My cousin Thao-Vy asked me the other day if I had any advice to take her lettering to the “next level” after reading my previous blog about getting started with hand-lettering calligraphy.
So that had me wondering if other people had the same questions as well.
You can thank Vy for today’s blog.
My family and friends commented the most on this tutorial 🙂 They either told me they wanted to try it or they actually did try it out!
For those that did (you know who you are) THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY DAY!
So back to Vy, I told her to not be afraid to be dramatic with the thicker lines. If there is a drastic contrast between thin and thick lines, then it’ll look better, at least in my opinion.
Vy’s second question: Once I’m comfortable with pencils, what should I use next to practice?
Oh and I forgot to mention she sent me a photo of her practicing her lettering on the back of a receipt! That’s all it takes to get started y’all 🙂
Because of practical reasons, I recommend practicing on your mirror at home or an old picture frame. The glass is a different texture from paper and it’ll help develop your skills.
I like using water-wipe paint pens such as Motolow or Chalk Ink. They come in many colors and tip sizes, but I’ve only seen them online. I would start out with white and/or gold in a 2 mm tip or smaller. They’re super easy to work with and can be removed simply with water.
If you’re impatient, like I was, and want to start now then I like lettering with Pen-Touch, which can be bought at Hobby Lobby. I like the 1.8 mm but the extra-fine tip is cool for detailed work too.
The downside to most paint pens at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s is that they are permanent/oil-based so you would need to buy something similar to Goof-Off to erase mistakes.
FYI: Dipping water or goof-off with a Q-tip will help greatly when you need to fix a small error.
Here are some photos of me playing around on glass with Motolow and Chalk Ink pens. I didn’t feel like smelling the Goof-Off so I didn’t use the oil-base pens.
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Shout-out to my sweet and always encouraging cousin Thao-Vy!!!
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Of course the best advice I ever received from my sister Jill, who is a professional calligrapher, was practice, practice, and practice!
You’ll get more comfortable with your lettering the more you practice.
Remember my cursive letters are just guidelines.
Discover your own calligraphy style and it’ll come naturally.
Thanks for reading and following along
with me,
Jules.
Love your blog Julie! Keep it up!
Omgosh, HELLO NGOC 🙂 Thank you so much! It means so much to me that you actually take the time to read it! XO