intro to brush lettering

you guys voted, so here it is! should I make this a series? comment down below on what you want to see from me :sparkles: also please note that all these opinions are my own, and my writing experience may be different from yours. it would be helpful if you guys shared your writing experiences, as well as your own recommendations! I tend to be very heavy-handed when I write, which does affect my choices. without further ado, let’s get onto my suggestions!

- vocabulary -

these are just some to know that you’ll see used a lot in the brush lettering community!

ghosting

ghosting is when you can see the marker onto the back side of the paper. to minimize this, use a higher quality paper or stick to lighter tones.

bleeding

this is when your marker bleeds through the paper onto the next page and you see unappealing marks from your marker. again, use higher quality paper or swap out your marker.

nib

the nib is the actual “brush” part of a brush pen. nibs come in different levels of firmness, as well as different materials. in general, I recommend firmer nibs for beginners because this allows you to have more control over your strokes.

fray

this is when the nib of a brush pen begins to rip, like when a piece of rope begins to come undone. it will look like the nib is splitting and little parts are coming off. you’ll notice immediately that it is harder to control your strokes when your nib is frayed.

body

the pen itself, the part you hold that is typically made of plastic.

stroke

a single line made by your pen.

- general tips -

- don’t get discouraged if your lettering isn’t perfect the first time! no one can make beautiful writing on their first try. like you’ve heard before, practice makes perfect, so as long as you put effort into it you’ll be able to improve.

- don’t spend tons of money on expensive brush pens! while you may think that spending that $5 for a single Tombow will improve your lettering, it may actually do the opposite. I recommend starting with smaller inexpensive markers to get a feel for lettering and to help you master the basics like strokes and how to hold the marker.

- don’t be upset if your lettering looks different than others’! everyone writes different. it’s what makes lettering fun and creative. your letters may not be the exact same as the ones you see on Instagram, and that’s okay! all that matters is that you like what you’ve made :sparkles:

- holding your brush pen -

again, everyone is different, so everyone has a different way of holding the pen. this is totally fine, but try to hold your pen a bit less than halfway up the body. if you hold the pen too close to the nib, you’ll be putting too much pressure on the nib which can cause it to fray. of course, you want to hold your pen at an angle, not straight up and down like you would hold a regular pencil or pen. you need to hold it at an angle to get the different strokes. the exact angle you hold it at doesn’t particularly matter, however I personally angle my pen a lot.

- materials -

of course, one of the most important parts of calligraphy is the materials you use. so let’s first get into the most important tool for calligraphy: a brush pen. as you might know, there are tons of different types and brands of brush pens to choose from. in general, I recommend starting out with a brush pen with a small, firm nib. this gives you more control over your strokes. below I have some suggestions for brush pens, as well as pens to avoid.

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Pentel Touch Sign

many of you have probably heard of this brush pen. it is highly recommended by many calligraphers out there, and I highly agree. this is one of the first brush pens I started out with, and I still love using it. I bought mine in a pack with all the colors at Target, however I haven’t seen it sold since I bought mine. anyways, this brush has a medium flexibility with a small nib, which makes it easy to control while still allowing you to get line variation. one downside is that there is a very limited range of colors.

Crayola Supertips

another popular suggestion, so I won’t go too deep into this one. there’s tons of reviews on these markers, so I highly suggest you check them out. as some of you know, Crayola Supertips aren’t actually brush pens. their nibs are firm and aren’t meant to flex, however they’re still very good for lettering. they have an incredible wide range of colors, and are easy to use. I recommend these for beginners because they are also cheap for the quality, and they’ll last you quite a while.

Tombow Fudenosuke Soft

despite the name, the nib of this pen is small and has medium flexibility. I believe it only comes in black and grey, however I love using this pen for headers in my notes. it does ghost and may bleed if you use too much pressure on low quality paper, however I haven’t had any issues with it. this marker is very easy to control and I really love it.

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Tombow Dual Brush Pen

this is probably the most common brush pen you’ve seen all over social media. I agree that I love the wide range of colors and the flexible nib, however I do not recommend this marker for beginners. the nib of the marker frays very easily, especially if you don’t use the right paper or you tend to be heavy handed like I am. this marker is great once you get more experience, however for beginners it can be a waste of money.

Tombow Fudenosuke Hard

I found this pen extremely hard to use, and the ink ran out very quickly for some reason. the nib would bend out of shape and wouldn’t return to it’s original form, which meant you had to hold it at an awkward angle to use it. I’ve seen other reviews of this pen, and some people have actually recommended this pen for beginners, however I personally did not enjoy it. again, please note I am very heavy-handed and this may have affected my experience. I think this pen just comes down to personal preference, and I recommend buying the set of a hard and soft (these two are sold together on Amazon and many other sites) to see which one you prefer.

Any Real Brush Marker

to clarify: when you think of a “brush pen” you’re probably thinking of a marker with a synthetic nib, probably made of plastic or another flexible material. a real brush, as the name implies, is a brush with real bristles, which look like a bunch of fine strands. real brush markers are very hard to control, and are typically used for traditional Chinese or Japanese calligraphy. for the modern form of calligraphy that you see all over social media, you want to use a marker that does not have a real brush.

aside from your brush pen, you also need to make sure you have good quality paper to write on! this is a big part of calligraphy that many people tend to skim over. when buying paper to use for your calligraphy markers, you want the paper to be as smooth as possible (no texture) as well as thick so that your markers don’t bleed through. the best papers are relatively thin (though still thicker than printer paper) and yet can still hold up to ghosting and bleeding. there are many types of paper, but the most common are dotted, lined, and graph. choose the kind that works best for you! I personally like using dot paper, however this kind of paper is harder to find and can be more expensive than the other alternatives. below are my recommendations:

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Rhodia Dot Pad

I love Rhodia products, and I actually own a lined pad as well to take notes for school! Rhodia has a line of different types of paper, so they have all three that were mentioned above. their paper is super thin, yet there is never any ghosting. their pads are also very affordable, and you can get the large one for less than $10! you can buy these on Amazon and in many stores.

Fancy/Heavyweight Cardstock

this is a good alternative for people who would prefer single sheets of paper to practice on. again, make sure the paper is smooth before buying because there are many types of cardstock out there.

for more specific paper recommendations, you can do research online and on Youtube!

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notebooks

this one is more of a personal preference, but I don’t recommend practicing in notebooks for beginners for a few reasons. notebooks with higher quality paper tend to be more expensive, and cheaper notebooks have textured paper that will fray your pens. most notebooks, both expensive and inexpensive, will usually ghost or even bleed, which makes the next page harder to use. there’s also the wire or spine of the notebook that gets in the way of your hand while you’re writing. however, this may be a good option for people who want to keep all their practice papers in one place. again, whatever works for you guys!

that’s all for this post! sorry it was all text, but hopefully this helped you guys out. let me know if you wanna see more like this :sparkles: