Here's a time-lapse video that shows the process of how I created the 'Shotgun Betty' typography piece! This is the first part of my 'Wild West' series which I'm currently working on...so stay tuned if you'd like to see more of my hand-drawn typography!

Check out the time-lapse video above to see the process of how I created the 'Shotgun Betty' piece!

Shotgun Betty

After receiving a large amount of positive feedback on my 'Every Kingdom' piece, I decided to create this hand-lettering piece in the same style.

As usual, I began the process using a pencil to produce some rough ideas and compositions in my sketchbook. Then it was time to pick one of the compositions and develop it further. I was generally pleased with the first draft, although it looked more like 'Shotgun Belly' rather than 'Shotgun Betty', so I had a play around with it.

Eventually, I found a way to fix this and, with a bit of luck, I managed to make the two t's look like a cowboy hat. I also modified the swirl of the 't' in 'Shotgun' so that it was consistent with the other swirls. My next step was to refine the sketch by redrawing it and using a ruler to create guidelines - this is to ensure all the letters were slanted on the same angle.

I wasn't entirely sure about how I wanted the 'o' to look, but I eventually decided to scrap the thick swirl and kept it all the same stroke. Then I inked it up using a Uni Pin fineliner, scanned it into my computer and imported the file into Adobe Illustrator to create the vectorised version. The final touches were done in Adobe Photoshop.

Furthermore, I'd like to say a huge thanks to Calligritype for featuring my 'Shotgun Betty' piece on their Instagram feed!