This is a fantastic book for anyone who wants to learn faux calligraphy. I like that it is a workbook where you can follow the step-by-step instructions right on the book itself. The author goes through full sets of the alphabet both in upper and lower case so you are not left grappling as you do your own lettering later.

For more practice, there is also a section where you can trace the letters, and even a part where you can trace a work of art with lettering and have it framed up. Guidance on a few ideas and projects are given. Once you learn how, the sky is the limit as to what you can use your new skill on!

A few of the quotations used are verses from the Bible, and I love that as the verses are meaningful to me, and the Bible is after all also a great piece of literature!

Thank you Netgalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Lettering for Absolute Beginners by Danielle Stringer, 176 pages. NON-FICTION, CRAFT
Fox Chapel Publishing, 2020. $20.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - NO
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Stringer was a beginner at lettering not too long ago herself, and she’s never taken a class in lettering. Her love for and success with lettering drives her desire to teach others who may want to learn how to write more creatively.
I love how encouraging and upbeat Stringer is throughout her instructions. However, I feel that Stringer was very repetitive, going over the same tips and processes with each project she suggested. Furthermore, teaching a skill takes a lot of practice, and I appreciate examples to see what I’m supposed to be practicing; Stringer did more telling than showing as she directed readers in the art of lettering, making it more difficult for me to follow along and want to practice.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

This is a very Christian book on learning one very specific type of hand lettering for one very specific type of font style (faux calligraphy). The author shows you how to draw (not write) letters as words and then go back and fill in one side of every single letter to give a fake calligraphy look. She then gives you about 6 fonts to learn but they all look very similar -- really flouncy, hard to read cursive with lots of squiggles and swirls. Along the way you practice writing some big signs of sayings, mostly psalms and other biblical inspiration. At the end there are a handful of projects (I liked the giving plate) and lined pages to practice your writing.

I like my handwriting and I like doing lettering projects but I'm always looking for new fonts, projects and tips. I don't really care for the type of lettering where you have to hand draw each letter and fill in one side, as it is just so much work and I don't think it's necessarily nicer looking than other font styles. I do it occasionally but I wouldn't choose it as my only technique for hand lettering as this book does. If you want to make signs like those you see at Hobby Lobby ("But first, pray!" and FAMILY) and such, this will show you how to make those and to make that sort of generic script for name tags, signs, etc. Don't expect a lot of variation. I had a hard time even reading some of the words with her fonts.

Goodreads says that two stars means "it was okay," which is how I viewed this book. Interesting, helpful for some, not really for me.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

This book was just okay for me. I didn't find anything new that would help me with lettering. All this information can be found on youtube in various videos. I found it to mainly be full of gift giving suggestions. I think this book is best suited for someone who does arts and crafts with lettering and would like ideas.

This book is a great resource for learning basic lettering. It’s a great place to start for those who would like to begin the art of lettering or wish to refine their skills. Very informative and gives many ways to practice.

I loved this book. It was very helpful at showing me the basics of creating gorgeous lettering. It was easy to understand and definitely a great book for beginners

This is truly the book for absolute beginners. I was left feeling a little unsatisfied by this book unfortunately. I was really eager to learn from this book being an avid bullet journal user I hoped to gain a better grasp on lettering, but this book sort of fell flat for me. It really felt like one, maybe two tips and that was it. In addition to that you get space to practice and some ideas for places to letter on. I also found this book to be heavily religious for a book to teach lettering.

Great if you really have never attempted lettering in your life but if you have, you likely know the tricks already (but I guess that also makes you not an absolute beginner!).

This is a great beginners book for anyone interested in lettering. This has some simple easy steps to follow. Good information!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book was full of great tips and hints in very easy to understand language. I’m ready to get my pens out and give lettering a go! Thank you.

This is truly aimed at people who have absolutely no experience with lettering — there are some useful tips but I found that I didn’t really learn much from this book. I also found that there wasn’t a lot of ideas for me given the amount of religious-related projects... not really for me.

I really. Enjoyed this book it is a very simple basic practice book for simple and fairly specific lettering. I did notice a few people were disappointed it wasn’t more expansive. However, the title in and of itself states it is specifically for beginner level lettering and I feel it hits the mark. It takes a great deal of practice to get good at lettering and this book will help build confidence and give you the stepping stones to move on to more complex lettering books. I personally feel that as a beginner it will help me master basic consistent results. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review. I recommend it for those that have little to no experience and I believe you will be pleased.

I love how simple and easy to follow the steps are in this book. For anyone who loves calligraphy and wants to do a DIY project, this is a great inspiration and I'd recommend it.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

This is a workbook for practicing a specific type of lettering that draws in a style that imitates calligraphy. For beginners, people who want to reproduce letters like this shown on the cover and for an audience interested in lettering Bible verses, this will be a nice non-intimidating workbook. Beyond that specific scope, I think a broader audience may be left wanting a wider range of ideas and inspiration.

This book has some great tips to help prefect the lettering craft. I think all beginners could find this book useful. I love the craft ideas as well. What a great addition!

Thank you NetGalley and Chapel Publishing for this advanced readers copy.

While this book was not at all what I was expecting, I was expecting more of a workbook, it did give good tips that I will put to good use.

Good basic lettering book. I liked the easy to understand instructions and the projects in it especially the Bible journaling and gift giving ideas This little book has inspired me to give lettering a try!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to review a sampler of Lettering for Absolute Beginners. I am a hand lettering lover and I know the basics. I really believe this book will be very helpful for beginners and even for people like me, who already knows but is willing to learn new tips. This book is very educational and will teach you the basics; love the projects that are presented.

Simple and explains complicated concepts in a manner that even I (someone who has no artistic ability) could comprehend. Lovely.

This is a great starter lettering book. The author simply and clearly walks through the process and offers pictures to the step by step process. There are lists with supplies you need for each type of lettering - Bible journaling, gifts, tags, even plates and other ceramics. This book gave me great ideas for upcoming holidays for decorating and for gifts. A great book to grab your confidence and get started.

By the time you read this book, you will know a lot about Monoweight and the sans serif typeface and many other things about scripts.
I like this font where down strokes are thicker and up strokes are thinner.
There is a page which shows how to go from thin normal lines to intermediate with double lines to show where the thick downward strokes should be and then the final wonderful typeface.
You see this exercise done step by step on the charger plate with paint pens.
Korola paint pens can be used to write on charger plates.
Bible journaling has been shown very well too.
You can see an example of how to dyour lettering better on brown bags or gift tags.
Your gift giving has just received an upgrade with this book.