Can you commit to a month of FREE lettering videos and tips to help you learn to love your own penmanship and lettering?

Love Your Lettering was originally written in October of 2015. It is time for an update and now seems like the perfect time for a Love Your Lettering update!

My own love for calligraphy and hand-lettering began back in middle school and has never faded…

The goal for the Love Your Lettering series is not to teach you how to write just like me, but to develop the techniques you need to grow your confidence in your own unique handwriting and lettering style!

Whether you are looking to improve your penmanship for writing in your planner, sending out snail mail, taking notes, or you are interested in getting started with basic calligraphy skills and hand-lettering techniques, I can help you!

Disclaimer: I’m a left-handed letterer. I also can demonstrate proper grip with my right hand, so I won’t leave the righties stranded.

Why is Love YOUR Lettering free? What is the catch?

I am committed to giving you quality instruction that truly builds your skills and confidence, this series will give you full access to blog posts and instructional videos that give step by step guidance as well as live broadcasts to help answer your specific lettering and penmanship questions. The series is free because I understand that you may want to purchase the suggested supplies to follow along each week. I don’t want you to choose between having good tools and good instruction, I want you to have both!

What supplies do you need for Love YOUR Lettering?

I want to keep the costs of starting your lettering journey as low as possible without sacrificing quality, because using inferior supplies can be frustrating!

The Love YOUR Lettering series progresses through four weeks of introductory lettering techniques and habits.

While this is not an exhaustive list, the following supplies are the basic tools suggested to successfully follow along each week, links included are affiliate links (Please read the full disclosure policy for more information.):

Week 1: Basic Penmanship and Creative Lettering

Using a good pencil and/or pen we will look at our natural handwriting, break down the components of proper letter formation, revisit foundational letter forms, and introduce creative aspects of lettering. You will use the same notebook throughout the series. The Rhodia DotPad is my preference because of the paper quality, but a grid/graph composition book is a good start for a tighter budget. A good set of colored pencils are also helpful during this week.

Week 2: Broad Nib Calligraphy

Making use of a broad nib (or chisel tip) calligraphy marker we will discuss proper grip and angles for producing basic print and italic calligraphy hands. You will only need one type of calligraphy pen. I will demonstrate using a felt-tip calligraphy pen as well as a Parallel pen.

Week 3: Basic Brush Lettering

I know this is really why you’re here. Don’t worry, I love brush lettering too. We’ll dive into basic brush lettering and modern calligraphy using brush pens. The Fudenosuke pens receive my highest recommendation for beginning brush lettering. These fine nib brushes help to introduce the variations of pressure between up and down strokes while lettering. We will begin the technique with pencil to practice to help preserve our nibs.

Week 4: Watercolor Lettering and Combining Styles

During our final week, we take the basics and stretch our boundaries a bit while exploring lettering techniques with watercolor. The Tombow Beginning Brush Lettering Set contains a number of the supplies I’ll use throughout the series.

Do you want to receive a daily reminder for the day’s lesson?

Sign up here for daily emails during the series:

How will I receive the Love YOUR Lettering assignments?

Each day the full instructions will be posted here on the blog along with a YouTube video of technique demonstration (yes, all the old videos are finally being edited). You are welcome to subscribe above, so that you will receive an assignment reminder email Monday-Friday during the month, with a link to the day’s post.

Please join the FB group to share your work with others working through the series. You can also ask your lettering questions within the group to help with any techniques that you struggle with.

During the month of May:

Thursday evenings at 9:30pm (Eastern) I will be live on Periscope for your questions and additional demonstrations.

Friday afternoons at 1:00pm (Eastern) I will be live on Facebook for your questions and additional demonstrations.

I’m so excited to work through the series with you!

If you have any questions about what the month will hold, please email me, comment below, or post your question in our new FB group.

The post Love YOUR Lettering Update! appeared first on CreativLEI.

Lettering on a flat surface only requires to ability to create letters. When we move to alternative surfaces, like a pumpkin, river rocks, or a glass ball ornament, we need to consider the curves as we lay down our lettering. As a lefty, it also means I need to get creative about keeping my hand out of wet ink!

Disclosure: Many of the links used on this site are affiliate and referral links. If you click on and purchase through these links I may make a small commission (sometimes it’s literally pennies, but whatevs). That commission is at no extra expense to you, which is pretty awesome. I value your trust and only link to products I use, love, or am saving up my birthday money to buy. You can read my full disclosure statement for more information. Feel free to ask any question you have regarding these links.

Clean your surface to prepare for lettering.

I wiped down my pumpkin with a damp paper towel. Anything from nature that your lettering on will need a simple surface wipe so that you don’t damage your pens with dust and dirt. (For a glass ornament, clean it with a bit of window cleaner to make sure fingerprints are gone.)

Use chalk to plan your lettering design.

When I want to be sure my lettering will fit, I sketch out my design in chalk before lettering with the paint pen. While drawing monograms I’m more likely to just put the pen to the surface. I’m wild and crazy like that.

Use good paint pens for satisfying results when lettering on alternative surfaces.

I prefer the water-based paint pens because the color lays down nice and opaque right from the start. Oil-based pens tend to need a few layers of paint to stand out boldly, and take longer to dry between layers which is not good for a lefty.

Add doodles to pull it all together.

Simple frames or wreaths, or added doodles like spiderwebs, really help to pull the whole design into a complete look. I like to use a contrasting color with an extra-fine point for these final details.

Protect your finished work with a spray coating.

If you are keeping your decor outside, or if they are indoor decorations that you wish to store for another season (NOT fresh pumpkins), spray a thin layer of protective spray paint on your finished work. My preference is the clear coat from Krylon. Be sure to spray outside, or in a very well-ventilated area. 

Here’s a video demonstration of lettering on a pumpkin (and a foam craft pumpkin):

Some supply recommendations:

Find more posts in #loveYOURlettering: Part 2 here-

The post Lettering on a Pumpkin appeared first on CreativLEI.

Disclosure: Many of the links used on this site are affiliate and referral links. If you click on and purchase through these links I may make a small commission (sometimes it’s literally pennies, but whatevs). That commission is at no extra expense to you, which is pretty awesome. I value your trust and only link to products I use, love, or am saving up my birthday money to buy. You can read my full disclosure statement for more information. Feel free to ask any question you have regarding these links.

For this project I’m working on a small square chalkboard I found in the Target One Spot (or as I like to call it, the $20 spot, if you know what I mean). These techniques could be applied to bigger pieces and chalkboard painted walls.

First you season your chalkboard surface.

Why do you have to season the chalkboard?

Don’t you want that nice crisp black background?

Well, yes and no. You season the surface to avoid any ghosting from old chalk marks. This initial layer of chalk dust gives a good surface to work on without damaging the primary layer of the chalkboard paint finish. Don’t worry about that sharp black background, we’ll talk more about that in a minute. 

To create a nice point on blunt craft chalk, I use a pencil sharpener. The metal sharpeners that are enclosed in a plastic case work great for this (once you get over the sensory issues of sharpening chalk).

Then start sketching out your lettering.

Don’t worry if it doesn’t come out the first time. Mine very rarely never does. But, that’s the beauty of chalk. It’s cheap and easy to restart.

I work in sections so that I can erase parts that I need to redo while leaving the portions I’m satisfied with.

Once I have the lettering the way I like it, I go back with a dampened cotton swab and draw in drop shadows. Now you’ve got that crisp black showing through to make your lettering POP!

Add doodles and frames to create a finished look.

Simple frames, banners, or doodles really help to complete the piece.

Once you start with these small projects, you can apply what you learned to projects much bigger. This is the chalk wall of my studio. I only change it out every few months, because once I finally put all the pieces I like together I like to enjoy it for a while. I try to switch it up with the seasons.

Watch this video demonstration of how I work on a small chalkboard:

Supplies I use for chalkboard lettering:

For more posts in Part 2 of #loveYOURlettering, visit:

The post Chalkboard Lettering appeared first on CreativLEI.

This week is definitely a more ‘artsy’ week, but I’m still going to keep it completely ‘do-able.’ After building up your lettering repertoire, we’re taking our skills onto various surfaces, starting with lettering on canvas.

One of my favorite aspects of lettering is that it can be used in such interesting ways. You are not bound to a notebook and drill papers!

Disclosure: Many of the links used on this site are affiliate and referral links. If you click on and purchase through these links I may make a small commission (sometimes it’s literally pennies, but whatevs). That commission is at no extra expense to you, which is pretty awesome. I value your trust and only link to products I use, love, or am saving up my birthday money to buy. You can read my full disclosure statement for more information. Feel free to ask any question you have regarding these links.

You can create simple lettered canvases.

Canvases are easy to find locally. Michaels often runs good sales throughout the year and that’s when I stock up on a large variety of canvas sizes. I like to have everything from tiny ‘ornament’ sized to giant wall canvases ready in my stash.

Hand-lettered canvases make great gifts.

Start by painting a simple background. With two analogous (on the same wedge of the color wheel) colors, you can create an easy ombre effect. You could certainly use more colors, but I’m keeping it simple so that you will be willing to try.

This background was accomplished using simple craft paints. I prefer the satin finish and there are tons of colors available very inexpensively, especially during a sale.

After painting the background, you have to allow it time to dry completely before beginning to letter.

On small canvases I may pencil out a basic layout on scrap paper so that I can work out spacing, or I can letter off-the-cuff.

For a larger canvas, once the paint is well-dried, I may sketch my layout lightly with chalk before lettering with a paint pen.

Paint pens make lettering on canvas quick and clean.

You could certainly use a paintbrush to letter on canvases, but since we’re talking about just getting started, paint pens are a perfect tool for beginning to letter on canvases.

I prefer the water-based paint pens. The paint goes on nice and opaque. You could use an oil-based pen if that is all that’s available to you. Keep in mind that it will take longer to dry between layers and may soak into the canvas, requiring more than two coats for adequate coverage.

Mix lettering styles for a fun and interesting look.

To ensure durability, I like to spray my finished canvases with a clear protective coating. This gives it a nice shine and once cured is easy to clean.

Some recommended supplies for this project:

Watch my video demonstration of lettering on canvas:

Find all the posts in this series here:

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