Typism Member—Andrew Ley

Our second featured Typism member for 2022 is Andrew Ley, an English lettering artist who has been working in design for about 18 years now.

Andrew currently works at a marketing agency during the day, and as a freelance brand and lettering designer on the side. We asked Andrew some questions about his passion for lettering and he kindly shared his work and inspirations with us in this interview.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your passion for lettering

I'm Andrew—my friends call me Andy, but none of the 'Andy Ley' social handles or URLs was available so here we are. I'm a husband, father, graphic designer and lettering artist from a town called Cullompton in the rural South West of England.

I've had a particular interest in typography for most of my career. In the early 2010's I started to notice work from artists like Seb Lester, Sean McCabe and Claire Coullon. Their beautiful hand-drawn letters and attention to detail blew me away. At the time I dismissed giving it a go myself, mostly due to my left-handedness—although this might have just been a handy (pardon the pun) excuse.

A year or two later I started to notice work from people like Ryan Hamrick, Lauren Hom and Colin Tierney. Their work was inspiring, but it was the videos of fellow left-hander Matt Vergotis and his signature expressive style that really lit a fire under me.

With no more excuses, I ordered a couple of brush pens and started to look around online for as much tuition and advice as I could find.

How do you hone and refine your skills?

Despite a lot of trying to find shortcuts, I've started to accept that there's no substitute for just getting a pen in my hand and drawing. I learn best by example, so I try to find stand out pieces of work in the style I'm trying to replicate and start by copying the letterforms as closely as possible. Once I've got the copy down pat I'll start to refer to the example less and less, trying to recreate the forms from memory alone.

I find this process allows me to create nice letterforms while giving my own individuality a chance to come through. I'm also lucky to have built up a small friend group of experienced lettering artists who are always happy to critique my pieces and point out things I might have missed. Their help and feedback has been invaluable in helping me improve.

What's the best advice or tip you've received so far on your lettering journey?

Trust the process. Whenever a project is hitting the buffers and I'm getting frustrated it's nearly always because I've tried to skip a step somewhere along the way. Maybe I didn't take enough time to gather examples of the type I'm trying to replicate, maybe I didn't explore different concepts enough at the start, or maybe I'm trying to finalize a sketch that wasn't refined enough. Nine times out of ten when I'm banging my head against a wall it's because I got impatient and skipped a step.

Tell us about your creative habits and rituals

Despite many years of trying, I've never managed to make a creative daily routine stick (outside of my day job at least). This has frustrated me for the longest time as I have always felt like I should have nailed some kind of daily consistency but, frankly, life often seems to have other ideas.

Instead, I try to bake creativity into my daily activities so I can at least get a little creative hit even if it's not directly related to my art. It might be cooking something new for a weeknight dinner, playing make-believe games with my two children, or baking a loaf of bread. If I can find a way to scratch that creative itch when I can't have a pen in my hand then it's all good.

What are your top three lettering projects so far?

Nook Mural—A case of being in the right place at the right time, this project started as a simple mockup on a blank wall at a local coworking space.

Within minutes of posting the mockup to Instagram, the owners of the coworking space DMed me asking "How can we make this happen?". The mural itself took two days to paint, during which I was fueled by free snacks and coffee from the space's café. It was a win-win.

Team Brooks Lettering—This project was my first lettering commission.

The client, a social media marketing company, asked for a funky piece of lettering their staff could wear when out filming. I was really happy with how the finished piece came out.

Do you Speak Devon (Inktober 2017)—This is an old one, and there's so much I would do differently now, but this project was the first time I noticed my work resonate with people. For this project, I lettered a piece of local dialect that I had heard while growing up and posted it with a description of each word in the comments. These words are archaic, obscure, and sadly becoming rarer by the day. I received many positive messages from people who, like me, grew up hearing these words and phrases from the 'old beys', and had an emotional reaction to the project.

What are your time and energy management strategies?

Start. As daft as it sounds, I know that if I actually put a pen in my hand and start to draw there's a good chance I'll still be doing it two hours later. My main strategy is to put the fewest barriers possible to get started. I'm lucky enough to have a separate studio space (an absolute godsend over the last two years of working from home) so the pens are out on the desk. There's always a supply of paper, my tablet is fully charged. This means that, even if I can only find 30 minutes in my day, I can actually do something meaningful in that time.

What is your favourite aspect of the Typism membership or community?

The library of videos and lessons is just such a fantastic resource. I can log onto the website and within a few clicks, I can be downloading some great pieces of reference, or listening to the advice and experience of some of the top lettering artists in the world—and Nikita Prokhorov ;)

What are your plans and dreams for the future of your creative practice?

To keep building my skills, knowledge, and technique. Lettering has never been a major source of income for me (although I'm planning to make it more so in the future) so I'm not sweating the business side of things too much at the moment. That said, I'd love to pick up a few more mural commissions in the future. There's something so satisfying about creating such a tangible (and large) piece of work.

What do you currently struggle with most when it comes to your lettering?

I'm a chronic overthinker in most of my life, and lettering is no different. What style should I work on next? Should I be improving my brush skills? Should I be working digitally or on paper? Should I be creating more vector work if I want to pick up client work? Have I been focusing too much on one style? The hardest thing for me is to just be in the moment, concentrate on the project/piece I'm currently working on, and enjoy the process.

Who are your favourite lettering artists and why?

James Cooper (Dapper signs)—Coop is a signwriting legend in the UK, producing some great commercial work alongside his personal pieces which combine vintage letterforms with some tasteful swearing. I was lucky enough to attend one of his workshops in 2019 and within five minutes of talking to him, we realized we were at school together. It's a small world.

Ryan Hamrick—he's one of those people whose work I will just stare at for hours. Ryan's lettering was one of my main points of reference when I first picked up a brush pen, and the quality of his work continues to inspire me today.

Claire Coullon—Claire is one of my OG lettering inspirations, and a lovely person to boot. in 2020 I co-hosted a month-long Instagram challenge called Perfectly Imperfect which was all about trying something new, learning in the open and embracing the imperfections. I chose to learn pointed pen calligraphy and Claire (taking pity on my ink-covered hands) kindly sent me a care package of paper, nibs and guidelines.

Colin Tierney—Disclaimer: I can't gush too much here because I've got to know Colin quite well over the last couple of years, but I used to spend ages studying Colin's videos on his website when I first started lettering. On top of his lettering skills, Colin has a genuine passion for helping people. He's often dishing out praise and advice in his Crayligraphy group on Facebook.

Who would you like to see interviewed next on the Typism podcast and why?

Ken Barber. The man seems to live and breathe letters.

Thank you so much for sharing your lettering passion with us Andrew and your list of inspirational lettering artists.

To see more of Andrew's work, you can follow him on Instagram or check out his online folio.

To learn more about the Typism Membership, click here.