Dan Cotton Hand Lettering Artist Biography

I was was raised in Caldwell, Idaho; a small town about 30 miles from Boise. After high school I moved to Colorado. I took lettering classes with the Colorado Calligrapher's Guild. After gaining state residency, I started college at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins and graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design.

I worked a year for a sign company in Ft. Collins, then moved to Denver to work for a large publisher (now defunct) producing magazines and newspapers. Without a real interest in publishing, I soon turned to my love of lettering with the idea of eventually doing it as my livelihood. With more classes through the Guild and part-time work making invitations and addressing envelopes for a wedding planner, I achieved a real polish with all the traditional calligraphy styles. I started learning pointed brush and set my sights on getting commercial lettering work.

When my lettering matched the level of better known local hand lettering artists, I began winning assignments with ad agencies and design studios. Before long, I had enough work to give full time to my lettering.

After 20 years in Colorado, I found himself with an itch to live by the ocean. I lived in Southern California, and then Bellingham, Washington (between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada).

In August 2005, I accepted a job with Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. it was a great learning experience working in the world's premier lettering department, among renowned lettering artists and many other remarkable creatives. In 2010, I left Hallmark and moved to Denver.