Whelmed Studios

A place of innovation and fun seekers of design and lettering!

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Something new I’m trying out inspired by @oscarconspiracy! One of many!!! #handlettering #handlettered #handletter #handletteres #handletterer #hamdmade #letter #lettered #lettering #letters #blackletter #wip #calligraphy #pencil #paper #practice #art #type #typography #typographyinspired #typographylove #typographic https://www.instagram.com/p/BmhmxDvFggV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=13en0doc22z0l

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Something unrelated to lettering. Had fun with this yesterday, haven’t touched my pastels in so long lol hope you like it! A sketch on top of a sketch 😂

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A project I’m doing for a friend he’s an Elvis fan lol

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Found a few sketches I did a while back maybe I’ll finish one or two! Feeling thankful for everything I have today and hopeful for the future! #thanks #thankyou #lettering #letter #lettered #handletter #handlettered #handlettering #handletteringart #handdrawntype #handmade #handcrafted #type #typography #typographydesign #typographyart #typographyinspired #typographylove #typographic #pencil #paper

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A logo I’m working on for a truck company!!!! Still thinking of other ideas!

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A personal project of making a new identity for the company Volvo some sketches and logo ideas I had!!!! #logo #volvo #sketch #design #logodrawing #logodesign #pencil #paper #wip

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Done with the inking of this piece, I just watched Alice through the looking glass and this quote really works for Alice, I think 😋 #lettering #lettered #letters #handlettering #handletteringart #handlettered #handmade #type #typography #typographydesign #ink #paper

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A label I helped a friend with my brainstorm!

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Video or Podcast

Hey everyone, something that I want to talk about is social media. A lot of people are blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and checking Instagram and Instagram stories. I like to do all these but there are also creators. A lot of people are making content at a very fast pace. Most of it right now is video on YouTube, but for some it might be difficult to record themselves on video. I have a real fear of this but I want to gradually overcome this fear. My first step was getting my thoughts out in written form just to get comfortable about the idea of people reading about my ideas. I created a blog on tumblr recently and it’s great to get my ideas out there. My second step is going to be podcasting. So people can to listen to my voice but being relatable is a challenge that comes with it because you can’t see my expressions or body language. But like I said before, I’m not comfortable making a video where people can see me.

I was watching a video on YouTube where the person was saying, “video is the beach house, mansion right now and that podcasting is like two or three streets down from that”. The analogy is kind of straightforward where video is the prime way of getting your ideas out there fast and at a macro. For the people that know this analogy, yes it’s from Gary Vee. I like this idea because it helps me get over my fear of video and he explains podcasting very well. It’s passive consumption and it’s scalable which is all tat matters to grow a community and bring value to people.

At the end of the day it’s really up to you where you wanna go. Something that I hate reading but it’s true. The advantage of video is it’s easy to convert to podcast and the written word but I’m doin it backwards I guess cause of my fear. The ultimate goal for me is to create a community via YouTube and this is my journey.

Thanks for reading and let me know what you guys think about this. Would love to read your thoughts and have a good one until next time.

[whelmedstudios]

Something I’m working on 😋

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What Letter Artists Do

Hey everyone it’s Enrique Hernandez and I’m the founder of Whelmed Studios. I️ am also a hand lettering artist. I️ want to go through with everyone what a lettering artist does throughout his/her day. It obviously varies but for the most part it’s pretty consistent.

We are designers who love letters and our design revolves around our 26 letter alphabet (Western) and our ten digits. I say our cause in every letters mind we feel like we own a little bit of the letters because we design them differently and some form ownership comes from this, at least in my mind.

As a letter I obsess over lettering and how to make myself different from all the others. Great letters have managed this in really creative ways. The most prominent lettering artists have their own styles to get clients attention. This helps in getting clients and letting people know what they are paying for when they hire them.

The way I think about a project or a quote I’m lettering is by seeing what style I think best fits the quote. I take about two days to conceptualize how I want the final piece to look. I explore different styles and sketch all my ideas. Other letterers that have their style, they sketch their ideas. This is the fun part, exploring. I mix and match different styles and see what works until I’m satisfied. Then it varies how long it takes for me to ink and vectorize my final piece.

Thanks for reading this simplified take on the day of a letterer. Hope you enjoyed and if you want to become a letterer there are a lot of resources out there. I get my ideas from Instagram, Behance, and Pinterest. All you need is a pencil and paper to start. Thanks again for reading and I hope to see what you create. 😆

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Something I did for New Years!!! See the finished piece on IG @enriquehernandezdesign

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On My Mind

This has been on my mind for a while. I’m going to go to college to get a bachelors degree in design but don’t know if it’s going to give me the value I want. I know others feel this way too and a lot of people don’t know whether they should go on to college. In this day and age I don’t think college is necessary especially in design. There are a lot of tools out there that cover a lot of what college offers for a quarter of the cost, if that. I know it’s still new for a lot to not go to college and it’s scary. Everyone wants there parents to be proud of them that they got a degree but I think it’s not practical anymore to be in debt and then start looking for a job. If your parents can pay for you and you don’t get into debt then go for it, but for the rest of us I don’t think it’s such a good idea anymore.

I deferred this semester so I can work on building a design firm and learning what I need to know via YouTube. I’m doing this because I think I can get more value and experience being in the industry than being in school and focusing on school work. I’m also getting an internship at my local design studios to taste what it’s like to work in-house. Hope you guys find this interesting at the very least.Thanks for reading until the end I would like to hear your opinion on this. Please comment and I would like to get back to you. I’ll keep this updated on my journey in the industry and building my design studio.

Update: podcast coming soon stay tuned for it! Thanks again

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Something I’m working on

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New Year, New Design

It’s the new year everyone! As we know designers want to know the trends for the new year. I personnally don’t really care about the new trends because if done right, design will be beautiful. I am not going to list the new trends here or anywhere because I don’t aspire to design with trends every year. It might work for some but not for me. I think if we design with the basics and know how to break design rules to make something different then it can be a great piece. I always say to myself great design rooted in the fundamentals can be timeless. Thanks for reading and please share your opinions on this would love to read them!

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Manifesto

I dont know how to start off... I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. I’m Enrique Hernandez, it’s a pleasure. I am the founder of Whelmed Studios, a letterer, and a designer. I wanted to say hi and welcome to this “blog”. My goal for this blog is to grow a community of talented individuals ranging from artists/designers to business/marketing people. I want to reinforce some things in myself that I have learned through experience and to teach others along the way. I know that a lot of artists and designers are really driven in there work but they also lack a skill. That is to sell there work at a certain level. I want to try to learn and teach how designers can make a business and make money doing what they enjoy.

For this to work I also need to keep learning and putting into practice all of the concepts I want to talk here over the course of this blog. This is also where all the business and marketing people come in so they can enjoy our art and encourage us to sell and more importantly how to sell. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.

I promise most of my posts won’t be this long and thanks for bearing with me for this long intro. 🙂

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A nice quote I found while walking in Times Square today