Tanja Pöltl - Watercolor & Hand Lettering: Step-by-step techniques for modern illustrated calligraphy

Hello, Im Tanja.

My personal creative journey began not so long ago. In 2017, I started my 365-day project,One Sketch a Day, just before the birth of our daughter. On maternity leave from my agency job, which had previously occupied over 40 hours of my week, mywork personawas searching for something new that I could keep to in my everyday life as a #newmom.

Youre now holding a book that contains my combined knowledge of hand lettering and watercolor. Its been shaped by my own initial attempts the little steps, the larger milestones, the unintended blips and my continued unfailing joy inexperimentation. For me, the writing and designing of this book became more of an examination and questioning of my previous creative journey. One thing, however, is certain: Ive progressed. But the question is: How did I d

My aim with this book is to promote your personal creative journey, whether youre at the very beginning or already in the middle. In addition, you can expect a lot of thoughts, information, and tips on topics, as well as attempts to answer often-asked questions such as:What is reflection and how can it help to improve your work? How can you make getting started easier? Is it okay to copy, and how can you learn from it?

Ill be providing you with lots of information about hand lettering and watercolor, including tips on materials, basic techniques, and useful tricks for fast and beautiful results.

The second part of this book contains 20 project ideas grouped under five themed categories. At this point, whether youre a beginner or more advanced, Id like to invite you to venture out of your creative comfort zone from time to time. Ive therefore designed the themed categories in a very different way, in order to immerse you in as diverse a world of designs as possible.

My motivation is to convince you to never stop seeing the world with fresh eyes, and I hope to encourage you to interpret it for yourself on paper. So get ready for the next step in your creative journey with the help of my knowledge, tips and ideas.

What are you waiting for?!

In this book, Id like to accompany you on a very personal creative journey. By sharing my own experiences, I hope to inspire you and propel you forward.

Id like to start by briefly outlining my personal story, as I have found that often you can learn from other peoples creative journeys, or even find yourself through them. I want to use my own experiences to show you that even the most enthusiastic starters need a little help along the way. Let me start where it all began for me the beginning of my maternity leave, when I decided to take 2030 minutes a day of creative downtime.

At that time, I had no specific ideas, but my motivation came from my enthusiasm for the topic of sketchnotes something that has long fascinated me as a form of graphic recording. With the help of books, I was able to quickly learn how to draw doodles and use them for sketchnotes. I liked the idea of using doodles to visualize all the things in the world in the simplest way. So, there it was, my 365-day project:One Sketch a Day

Without really realizing it, I had begun my creative journey. After just a few sketchnoting attempts, I came across fashionable hand lettering, which really grabbed me. Self-taught, I immediately plunged into the wonderful world of hand and brush lettering materialsfailed miserably!

Countless wrong purchases resulted from my too easy-going approach. I didnt really understand what the problem was and why I was stuck. Why didnt my letterings look like those of the great artists on Instagram? After all, I had the same tools and understood the basics. Yet there was no sign of progress. Then, within six months, I discovered the combination of hand lettering with watercolor, which already appeared to be widespread.

And so, I too ventured into my firstwatercolor creations.

Along the way, I decided to let some professionals look over my work. Ive attended three hand lettering and watercolor workshops to date, plus all the free and chargeable online courses and tutorials. No matter what the format, I was inspired in a different way every time, and each one helped me take a little step forward in developing my creative work. I found that a fresh look from the outside was good and afterwards I got the feeling that I knew more and more every day about what I was doing.

Almost a year had passed since my 365-day project began, and so, in June 2018, I foundedDie Handletterei, and since then have been self-employed whilst continuing to work part-time in a media agency. This was a project dear to my heart, which I mainly started in order to pass on my accumulated knowledge via workshops, and to help beginners, in particular, avoid the stumbling blocks I had experienced and imposed on myself.

And now? I still continue to take my daily creative downtime, and for me, this continues to be the most important thing in my creative journey (of which Im now more consciously aware). I dont follow a set plan with my creative work. Nevertheless, there are always exciting projects and commissions that challenge me afresh and shape me creatively. I really enjoy the carefree nature of my self-employed work, as well as the freedom of choice it gives me.