many many many years ago I worked (briefly) at an architectural firm doing lettering on their designs and plans - while I was pretty good at doing it freehand, we also had thin metal templates we used as stencils to aid in the process - once we got good at it we used the stencils less and less but it was a good way to learn, sort of like training wheels on a bike
the best part about that gig was as we worked we all listened to the radio play version Star Wars - and my colleagues had good weed
