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Procreate Illustration

February Birth Flowers Drop Cap Tutorial

January Birth Flowers Drop Cap Tutorial

Procreate Illustration: Winter Wonderland Home

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I’m a full-time lettering artist based in Charleston, SC. You can usually find me with a coffee in one hand and Apple Pencil in the other.

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NEW PROCREATE SERIES!

In this year-long series, I'll be sharing a new Procreate Tutorial each month of 2021!

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Dawn Nicole Designs | Hand-Lettering & Modern Calligraphy

Jan 25

Lyrical lettering work-in-progress.⁣
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This is my second, more refined sketch. First, I did a sketch on paper, then I brought that into Procreate and traced it. Next, I refined that sketch by doing three things:⁣
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1️⃣ Adjusting letters so the thick/thin parts are all the same(ish) widths.⁣
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2️⃣ Adjusting line height spacing and letter kerning (the space better letters). I mostly do this by the fine art of “eyeballing-it” and going with what looks the most optically appealing. 👀⁣
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3️⃣ Playing with the flourishes. This takes the longest and there’s a lot of erasing that goes on, but I’m pretty darn happy with it at this point.⁣
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✏️ So far, I’ve put about five hours of work into this piece and it will likely take me another 2-3 hours to create the final version. I’ll post it when it’s fully complete. ⁣
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I’d love to keep working on it right now, but this momma has to get in the kitchen and cook my kiddos some dinner. 😜 It’s also good to take a break and look at it the next day with a pair of fresh eyes. If I wait a day, things I need to fix will stand out to me that wouldn’t if I kept working on it right now.⁣
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⭐️ These are lyrics from the song “Treat You Better” by Rüfüs Du Sol. When I do the final version, I’ll a byline in the actual artwork for credit. I get SO much inspiration from music!⁣
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LEARN LETTERING WITH ME⁣
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💻 Blog: bydawnnicole.com⁣
🛍 Shop: shop.bydawnnicole.com

Jan 24

I’m an unapologetic overuser of hearts in my art and lettering work. 💖⁣
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This is a just-for-fun Doodled Hearts repeating pattern I did as a portfolio piece. I did the line work months ago but finally got around to coloring it all in. ⁣
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🙌🏻 Swipe for the process vid, and some mockups that show what this design might look like on wrapping paper or a gift bag. ⁣
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⭐️ I use Photoshop to create the mockups and purchase the mockup PSD files via Creative Market. For example, I bought the wrapping paper mockup file. With a few clicks, I can add my design to it and bring it to life to show clients without actually having to create a product! You can create mockups for all kinds of things: shirts, mugs, posters, book covers, etc. I often use them to create graphics for blog and social media posts as well.⁣
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✏️ Are you interested in a full tutorial on creating repeating patterns in Procreate? Let me know in the comments! If there’s enough interest, I’ll work on writing it up and getting it on the blog.⁣
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LEARN LETTERING WITH ME⁣
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💻 Blog: bydawnnicole.com⁣
🛍 Shop: shop.bydawnnicole.com⁣

Jan 23

It’s been a long while since I’ve shown my face around here, so I thought I’d share a few things…⁣
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✏️ I’ve been doing hand lettering and calligraphy for 8 years. I still second-guess my work allll the time and am always working to grow my skills.⁣
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💖 My hubby is active duty an Air Force Pilot. We’ve been married for almost 14 years, and we have 3 kids (ages 9, 11, and 12) and 2 dogs.⁣
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✌🏻I’m an Enneagram 1w9. AKA “The Reformer” + “The Peacemaker” = “The Optimist.”⁣
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🍽 I love food. Thai is my fave followed by Cuban and Greek. I detest cilantro and raw tomatoes. Cilantro tastes like soap, and the gooey parts of raw tomatoes make me gag!⁣
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🥃 I don’t drink often, but the Hubby and I usually do “Old Fashioned Fridays” at home Happy Hour. It’s my favorite cocktail, and I’m currently partial to Basil Hayden’s Bourbon.⁣
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📚 I always have my nose in a book. I read 64 books last year, and I’m hoping to read at least that many again this year. Lately, I’m digging chick lit and psychological thrillers.⁣
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📺 I love watching TV! Some of my current faves are Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Yellowstone, Bridgerton, and pretty much anything on HGTV. I also re-watched all of One Tree Hill, Vampire Diaries, Gilmore Girls, and Hart of Dixie this past year.⁣
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🚲 Gym class was my least favorite class in school, but now I work out 5-6 days a week. I alternate weights (Liift4 and MM100), Peloton rides, and going for a run outdoors with Theo. He’s much faster than I am, but he also has four legs. 😜⁣
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🛍 If I could go on a shopping spree at only one store, I’d pick @Athleta. I love their stuff!⁣
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🏠 We move A LOT. It comes with the military life. Places I’ve lived: Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Illinois, Alabama, and Germany. We’re now back where we started! We ❤️ living in Charleston, but we’ll have to move again this year or next year. (We will know more soon…)⁣
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⭐️ Three Random Facts: 1️⃣ I’m an introverted homebody who loves traveling. 2️⃣ I’m 5’9”. 3️⃣ I turn the big 4-0 this Fall! ⁣
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Do we have anything in common? Is there anything else you’d like to know?

Jan 22

💡 Be the light 💡 ⁣
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Thank you so much for all of you who voted in my IG stories yesterday. I couldn’t decide on the color scheme for this piece. ⁣
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You overwhelmingly voted for the blue background, so that’s the one I refined a bit more.⁣
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I’m working on adding some new pieces to my @theispotnews portfolio as I’ll be featured in an email to buyers next week. ⁣
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Swipe for the original color options, process video, and a peek at my The I Spot portfolio so far. ⁣
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P.S. A big thank you to @mollyjacques for sharing “The I Spot” in her IG stories a while back! 💖 ⁣
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After a long break from doing client work to have more time for my own content and shop product creation, I’m ready to dive back in and The i Spot is a great fit for my overall goals as a freelance lettering artist. ⁣
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✏️ LEARN LETTERING WITH ME⁣
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🛍 Shop: shop.bydawnnicole.com⁣
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You’ll find Procreate Brushes and Brush Calligraphy Workbooks in my shop.⁣
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💻 Blog: bydawnnicole.com⁣
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You’ll find a ton of free lettering/calligraphy worksheets, Procreate Tutorials, and more on the blog.⁣

Jan 12

Jan 12

Every letter tells a story. 📖💕 ⁣
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A just-for-fun lettering piece. Swipe for texture close-ups and the process video.⁣
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✏️ Tap the photo to shop the brush kit I used to create this piece!⁣
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💻 For a ton of free Procreate tutorials and practice sheets pop over to my blog at bydawnnicole.com. ⁣
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⭐️ Fun fact: My blog turns 10 years old this year! ⁣

Jan 8

Happy Friday! 💖 The Creativity Kit for Procreate just hit my shop. This brush set is one of my easiest to use. Simply draw, color, paint, and stamp away!⁣
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There are 32 fun new Procreate brushes designed to give your digital creations a realistic artsy vibe.⁣
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✏️ 12 Artistic Brushes⁣
✏️ 10 Stamp Brushes⁣
✏️ 10 Border Brushes⁣
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The border brushes also work great for lettering details as you can see in some of the artwork I created.⁣
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Swipe through photos to learn more about this new brush kit and see just a few things I created using it.⁣
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Tap the photo to shop!⁣
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💻 Blog: bydawnnicole.com⁣
🛍 Shop: shop.bydawnnicole.com⁣
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#procreateartist #handlettering #handlettered #ipadlettering #procreatelettering

Dec 25

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁 Did anyone get an iPad and Apple Pencil for Christmas this year?⁣
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I decided to kick off the year-long Birth Flower Drop Cap Procreate Series a bit early since so many of us are spending Christmas alone this year. ⁣
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The January Tutorial is up on the blog right now! ⁣
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You’ll learn how to create this Snowdrop Floral Drop Cap by following my step-by-step lesson. In the 30-minute video tutorial, you’ll learn a variety of Procreate techniques such as:⁣
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✏️ Adding Textures with Clipping Masks⁣
✏️ How Using a Lot of Layers Helps You Stay Organized⁣
✏️ Creating Drop Shadows Two Ways (manually or the quick way)⁣
✏️ Grouping and Duplicating Illustrations to Save Time⁣
✏️ Exporting Your Work as a PNG⁣
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Head to the blog for for the free color palette, reference PDF printable, video lesson and more. Swipe for a more pics.⁣
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Happy creating!⁣
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💻 Blog: bydawnnicole.com⁣
🛍 Shop: shop.bydawnnicole.com⁣
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#DNDdraws #Dropcap #procreateartist #handlettering #handlettered #ipadlettering #procreatelettering

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