I usually start with the lower case ‘a’, not because it is the first letter of the alphabet, but because it is one of the most complex ones, and it can quickly show the character of the new font. I then move to letters that have the most basic forms, ‘n’, ‘o’, so I can evaluate the rhythm and relationships of shapes. the very tricky characters are those with diagonals, ‘z’, ‘y’, which are deceptively simple because it’s hard to balance the shapes which are predominately based on focus on vertical stems.Peter Bilak.