Member Feature: Abdullah Syed
Meet Abdullah Syed, one of our favorite letterers with an awesome array of style! A lot of us often get locked into perfecting one type of lettering, but Abdullah has the ability to do a wide range of lettering from scripted calligraphy to watercolor lettering to simple, informal doodles with Crayola markers. We are continually inspired by his (many) instagram feeds featuring his creative adventures in cooking, lettering, art, photography, and more. Get to know him and his lettering in this month's member feature.
How did you discover hand lettering?
I am from Pakistan and calligraphy has almost always just been around. Poetry is a big part of the South Asian culture- both my mom and grandma are poets and I always admired their handwriting. The love of beautiful hand drawn letters slowly found it's way into my life in 2015 when I moved to the US and took a full time job that involved a lot more screen time than I was used to. Naturally, I turned to ink and paper to draw and doodle after work every hours.
How long have you been hand lettering?
Almost all my life but "hand lettering" like it's a thing since 2015 perhaps.
Describe your hand lettering style.
Modern.
What are your favorite tools to hand letter with and ways to display hand lettering?
Love to do cards and love brush pens. I also often scan my pieces to modify them digitally.
How did you find SSLetters?
Eventbrite. I was looking to connect with fellow DMV area creatives when I moved here.
What brings you back to SSLetters?
The community! And it's almost therapeutic to just sit and draw and have good company around.
What was your favorite SSLetters meeting that you attended and why?
Too many to list!
What inspires your lettering?
Instagram, other people's work, personal struggles, SSLetter's founder's instagram stories!
Do you have any hand lettering projects that you're working on? Tell us about it! Or any projects you have done in the past to share?
Working on a wedding invite for a friend this week!
What do you do outside of hand lettering?
Graphic design, a lot of my art aims to celebrate south asian inspired pop culture.
What is your favorite letter, number or character to letter?
&
What is your most challenging letter, number or character to letter?
&, lol
Thanks so much for sharing, Abdullah! You can keep up with Abdullah's creative adventures on Instagram + cooking adventures + photography adventures + hand letterinnnn.