Where to Begin in the Hand Lettering World

*Calligraphy For Beginners*

Where to Begin in the Hand Lettering World

Some people believe that you have to be skilled and artistic to do calligraphy, but that is not true. Though it takes practice, persistence and creativity, anyone can do hand lettering. So, if you are interested in learning how to begin your hand lettering journey/career, follow these steps:

1. Pick a quote or verse that inspires you 

2. Write it out in basic cursive

3. Thicken the "down-strokes"

4.Color them in (if you want)

5. Add embellishments & doodles

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What I Use:
The main tools I use are Paper Mate flair pens and Tombow ABT markers.
As you can see I am certainly not a professional and certainly not fancy but, these pens work. There is no reason to spend extra money on pens that are ridiculously expensive when you can buy pens that work just as great from Amazon and Target.

Where I get my Inspiration & Ideas:
Inspiration and ideas can be hard to find, but they don't have to be. This is because there is no shame in using Pintrest, or Google, or Instagram. All of these websites are perfect sources for ideas. I also, tend to use Bible verses that I read in my quiet time that day.
 If you want to find some good ideas on Pintrest here are two links to the boards that I use for inspiration.

My Top Three Tips:
 1. When thickening the down-strokes, thicken the strokes that you see, not the strokes you drew.
 2. When mixing print and cursive, use cursive on the words with the most emphasis.
 3.I recently was asked how do I make my lettering so consistent. That is because when I first began I used a lettering work book (Hand Lettering 101 by Chalkfulloflove) and would practice writing the same letters over and over. Practice makes perfect!

I made this post for beginners, so just remember that this is only the tip of the ice berg.  If you want to learn more about hand lettering and how to advance your skills, then I highly suggest purchasing the book Hand Lettering 101 by Chalkfulloflove.

Thank you so much for reading! If you found this helpful please let me know in the comments. You are so loved! Type to you later...