Typism Featuring Lettering with Maria Montes
Recently, the Typism Community asked me a few questions about my lettering and design practice, and here are my insights.
1. What initially inspired you to start lettering, and how did you discover your passion for it?
I fell in love with lettering around the year 2012 through the work of Alex Trochut, Gemma O’Brien, and Ken Barber. At that time, I was studying typeface design and discovering that releasing a font was a very long process.
In my day job, I was designing textiles all day, every day, which I enjoyed very much. All of a sudden, I lost my full-time job and decided to combine my current skills: writing letters, designing type, and illustrating, resulting in my first lettering piece in homage to Jan Tschichold.
This first exercise sparked a huge fire inside me and led me to create a collection of eight illustrated cocktail artworks for my first solo exhibition called “Breaking The Ice”.
2. How do you stay inspired and motivated when facing creative blocks or challenges in your work?
I am a very curious person and interested in many topics. When I feel a creative block, I try to put into practice one or many of the following:
— Go out and look up. Extend your perspective. Be in touch with nature and the wildlife and marvel at it. Remember how small you are and the privilege of being alive.
— Go to an art exhibition, a live music gig, the movies, or the theatre. Stay in touch with culture that has nothing to do with lettering. Get out of your creative bubble.
— Read, read, read. Read about topics that are not directly linked to your practice. One of my personal interests is creative mental health, and I learn about it constantly.
— Go to a bookstore and get inspired by beautiful contemporary work. This can help reignite the fire inside you and show you the current trends in the editorial world.
— Keep a diary of your own thoughts. Things that seem trivial now may lead you to a surprisingly good idea in the future.
— Follow your curiosity, and keep pulling the thread, even if it’s taking you to very unexpected IRL or digital destinations.
3. Can you describe your process for developing and refining a new lettering project?
These are some steps I follow when creating work:
Concept
What is the idea behind the design?
What do we want to communicate?
Who is the audience?
Context
Where is the design going to be applied?
Is it for a large billboard?
Is it for a business card application?
Is it for both?
Longevity
Is it a temporary application?
Daily newspaper?
Weekly or monthly magazine?
Is it for years, like a book cover or music cover?
Is it permanent, like a logotype?
Initial Lettering Process
Most of my lettering projects are informed by my own calligraphy. I often start with a very rough calligraphic sketch where I study the letter combinations and the context for the design.
I can craft three rounds of hand sketches, refining and finessing each round while thinking with my brain and my hand simultaneously. This can save me a lot of time in the digitisation process as I’m envisioning the final forms and the DNA of the design while refining it by hand.
Refinement
Depending on the characteristics of the job, I digitise my work by vectorising it with Glyphs, redrawing it with Procreate, or a combination of both.
4. What resources or tools have been most helpful in enhancing your lettering skills?
Consistency
Draw and write regularly. This builds skill and helps develop a critical eye, which is essential in refining your work.
Learning to See
Develop your observational skills and analyze why certain designs work or don’t, which also helps in developing taste.
Visual Library
Create an eclectic visual library of styles to show prospective clients in the form of a visual menu.
Back to the Future
Study the work of design and writing masters. Understanding the fundamentals can greatly enhance your future creative practice.
Finding Your Voice
Archive material that deeply resonates with you and explore why it does. This helps in developing a unique creative voice.
5. What advice do you have for lettering artists looking to diversify their income streams beyond freelancing?
For the first eight years of my independent career, I taught calligraphy from my studio in Naarm (Melbourne). This became my main income source and gave me great satisfaction, keeping me very social on a weekly basis (which I love and need), and providing stability and the power to refuse projects if I felt I wasn’t the best fit for them.
Currently, I offer pre-recorded calligraphy courses, live online group and private tuition, license my illustration work, monetize my YouTube channel—where I offer free educational resources—and work on commercial commissions. The ratio of passive and active income changes constantly, as does modern life.
Additionally, I am the author and editor of a bi-monthly newsletter that has been going strong for over a decade. This has helped me enormously in keeping myself accountable, creating a visual diary of my interests and motivations, and improving my English writing skills, a language I only learned at the age of twenty-nine. Finally, I mentor RMIT University students and guide them in their journey. These last two activities don’t bring in revenue, but they are an important part of my practice.
6. Can you share a success story or milestone in your career that you’re particularly proud of?
In 2022, my partner and I transferred Rotson Studios, a co-working space that we had been running for eight years. We stored everything we owned and began a nomadic journey outside of Australia.
My in-person calligraphy education—massively disrupted by two years of strict restrictions in Melbourne—transitioned to an online education business. This shift opened worldwide opportunities but also resulted in losing many Australian students who only considered the in-person format.
We have been moving around for the last two years, changing accommodations every one or two months, crossing continents, and figuring it out as we go. In the middle of all this, I was commissioned an editorial piece by Pentagram. I completed it and recently received a Communication Arts Magazine and Type Directors Club typographic award of excellence… who is crying!? Not me, for sure!
7. Dream Project or Collaboration
I have been thinking about creating a couple of projects for a while. The first is writing a book, and the second is having my fourth solo exhibition. I don’t know how or when this will happen, but I’m putting it out there for the Universe to align a few planets for me!
