5 Simple Brush Lettering Tips
- b.
- Apr 5, 2017
- 2 min read
Hey there :)
To be completely frank, I remember hand lettering even as a child! But over the past year, I started taking hand lettering more seriously and I’ve learnt a couple of things that I thought I’d share with you.
1. Thicken your Downstrokes
Initially, it was quite tough for me to determine what needed to be thickened and what didn’t, but with some practice I finally got a hang of it. The general rule of thumb is to make sure to thicken your downstrokes. As simple as this sounds, it does get a little more complicated with uppercase letters as different people tend to use downstrokes differently, but then again, the only way to master it is by practicing!
2. Manipulate the Size of your Loops
Changing the size of the loops can really add character to your letters. For an example, I usually like to add a huge loop when lettering the letters ‘b’ and ‘h’. For other loops such as the ones on the letters ‘g’ and ‘y’, I tend to make the loops smaller, but it really depends on you and on what you prefer.
3. Embelish
When I first started brush lettering, I noticed that at times, the page does look very blank. So what I did was, I tried adding things to the page like a watercolour background, flowers, wreaths, geometrical shapes, the list goes on. I feel like these really help not only to fill in the gaps, but they also help to add a certain feel to the piece. You can even add flourishes and loops!
4. Break the Rules!
As a beginner, I was very rigid with my brush lettering. All the alphabets were around the same size, and were written on the same grid. I started to see that my letterings didn’t quite have the character that other letterers had. So I tried to change the size of the alphabets, make some alphabets a little higher than others, slant them to an angle and things like that. It really does wonders to the character of your work.
5. Mix
Whenever possible, I try to throw in a mixture of thin, tall, uppercase letters together with my cursive writing. Having something different always contributes to the character of your lettering. Cursive brush lettering usually sets a softer, playful tone while uppercase letters usually give a “bolder” tone (if that makes any sense.) Mixing colours, fonts and textures are just some of the ways you can mix things up with your lettering.
There you have it! I hope these 5 tips have somehow helped you. I will try to think of more, and when I do, I’ll let you know! Let me know if you’ve tried any of these tips by tagging me in your pictures. If you need help deciding what brush pen to buy, check out this link: http://handsandpens.wixsite.com/handsandpens/single-post/2017/02/15/Top-5-Budgeted-Brush-Pens-Malaysian-Edition
Thanks for reading!
Till next time :)
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