t wait to draw.

Then you enter the phase where the momentum stops and all you see is a plateau of sucky lettering. No end in sight, your energy’s running out. 🫠

How do you crawl out of the slump and back into the fun, exciting stage?

I missed many things when I was sick, but somehow caught the “teenage dirtbag” TikTok trend and adapted it for my earliest lettering… and I realized something.

The first slides in this video show little improvement, and those were over three years. 😬

🔥 As soon as I did these 3 things below, my lettering got better way faster 🔥

Here’s what I did:

3 ways to improve your lettering

1️⃣ Embrace quantity over quality when starting out

I gave myself a time limit (one day) to start and finish one piece and improved faster than when I was spending months to make the “perfect” piece (the perfect piece does not exist 😆). It was a 7-day exercise that became 100 days (the very beginning of my Instagram).

👉 What time limit + frequency will you set for yourself?

2️⃣ Share your progress

It might feel cringy when you know your skill level isn’t where you want it, but there’s something so encouraging when you start seeing progress! I didn’t see that until I reached my 100th daily lettering piece, but once I saw it, I wanted to keep going! Which also meant I had to be brave enough to put out 100 crappy pieces (without archiving anything 😉).

👉 So keep sharing until you see that change!

3️⃣ Invest in yourself

Books, workshops, courses… Learn from the pros and get eyes on your work! Anytime I feel that plateau, I get a boost of motivation and improvement if I invest in one of these things. 🤓 Are you the same way?

👉 What will you invest in next?

Thanks for reading, my creative friend.

If any of the tips resonated with you, comment below and let me know which one!

PS– Speaking of courses, I’m working on one for digital lettering and illustration! Sign up here to be the first to know and get my Procreate shortcuts cheat sheet. ❤️