Hey Bre: a hand letterer’s guide to positivity

The colourful work of lettering artist Breanna Christie is an ode to optimism. Her motto? Promoting self-love, positive vibes and everything nice. We’re on board. So is her vibrant community of joy-seekers and life-lovers, coming back every day for more positive affirmations and mantras from the Louisiana-based hand letterer.

We met Breanna to talk about her journey to hand lettering, the power of positive affirmations and how she built such an engaged community as an artist.

Tell us a bit more about yourself. Where does your love for hand lettering come from? 

I was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and for as long as I can remember, I have loved art. Making art, looking at art, I love it all. My love for hand lettering really started in 2016 when I got the first iPad Pro and downloaded Procreate. As a creative person, I’m always looking for ways to change up my style and do different things and with lettering, you can really do anything with it. From changing the shapes and size of a letter or word, hand lettering is something that is really truly beautiful.

What inspired you to launch your own business, Hey Bre?

What inspired me to launch Hey Bre! Creative Studio was the fact that I didn’t want to be confined to a specific type of “art business.” I have sold jewellery, shadow boxes, wooden signs and each one had its own name. With Hey Bre! Creative Studio, I felt like I could do, sell or make anything under that name.  

What’s your favourite part about being an entrepreneur? What’s the most challenging?

My favourite part about being an entrepreneur is that I get to make or design what I want on my own time. The most challenging part is time management. I work a full-time job so juggling that and my business can be hard. 

You’re also represented by an art licensing agency. How did that help you grow as a graphic designer and hand lettering artist?

Being a part of Pink Light Studio has pushed my creativity so much farther than it has ever been. I’m illustrating things that I would never do on my own and I think that is so important because it gets me out of my comfort zone.

Your art oozes self-love and positivity. What do you want to convey with your work?

I want to convey to everybody that they’re worthy of love, they’re important and beautiful and to always see the good in things. 

What are your main sources of inspiration?

My main sources of inspiration are Pinterest (of course!) and also the people I follow on Instagram. There are so many amazing people and they put out awesome work. It just drives me to put out awesome work too.

Could you walk us through your creative process? How does a Hey Bre piece come to life?

The creative process begins with me scrolling through Pinterest. I love to look up positive quotes. When I find a quote that resonates with me, I then open up Procreate and I get to work. 98% of the time I never sketch, I just start drawing. It’s all in my head!

It’s clear your community means the world to you. How do you make sure you create the best experience for your customers?

I try to create the best experience for my customers through my packaging. I think packaging is so important when you’re buying from a business. I’m one of those people that likes to keep pretty packaging just so I can look at it. I even have a packaging inspo Pinterest board. I also love to handwrite all my thank you cards to my customers and leave nice little messages for people.

How do you use MOO for your business?

I’ve actually been using MOO for quite some time for some other things I’ve done in the past but recently I use MOO for my Thank You Cards. I LOVE that you can get multiple designs on a set of marketing materials. It’s my favourite thing about MOO and also they have amazing quality. 

Any projects coming up you’d like to share?

I’ve got a lot of things in the works right now, I’ve been doing a lot of freelance jobs and hoping to share with everyone soon!

You cultivated such an engaged Instagram community. Any advice for young artists trying to gain a following there?

My advice is to be sure of what you’re trying to promote and stick with it. My platform has always been about promoting self-love and positivity and I think it’s such an important thing and it’s something that most people struggle with. The most important is to be yourself. Don’t try to be anyone else, don’t try to copy anyone else. Just be your authentic self and people will love that about you.

Create your own positive affirmations and spread the love with MOO Postcards.