Neil Secretario

Neil Secretario is a left-handed lettering artist and graphic designer based in Atlanta, GA by way of the California Left Coast. As a freelance designer, he has drawn logos, custom letters and type for clients around the world including Condé Nast, GQ Germany, Intercom, Lionsgate, Mikimoto, Penguin Random House, Sony Pictures, and YouTube Red. He has also collaborated with Lost Type where you can find Calafia, a script typeface he designed inspired by left-handed brush lettering. Neil is currently accepting freelance lettering and design work. Get in touch [email protected]

[neilsecretario]

Calafia script that @rileycran and I designed, spotted on @ridethehopperbus in San Diego by @youbringfire - it’s always neat to see #calafiafont in the wild. Get it @losttypecoop 👍 (at San Diego, California)

[neilsecretario]

When a situation needs to change. #flipthescript #brushlettering #script #calligraphy

[neilsecretario]

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Three hours in 50 seconds. #brushscript #calligraphy #lettering #timelapse #ipadpro #procreate #procreatelettering

[neilsecretario]

Sharing a page from Modern #Lettering Simplified by Joseph R La Violette, 1945 - a recent addition to the personal library. #brushlettering #brushscript

[neilsecretario]

@grayhood invited me to test out Lehigh, a new slab serif typeface he design available now @losttypecoop . I had a ton of fun playing around with the six different weights and other neat features. (1/3) #lehighfont

[neilsecretario]

This #script exploration turned out to be good practice in handling curves. Swipe to view #béziers and sketches. #calligraphy #cursive

[neilsecretario]

For tonight's #type exercise, I vectorized a few back slanted forms that were written with a chisel point carpenter's pencil.

[neilsecretario]

An unused signature #logotype sketch. #brushlettering #brushpen #calligraphy

[neilsecretario]

Calafia is inspired by left-handed brush lettering, available now @losttypecoop #calafiafont

[neilsecretario]

Balloon Script from Bill Boley Basiks of Lettering, published by The Signs of the Times Publishing Company, Cincinnati, OH 1952. I've been on the hunt for this volume for quite some time and was fortunate enough to find this one in flawless condition. Score. --- What old #lettering books are you after? Any titles you'd recommend?

[neilsecretario]

Hand stamped on @losttypecoop outbound shipments (yes, by a human). Love these little details that add a nice personal touch.

[neilsecretario]

Calafia posters are here! @rileycran and I designed this poster to illustrate the ductus of four Calafia ampersands (Yep, four). Two-color on 17 x 11 in @frenchpaperco Speckletone Starch Mint. Purchase a Calafia commercial license @losttypecoop and we'll ship one to your door!

[neilsecretario]

Designing Calafia was a great opportunity to learn new skills, but It also presented a lot of challenges that required thoughtful solutions. Huge thanks for all the support from @losttypecoop who helped along the way @rileycran @danellecheney @bezierwrangler @grayhood and @marisol.ortega who created this, and other incredible in-use type specimen. Calafia is now available at Lost Type.

[neilsecretario]

Hey everyone! Over the past year, @rileycran and I have been working together to design Calafia, a new casual script typeface. Calafia is perfect for headlines and logotypes right out the box. It includes finial forms for natural word endings, swash caps, and an alternate set of caps for cap-specific settings. And with nearly 800 glyphs, Calafia supports more than 100 languages! I'm super excited about the release of Calafia, available @losttypecoop !

[neilsecretario]

A funky 't' resulting from reverse contrast study of American Wood Type. Swipe to see various stages of how the forms evolved. #36daysoftype #36days_t

[neilsecretario]

I drafted this round hand capital A as a personal challenge to vectorize the calligraphy of late 17th century writing master John Ayres. Studying this historic model was a great way to better understand script forms. The bottom illustrates my approach to the form construction. The original path is red. Blue and green are duplicate paths adjusted to add stroke weight. #lettering

[neilsecretario]

What I thought would be a quick round hand study wasn't so quick. Anyone else find ovals and spirals to be challenging to draw? #lettering