WEEK 3 - 👉 Use this when you’re feeling stuck 👈

When I launched my phrase generator WTF Should I Letter in January 2020, I had no idea how much I would personally appreciate it by the end of the year.

The project began in response to lots of students and conference attendees telling me that they *really* wanted to practice lettering but would get stuck on what to letter because choosing a random word or quote didn’t feel particularly inspiring or enjoyable.

It made me think: I have a sense of humor that is silly, quirky, and irreverent and I have some really clever friends as well. So we put our heads together and came up with a bunch of fun, hilarious phrases. Then we got a programmer involved and turned that list of phrases into a phrase generator.

Viola! WTF Should I Letter was born!

And then 2020 happened...and I lost my creative drive.

I know I wasn’t alone in this - a lot of people messaged, DM’d, posted, and wrote that they were having the same struggle. It was a difficult, even shitty year, and creative fuel was in short supply for many of us.

So for a bit of a pick-me-up, sometimes I’d go to wtfshoudliletter.com and just click through a few of the phrases. The campy rhymes and general silliness gave me a mental boost more than once.

When I was able to laugh a bit, it was easier to believe that things were going to improve. And seeing so many positive, funny phrases helped me recognize that I had plenty of creative resources available to me when I was ready for them.

Don’t beat yourself up over “under-performing” during difficult times! Instead, think of your creatives supplies and resources waiting patiently for you - helpful and non-judgemental and full of lots of joy-producing goodness for whenever you’re ready to start creating again.

You can use resources like WTF Should I Letter as encouragement and ready-made inspo if you’re ready and able to create but not sure where to start - or still trying to build enough momentum to get creating again.

Which brings me to this week’s assignment..

Your assignment: Pick a phrase from wtfshouldiletter.com and letter or design a piece of art with it.

Creative encouragement: I’m going to be offering up to a 50% discount on my beginner online lettering course, and this HOMwork assignment will give you a jumpstart on getting the discount!

For every #WTFShouldILetter phrase you letter and post on Instagram from today until February 26, 2021, you’ll earn 10% off, up to 5 posts (yup, that's half off!). Make sure to tag @wtfshouldiletter and use #WTFShouldILetter in your post.

To redeem: just DM @wtfshouldiletter with all your posts and we’ll send you your secret discount code (code will be valid for 30 days after this promotion ends aka expires at 11:59pm EST on March 28th, 2021).

Thought starters: If the first phrase you see doesn’t blow your hair back, click through a few times for multiple options and a good chuckle. You can also use these phrases as inspiration for your own lettering phrase(s)! Go ahead and put your personal spin on them.

Bonus creative tip: Although WTF Should I Letter was built to support hand lettering practice, it’s got SO MUCH potential for illustrators. Consider the ways you could capture the humor of the phrase in an illustration rather than letters.

Don’t forget to tag me @homsweethom and use the hashtags #HOMwork, #HOMwork2021 and #WTFShouldILetter if you share your work on Instagram. I love to see what you come up with and choose a few of my favorites to feature in my Stories every week before the next assignment is published!

x Lauren

P.S. Did you catch my latest IG post about how Instagram engagement is NOT a reflection of how good your work is or how talented you are? If you're struggling with that (I know I have in the past!), give it a peek.