First try at Hand lettering

Since I finished my exams I can finally spend some me time experimenting with hand lettering – something which I really wanted to try lately!

Hand lettering is a modern way of calligraphy. This can be done by using brush pens, watercolours and aquash. In these photos I am using the Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen Black Big Brush nib which I bought from the local art store. Should you need any help in finding these products online feel free to contact me.

So to begin with, I took a class on skillshare about hand lettering. I started with the basics first and then tried to form some words. Below is a step by step of how-to Hand Lettering. Keep in mind I just learnt the techniques, but I will try to pass on to you what I’ve learnt.

The class which I took on skillshare is – Hand Lettering: 4 easy steps to Modern Calligraphy by Peggy Dean. However I do believe that there are some other classes which are also helpful, I just chose to take this one.

Enjoy !

Materials used:

1. First thing to keep in mind: brush strokes need to be varied, upstrokes are thin while down strokes are thick.
2. Now by following the guidelines, start by trying out the alphabet.

3. If you think you’re not confident enough to start immediately with the brush pen, you can start by using a normal pen and afterwords thicken the down strokes. for the pen I am the Faber Castel PITT Artist Pen in Fen nib. Alternatively, you can also sketch the letters first with a pencil to feel more confident and plan better.

4. When you’re writing a word, finish a letter and stop and then continue with the other letter and stop again. Basically stop after each letter because the finished product will be better rather than holding the pen onto the paper all the time. At the end people will still think that you never lifted the pen from the paper.

5. After some practicing (lots) I finally managed to form words. These are my results

And now I’m realizing that I have to buy new brush pens because the ones I have are not giving me the effect that I want haha. Could anyone recommend any brush pens you find best for hand lettering?

Will keep you updated!