Brush Lettering Basics Workshop

Ligatures Toronto Brush Lettering Workshop We're excited to announce our ever popular Brush Lettering Workshop, hosted by Toronto letterers Kyle Gallant, Christopher Rouleau, and Veronica Wong.

Join us on Saturday, July 16 to learn the basics of Brush lettering. Our workshop will cover everything you need to know to get started with brush lettering. We help students learn the fundamentals of the English alphabet, working through basic strokes, and advancing to uppercase and lower case letterforms, as well as work construction.

Students receive a selection of our favourite brush lettering instruments, along with tips and tricks on how to get the most out of them. Students are encouraged to experiment and ask plenty of questions so they can get the most out of the equipment and our experience.

Space is limited and fills quickly. Sign up early to avoid disappointment.

Marquee workshop

Ligatures - Marquee - No 33 Back by popular demand is our marquee letter workshop! Spend Sunday afternoon with we teach you how to make marquee letters! Each participant will be able to create two cardboard letters or characters of their choice. Accentuate your space with these fun and easy-to-make letters. Theses letters are perfect for weddings and parties too!

We include supplies and will walk you through the process with some tips and tricks. Just bring along some letters from your favourite fonts and get ready to bring them to life (don't worry, we're type geeks so we'll have plenty to pick from too). Sign up for our Marquee Lettering Workshop today.

You can check out last years Marquee Workshop.

Pixel and Bristle

Full_GIf Ligatures and the Toronto Design Directory are proud to present the first annual 'Pixel & Bristle', the premier design & typography market in Toronto. The event will be held on Saturday, June 25 from 10-6 at the Drake Underground (1150 Queen Street West). This new market will bring together the work of Toronto's most exceptional designers, illustrators, typographers and makers at one of Toronto's most exciting cultural hubs.

'Pixel & Bristle' will showcase a diverse range of professional goods and products, including:
-prints, cards, gifts, signage, coasters, wall art, mobiles, bags, banners, textiles, mugs, enamel pins, patches, buttons, stickers, objects ephemera and limited edition art
Admission is free; food, drinks and prizes available.
Applications are open until April 1. More information here.

Workshop Announcement: Learn Brush Lettering

Lig_MarchBrushWorkshop_2 February 22 update: Our Saturday, March 12 has sold out in 5 days. Due to popular demand, we have opened a second date: Sunday, March 13.

We are excited to announce the details for our next brush pen workshop.

Back by popular demand, the event will be held Saturday, March 12, 2016 and Sunday, March 13, 2016 from 10am - 5pm at Shopify (80 Spadina Avenue, 4th floor). The workshops will run 10am - 1pm, break for lunch (not provided), and resume from 2pm - 5pm.

The day will be hosted by local letterers (and Ligatures co-founders) Kyle Gallant & Christopher Rouleau. Kyle is a multi-faceted designer, skilled in calligraphy, expressive lettering, and even graffiti. He is a self-described “compulsive doodler” and passionate about all things type. Christopher is a freelance graphic designer & letterer, with a love for alphabets, antique lettering guides and old hand-lettered signs. He is comfortable working in a variety of media, including pen, chalk, acrylic, ink… the list goes on. Christopher also co-instructed a Ligatures lino printing workshop in the spring. Check out more of their recent work on Instagram:

Kyle & Christopher recently hosted a special workshop at Uppercase Magazine in Calgary, sponsored by GDC Alberta South Chapter. Check out the recaps here and here. They have pooled together their skills, knowledge and resources to put together a 6-hour tutorial on the fundamentals of brush lettering. All skill levels welcome!

Cost:

The cost of this full-day workshop is $125. This price includes a workbook, handouts, and the supplies you will need for the workshop, all of which you get to take home at the end of the day. Included in your kit:

  • 5 types of brush pens
  • 2 pads of paper (tracing & layout)
  • the official Ligatures workbook and handouts
  • access to any additional tools you might need (pencils, rulers, tape, grid paper) as well as some experimental lettering tools & books from our personal collections.

Registration:

Our previous workshop sold out in 2 days, so please sign up early. Space is limited.

We look forward to bringing your talents together, sharing knowledge with one another, and creating some new brush pen work!

Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring this event.

 

Love Letters

ligatures_feb2015_final_vert We're back with our annual Love Letters meetup! Come hang out with us and make a Valentine for your Valentine :) We have some optional kits available for purchase if you'd like to try something new:

Letraset Kit - $10 - Access to our entire Letraset collection - 6 cards + envelopes

Lettering Kit - $15 - 2 Tombow dual brush pens - 6 cards + envelopes - Access to our entire Letraset collection

Lino Printing Kit - $20 - 1 4x6 block - 1 Speedball handle - 2 carving nibs - 6 cards + envelopes - Access to ink and rollers

Sign up here!

 

Workshop Kits Now Available in the Shop

kit_graphic "Brush Lettering" Official Workshop kit $60.00

Our "Brush Lettering" kit has everything you need to get started with brush pen lettering.

Includes:

  • 16-page "Brush Lettering" Official booklet
  • 5 of our favourite, most versatile brush pens (Faber-Castell Pitt, Pentel, Sharpie, Staedtler Duo & Tombow)
  • our "cap height" guides (1", 1 1/4", 1 1/2", 1 3/4")
  • a variety of alphabets created with each pen
  • our overlay booklet for the uppercase casual alphabet

Currently only shipping within Canada. For friends in Toronto, stop by one of our monthly meetings to save on shipping fees. RSVP here.

For personal use only. Please do not reproduce or distribute. Thanks!

BrushLettering_graphic

"Brush Lettering" Official Workbook (PDF download) $20.00

Our "Brush Lettering" workbook is the 16-page companion to our popular Brush Pen workshops. In the PDF, you will find:

  • an overview of brush pen samples.
  • a list of our favourite five brush pens.
  • a review of stroke construction.
  • a breakdown of constructing uppercase, lower case, and numerals.-a list of online resources, inspiration, and our favourite books on the topic.

Upon checkout, the PDF booklet will be promptly emailed to you.For personal use only.

Please do not reproduce or distribute. Thanks!

BetterBeziers_graphic

"Better Béziers" Official Workbook (PDF download) $5.00

Our "Better Béziers" workbook is a four-page PDF, with a complete list of Illustrator shortcuts, and a step-by-step process for both building béziers as well as tackling auto-trace. It also includes a short list of online resources, and our favourite books on the topic.

Upon checkout, the PDF booklet will be promptly emailed to you.

For personal use only. Please do not reproduce or distribute. Thanks!

Workshop Announcement: Better Béziers: Digitizing Lettering

Poster We are excited to announce the details for our next workshop.

By popular demand, we are excited to hose our first ‘Better Béziers: Digitizing Lettering Workshop’. The event will be held Saturday, November 28 from 12pm-4pm at hackerYou (483 Queen St W, Toronto, 3rd floor).

The day will be hosted by local letterers (and Ligatures co-founders) Kyle Gallant & Christopher Rouleau. Kyle is a multi-faceted designer, skilled in calligraphy, expressive lettering, and even graffiti. He is a self-described “compulsive doodler” and passionate about all things type. Christopher is a freelance graphic designer & letterer, with a love for alphabets, antique lettering guides and old hand-lettered signs. He is comfortable working in a variety of media, including pen, chalk, acrylic, ink… the list goes on.

Check out more of their recent work on Instagram:


http://instagram.com/eckstatic
 | http://instagram.com/chris_rouleau

After the popularity of Kyle & Christopher’s brush pen workshops in Toronto and Calgary, they have pooled together their skills, knowledge and resources to put together a 4-hour tutorial on the fundamentals of digital lettering to take your work from the page to the screen – and beyond.

Pre-requisites: - Ligatures brush pen workshop (suggested) - basic working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator

Requirements: - laptop - Adobe CS (CS5 or higher) - a Dropbox account (for file sharing) - scanned lettering work(s) you would like to digitize

Cost: The cost of this full-day workshop is $80 ($60 with valid student ID, presented on workshop day). This price includes digital exercises, handouts, course instruction, as well as access to personal books and resources. Space fills up quickly, so please sign up today.

Course plan: This 4-hour workshop will help budding letterers convert their lettering and calligraphy work into versatile vector files, perfect for all print and web uses. Half of the workshop will be dedicated to reviewing the digital toolkit (including the beloved pen tool), an overview of building beziers, and tips on making the most of Illustrator’s auto-trace, with plenty of demos and exercises. The latter half of the workshop will be allocated for one-on-one time with the instructors to ask questions and perfect your work. Participants will leave the workshop with at least one completed vector file, and the skills to continue their digital lettering journey.

We look forward to bringing your talents together, sharing knowledge with one another, and creating some new brush pen work work! Thank you to hackerYou for sponsoring this event.

Meeting Nº 25: Learn brush lettering

Lig_AugBrushWorkshop_AUG9-01 UPDATE: both workshops are 100% sold out. Please contact us to get on the wait list or to be notified of future workshops.

We are excited to announce the details for our next brush pen workshop.

Back by popular demand, the event will be held Saturday, August 8 & Sunday, August 8 from 10am - 5pm at Shopify (80 Spadina Avenue, 4th floor). The workshop will run 10am - 1pm, break for lunch (not provided), and resume from 2pm - 5pm.

The day will be hosted by local letterers (and Ligatures co-founders) Kyle Gallant & Christopher Rouleau. Kyle is a multi-faceted designer, skilled in calligraphy, expressive lettering, and even graffiti. He is a self-described “compulsive doodler” and passionate about all things type. Christopher is a freelance graphic designer & letterer, with a love for alphabets, antique lettering guides and old hand-lettered signs. He is comfortable working in a variety of media, including pen, chalk, acrylic, ink… the list goes on. Christopher also co-instructed a Ligatures lino printing workshop in the spring. Check out more of their recent work on Instagram: http://instagram.com/eckstatic http://instagram.com/chris_rouleau

Kyle & Christopher recently hosted a special workshop at Uppercase Magazine in Calgary, sponsored by GDC Alberta South Chapter. Check out the recaps here and here. They have pooled together their skills, knowledge and resources to put together a 6-hour tutorial on the fundamentals of brush lettering. All skill levels welcome!

Cost:

The cost of this full-day workshop is $120. This price includes a workbook, handouts, and the supplies you will need for the workshop, all of which you get to take home at the end of the day. Included in your kit: -5 types of brush pens -2 pads of paper (tracing & layout) -the official Ligatures workbook and handouts -access to any additional tools you might need (pencils, rulers, tape, grid paper) as well as some experimental lettering tools & books from our personal collections.

Payment:

Our March workshop sold out in 2 days, so please sign up early! Please contact us if interested; an email will follow with payment instructions: ligatures.yyz@gmail.com

Registration closes on Monday, August 3.

We look forward to bringing your talents together, sharing knowledge with one another, and creating some new brush pen work work!

Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring this event.

UPDATE: both workshops are 100% sold out. Please contact us to get on the wait list or to be notified of future workshops.

Brush pen workshop at GDC Alberta South

ligatures_brushpen_july2015_RGC_final GDC Alberta South welcomes Toronto letterers Kyle Gallant & Christopher Rouleau for a one-day intensive on the basics of brush pen lettering. In addition to learning the fundamentals of letterform construction, participants will also learn tips & tricks for composition, as well as how to digitize your work. The workshop offers creative enrichment and helps participants with all backgrounds – beginners & novice letterers – develop their own unique lettering style, which can then be applied into their future artistic endeavours, at work and beyond.

This is a full-day workshop will be held Sunday, July 12 from 9am – 5pm at Uppercase in the Devinish building (908 – 17th Avenue SW, Suite 201 B, Calgary, AB). There will be a one hour break for lunch.

ABOUT

Kyle is a multi-faceted designer, skilled in calligraphy, expressive lettering, and even graffiti. He is a self-described “compulsive doodler” and passionate about all things type. He has co-instructed several brush pen workshops with Christopher in Toronto, include a special workshop at the agency Sid Lee.

Christopher is a freelance graphic designer & letterer, with a love for alphabets, antique lettering guides and old hand-lettered signs. He is comfortable working in a variety of media, including pen, chalk, paint & ink. Christopher has taught workshops in Calgary, and also co-instructed his first workshop with Type Camp in New York City this past May.

Kyle & Christopher co-founded Ligatures, a Toronto-based typography interest group, in the fall of 2013. Since the club’s inception, they have hosted almost 2 dozen public events, ranging from film screenings, lectures, draft & draws, type walks, as well as their first curated gallery show, Swash & Serif, last October.

Check out their recent work on Instagram:

http://instagram.com/eckstatic

http://instagram.com/chris_rouleau

DETAILS

The cost of this full-day workshop is $165. This price includes a workbook and the supplies you will need for the workshop, all of which you get to take home at the end of the day. Included in your kit:

-5 types of brush pens

-2 pads of paper (tracing & layout)

-our Ligatures workshop booklet, filled with lettering techniques & a variety of lettering guides & samples

-access to any additional tools you might need (pencils, rulers, tape, grid paper) as well as some experimental lettering tools from our personal collections

Check out recaps of their past workshops here:

http://www.ligatures.ca/blog/category/workshops/

Limited space available! Please register by Friday, July 3 here.

 

Type Attack!

Type Attack! On Thursday, June 18th, we will be holding our inaugural “Type Attack!”, a head-to-head tournament-style battle for typographic supremacy. Prepare yourself for the typographic event of the year!

Each match, we will randomly select one letter, and two participants will have three minutes to furiously doodle their best glyph (in the style/material of your choice). After a snap vote by our panel of judges, the winners will advance to the next round. Winning participants will continue to advance from match to match, and move closer to the final duel. Prizes will be awarded to the top letterer, runner-up, as well as other fun categories.

Participation in the tournament is not mandatory to attend the event. Space will be limited. If you are are interested competing (all skill levels welcome!) please email us at ligatures.yyz@gmail.com

RSVP for the event here.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre yoooooooooooou reaaaaaaaaaady to RUMBLE?

Meeting Nº 22: Make Your Own Marquee Letters Workshop UPDATED

Join us on Saturday, May 16th for an afternoon of marquee letter making! We thought we'd give you a little sneak peak into the process that goes into making these fun and easy to make letters!

cardboard1

cardboard2

cardboard3

CR_sign2012_5

Creating these 3-dimensional letters is so easy using only cardboard, exacto knife, and a glue gun! As part of the workshop, you'll be provided all these tools to use and take home with you! You'd be amazed at how well the rolled corrugated cardboard adds a lovely stroke to the entire piece.

Last day to sign-up for this workshop will be Wednesday, May 13th. To sign-up, head to ligatures.ca!

Marquee Workshop - Poster2

A big thank-you to Chris for sharing his own personal cardboard lettering!

Meeting Nº 20: Learn Brush Lettering UPDATED

ligatures_db1 UPDATED: Saturday, March 7: Both workshops are sold out! Please contact us if you would like to be place on the wait list, or would like to hear about future workshops.

We are excited to announce the details for our next brush pen workshop.

The event will be held Saturday, March 28 + Sunday March 29 from 10am - 5pm at Shopify (80 Spadina Avenue, 4th floor). The workshop will run 10am - 1pm, break for lunch (not provided), and resume from 2pm - 5pm.

*PLEASE NOTE: The Saturday workshop is 100% at capacity, and only a few spots remain for the Sunday workshop.*

The day will be hosted by local letterers (and Ligatures co-founders) Kyle Gallant & Christopher Rouleau. Kyle is a multi-faceted designer, skilled in calligraphy, expressive lettering, and even graffiti. He is a self-described “compulsive doodler” and passionate about all things type. Christopher is a freelance graphic designer & letterer, with a love for alphabets, antique lettering guides and old hand-lettered signs. He is comfortable working in a variety of media, including pen, chalk, acrylic, ink… the list goes on. Christopher also co-instructed a Ligatures lino printing workshop in the spring. Check out more of their recent work on Instagram: http://instagram.com/eckstatic http://instagram.com/chris_rouleau

Kyle & Christopher have pooled together their skills, knowledge and resources to put together a 6-hour tutorial on the fundamentals of brush lettering. All skill levels welcome!

Cost:

The cost of this full-day workshop is $95. This price includes a workbook and the supplies you will need for the workshop, all of which you get to take home at the end of the day. Included in your kit: -5 types of brush pens -2 pads of paper (tracing & layout) -our workshop booklet, filled with lettering techniques & a variety of lettering guides & samples -access to any additional tools you might need (pencils, rulers, tape, grid paper) as well as some experimental lettering tools from our personal collections.

Payment:

Saturday's workshop sold out in 3 days, and Sunday's workshop will sell out quickly, so please sign up early! Please RSVP here no later than Friday, March 13. An email will follow with payment instructions.

We look forward to bringing your talents together, sharing knowledge with one another, and creating some new brush pen work work!

-

Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring this event.