HOW TO BE A RULE-BREAKING LETTERER
Publication · Product Design · Chronicle Books
Overview: I wrote this book because I needed it to exist.
As a self-taught lettering artist, my style was never the cleanest or the most technically precise. For a long time, that made me feel like I wasn't a "real" artist. So I wrote the book I wished someone had given me, one that teaches you the foundation of lettering and then gives you full permission to break every rule you just learned.
The first publisher passed after seeing the proposal. My agent then pitched to nine others. We got three video calls and two offers. Chronicle Books was the right home.
Published by Chronicle Books. Debuted as a #1 Amazon New Release. The project grew into a full product suite: a companion workbook and a set of four multisurface markers, all designed with the same rule-breaking spirit.
From first draft to store shelves: three months to write and illustrate, six months in production, and three months of marketing before launch.
My role: Author, illustrator, packaging, and cover designer. I wrote the manuscript, developed the concept and visual direction, and designed all covers for the book, workbook, and markers. Chronicle Books' in-house designer handled the interior layout, guided by my direction and the spread samples.
The Book
How to Be a Rule-Breaking Letterer covers everything from the anatomy of type to the full creative process. Then Chapter 6 throws the rulebook out the window. Wobbly strokes, bouncy baselines, reversed pressure, letters fitted into shapes. The message throughout: the goal isn't perfect lettering. It's yours.
The Workbook
The companion workbook gives readers a place to actually practice what the book teaches. Prompts for developing your personal lettering style, colorful illustrations to cheer you on, and blank pages for whenever an idea hits. Less instruction, more doing.
The Markers
The Rule-Breaker's Markers are four colorful multisurface markers designed to go wherever your creativity does: paper, fabric, leather, and more. A natural extension of the book's spirit: your art doesn't have to stay inside the lines, and neither do your tools.
The Markers Packaging
