Reviewing Basic Brush Lettering

With the right tools almost anyone can practice basic brush lettering. It takes a small commitment of time to practice and develop a personal lettering style.

For today’s review we’re going back to basic brush lettering.

From past exercises I’m going to guess that your struggles are in one of a few areas:

• Unsure of where to release the pressure for an upstroke.
• Lefty and just unsure of hand position.
• Frustrated with your brush pen.

Have I got you covered?

Here is the post from #loveYOURlettering: Part 1 where we started out with brush lettering. Check that out and then come back to this post.

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Now let’s attack the common problems with basic brush lettering.

If varying the pressure is the sticking point for you, air on the side of less pressure. The only time you want pressure on the brush pen is during the down stroke. Leading into and coming out of the down stroke you will be releasing the pressure. Draw your letters a little bigger to allow for lead time while practicing your technique. Starting to small can be frustrating.

Are you a lefty unsure of how to hold the brush pen? Hold the pen similarly to how you hold a regular pen comfortably. Now whether your an over-writer, under-writer, or side-writer will determine how best to position your paper. Don’t be afraid to re-position until you can find the right combination of grip and paper angle to allow you to comfortably focus on the change between up and down strokes.

Are you just plain frustrated with the brush pen. Hang in there. There is a learning curve to finding control over the pressure variation. Starting with a smaller brush pen can help. The Fudenosuke pens are beginner and left-handed friendly. The small, sturdy tip is responsive and easier to write closer in size to your natural hand.

Devoting as little as ten minutes a day to explore and experiment with the brush pen can help immensely. The more you discover the nuances of the brush the sooner your style will emerge and improve.

Don’t give up, basic brush lettering can be fun!

Here is a video demonstration of my basic brush lettering alphabet:

Find all of the posts for #loveYOURlettering: Part 2 at this index post-

Recommended tools for beginning brush lettering: