Brush lettering is beautiful. It is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, all bold scoops and loops accented with light, whimsical upstrokes. Entrepreneurs everywhere knew it, they started creating brush lettering fonts, brush lettered signs, and brush lettered quotes to sell you and we all lapped it up. But what if I told you YOU could make those pretty quotes and signs for yourSELF? If you are anything like me, you might have written your handwriting off as being messy and think that lettering like that is beyond your reach… you would be wrong. ANYONE can learn to write beautifully. ANYONE can learn to brush letter, all it takes is a little bit (or lot) of muscle memory and practise. I always say to brush letter, you need the 3 P’s: PEN, PATIENCE, and PRACTISE. And today we are going to talk about all three of those things and give you just the tools you need to make it happen!
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How to Brush Letter
Before I release these amazing free brush lettering worksheets, let’s talk about the form of brush lettering in general. There IS a technique to it which is, in theory, quite simple. It just takes some retraining from the way you are used to forming your letters. The main idea behind brush lettering is that you want to increase the pressure on the downstroke and lighten pressure on the upstroke. You want to make sure that your angle to the paper stays consistent throughout your piece as changing your angle is going to change the thickness of your letters. I have also found it is helpful to hold the nib as closely as possible. Sometimes your fingers might get a little “colorful” but you have a lot more control that way.
sample brush strokes
Where to find pens for brush lettering
Some of the pens that you have seen people use are actually not pens at all, brush lettering with watercolor can be a bit trickier though, so if you are a beginner I highly recommend getting a brush letter pen. I am going to list the brush pens that I have right now with links on where you can find them. But in tomorrow’s post I have a video with each pen in action and more info on what sets them apart (plus which one is my all time favorite) so make sure you bookmark the landing page for this series here.
Copic Gasenfude $7.49
Tombow Fudenosuke (available in hard tip of soft tip) $3.49
Platinum Maki-E $41.60
Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen $9.82/set of 4
Tombow Dual Brush $3.19
Lyra Aqua Brush Duo $11/set of 12
Speedball Watercolor $36.82/set of 8
Start Practising!
Once you have your pen (and ideally a thick type of paper so that it doesn’t bleed through) you are ready to start practising some of the different strokes. Remember, you are building muscle memory here so take your time, print off as many copies as you need and just go over them again and again. I recommend tracing them first, then copying them, one by one to really feel the movement of the pen. Download your free brush lettering worksheets using the form below! And don’t forget to post your brush lettering on Instagram and tag me in it for a chance to be featured on my page using @planwithrebecca.
Need more inspiration and ideas? Come follow me on my Pinterest board here for hand lettering quotes and tutorials from around the world!
Brush Lettering Video and Pen Review
Tomorrow’s post is going to be all about brush lettering pens. I will talk about each pen’s features and share my favorite one(s) and why. I also have a short video showing you how each pen writes so don’t miss it!
Did you know this is part of a 31 day series? There will be a post each day this month showcasing how I use bullet journaling. We will talk about the tools you need and I’ll review some of my pen hoard (including my brand new flex fountain pens, eeeeek!). There will be videos, pictures, hand lettering practise pages, doodle challenges, journaling prompts, some amazing giveaways, and hopefully a TON of inspiration to get you writing in your planner, whatever that may look like for you! How can you get on board?
BOOKMARK THE LANDING PAGE (that is where all the posts will be added throughout the month)
FIND ME ON INSTAGRAM (I’ll be posting the daily posts there)
USE THE HASHTAG: #PlanWithRebecca and #planninginspiration4u on Instagram for a chance to be featured on my page!
Have you done brush lettering before?
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