A Conversation with Natalie Avalos, Hand Lettering Artist
On good penmanship and illustration
Natalie Avalos is blessed with good penmanship. But it took tons of practice on the worksheets her mother gave her when she first learned to write. Designing striking cursive and block letters is now her job as the artist behind Threeologie, a creative marketing studio. Over the years, she’s worked with a number of noteworthy clients including Michaels, Disney, Adobe, and even Rihanna. But she’s also incredibly generous with her talents. She empowers other lettering creators by sharing her tips, tricks, and tools often through Instagram and by curating affordable courses and workshops. You can’t miss her work: Pink, red, and yellow are her signature colors.
Naturally, I found Natalie on Instagram. I interviewed her about her steps for turning a client brief into art, her different streams of revenue, wandering the streets of her city for inspiration, and the one project that made her realize her true worth. Bonus: I included a link to her freebies and resources.
How would you describe your craft?
My craft is primarily hand lettering. I create hand-lettered signs for clients, and I also create resources for people who want to start their own businesses. My hand lettering isn’t always on paper or on the iPad. I like to experiment with other types of mediums and resources, like paint and chalk. I’ve tried lettering by baking a cake. I like to test my creativity and see what I can come up with.
What attracted you to lettering?
When I was younger, my mom would create cursive and block letter worksheets for my sister and me to practice our writing. Everybody would always tell us we had nice writing. It’s because of her. In my mind, she’s the mother of lettering. I really enjoyed the aesthetic of writing letters and drawing letters. Over the years I would just doodle or letter for fun in my notebooks. If anyone told me back in the day that I could make a business out of letters, I would’ve said it’s impossible.
When did you realize you could turn your lettering talents into a viable business?
I graduated college with a film and media studies degree. I did a bunch of internships and worked with producers. But after college, I worked for someone who made me realize I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought. The filmmaking industry can be a little crazy. I quit my job, and I backpacked in Asia for about five months. During that time, I was lettering in a notebook and posting it on social media. My boyfriend encouraged me to make a business out of it. After our trip, I couldn’t find a job so I went for it and tried to create a business out of lettering. Initially, I was creating lettering on paper and putting it in frames and selling those frames on Etsy. My first customers were my friends and family who gave me quotes to write in calligraphy. Then it evolved. I started getting bigger clients. Now I license my art to different clients and create my own products. The more people see my work, the more they want to work with Threeologie. A big part of my passion is also providing resources to other artists. It’s definitely possible to pursue your passions, even if you think it’s crazy to make money from drawing letters.
How do you market yourself to companies that don’t know hand lettering is an employable skill?
A couple years ago, it probably wasn’t as well known. Whenever I told people I do hand lettering, I would have to explain to them what it is. I got used to saying I’m a designer. But I think because of social media, people are noticing that the videos and pictures of hand-drawn letters or quotes are getting a lot of views. Brands want that same attention. I mostly get inquiries from marketing companies that work for bigger brands wanting a lettered post. In terms of marketing, it’s a great strategy to get eyes on a product.
Learn the art and business of lettering from Natalie:
Are you at a point where you can decide who you want to work with or are you pretty open to clients?Â
I’ve gotten to the point where I’m picky about who I work with. This is probably the first year I’ve been able to do that. It’s taken me awhile and it’s been a rough road. I’ve had so many experiences with clients who will try to take advantage of me or who won’t pay my rate and will work me to death. At the time, I couldn’t be picky because I was trying to grow my business. But with time, I’ve decided I only want to work with a certain type of clientele. I also make sure they mesh well with my brand because I want to continue providing a current aesthetic on my Instagram feed. Some of the client work is from people who want me to post lettering and advertise it on my Instagram feed. But if I feel like it doesn’t work well with Threeologie, I won’t do it.
I work with Michaels a lot. They’re such a big brand so you would think artists get lost in all the business, but they’re amazing. I continue to work with them because they really care about the people they’re working with. It’s really important to me that you show that you really care about the project.
What was a time you received a rate from a client and realized that’s what you could be charging?Â
If I remember the rate correctly, it was when Rihanna’s marketing team reached out to me. They asked me to do an Instagram post. I think it was in the range of $1,800 or $2,000. I thought it was spam at first. I was like, this isn’t real. But then I realized this is the type of money I want to be making. You don’t necessarily need to have a billion of those projects every month. Just having two or three of those projects is enough. That was a point where I was like, people will pay this amount of money if they value your work. I still get people only willing to pay $200. At this point, I’m not going to do work for that rate. It’s not worth it. It shows me that you’re not valuing me as an artist. However, I also love helping other small businesses. I’ll definitely lower my rates for someone who’s trying to pursue a business and create something for themselves. But for big brands, I’m like, come on.
How do you take a client brief and turn it into art?Â
Whenever I’m working with a brand, they always pick something on my Instagram feed or on my portfolio that they like. They’ll ask for something similar. Then I will sketch out different styles for their project using my art as inspiration for the look they want. It usually takes a couple rounds of refining the sketches until they like one of the sketches. Then I finalize the sketch by adding color. I’ll either digitize it on Adobe Illustrator or I’ll give them a high-res image. It’s pretty simple. A lot of my clients are really easy to work with, so it’s not super expensive bringing projects to life.
Want to work with Natalie? Connect with her at hello@threeologie.com. Or follow her on Instagram.
How did you decide you wanted your own shop?
I’m a huge advocate for taking control of how you make money. In the beginning years of my business, I was always waiting for projects and clients to come to me, or I was reaching out. Over time, I realized it wasn’t a good strategy to keep a business going monthly. I really wanted to make passive income while I was sitting at home doing nothing. Slowly, I thought about selling products. I started by selling workshops on calligraphy and lettering. Then I created courses and and physical products. A great way to be more in charge of how you make money is by creating a variety of streams of income for yourself. Products are just one way to do that. That’s why I am so big on everyone creating products. It helps me be more creative because I get to create my own products instead of waiting for somebody to give me a project. I also take notes from people who are bigger than me. What are they doing with their business that’s obviously working for them? I let that guide me as well.
What helps you cultivate creativity? Where do you find your next idea?
In terms of daily inspiration, I look at vintage signs in my neighborhood and old paintings on the walls of my neighborhood. I live in Old Town Pasadena, California. The city takes really good care of the old buildings. I’m always surprised to find some sort of cute or pretty typography on the buildings. I also just browse the internet, look at Pinterest, and read books. I asked my followers this same question and somebody said they walk through antique shops. It’s such a good idea. I don’t know why I never thought of that.
But I actually have the biggest moments of inspiration when I’m struggling a lot. It forces me to do other things when none of the normal things are working. Earlier this year when the pandemic hit, I was extremely worried because all my projects were cancelled. It forced me to be creative and figure out a new way to make income. Ultimately, I ended up creating a course that sold really well. This whole month I haven’t felt creative at all. I feel like I’m lacking inspiration. So I grabbed my notebook and drew letters. That little task of having me time and being away from technology really helped foster more creativity.
What do you like most about your work?Â
It’s probably a generic answer, but ultimately I just love taking things that are in my brain and putting them on paper and bringing them to life. It’s harder for me when people want me to replicate something because that’s not me. I just really enjoy creating things that I want to create. That’s the best part of my job.Â
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Watch: How to set up a bullet journal (Jitterbug Art Studio)
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I loved this so much. What good reminders to know your worth and not work for less (and to work on creating passive income streams!).