Have you ever wondered how to make your lettering look like beautiful calligraphy with markers you have laying around the house? With two kids, two pets, and generally a house full of chaos I don’t always have the time or space to whip out all of my pointed pen calligraphy supplies. But I often have markers laying around (even if they are Crayola!) and think it’s fun to whip up cute sayings on regular printer paper. I’ll show you how to get that calligraphy look in this quick tutorial, with video below! Grab a pencil, an eraser and a marker and join me!
STEP ONE: WRITE OUT YOUR WORD OR PHRASE IN PENCIL
I like to use a ruler to make my lines straight, but that’s totally optional. Since it’s fall right now, I’m going to write “Sweater Weather”. Try not to fuss too much over the pencil draft. Just get a general idea of the look and placement of the letters.
STEP TWO: GO OVER YOUR PENCIL IN MARKER
You can simply trace over your lettering in marker or make modifications as you trace. Sometimes after seeing the pencil draft I’ll move things slightly when I go over with marker.
STEP THREE: THICKEN THE DOWNSTROKES
The secret to the calligraphy look? Any time your pen is pulling towards your body, that stroke should be THICK. Anytime you are pushing your pen away from your body it should be THIN. First I go through and simply add a line for thickness to each letter where I know the downstrokes occurred. Then I go back and fill them in. Voila!
STEP 4: ERASE PENCIL LINES
Erase your pencil lines, and you have a beautiful piece of hand lettering! You can apply this to handmade signs or your snail mail – wherever you are inspired.
If you want to learn how I write each letter, use brush pens, and apply all of that to addressing beautiful envelopes you should check out my online class: “A Calligrapher’s Guide to Envelope Addressing.” In the class you receive:
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A capital and lowercase letter hand lettering exemplar
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A template for addressing A7 and A2 envelopes
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Video lessons on each and every letter, how to use the template, and envelope art embellishments
You can take the class at your own pace in your pajamas with a glass of wine, and it never expires! If you have wedding invitations or holiday cards to address, you’ll definitely impress after taking this course. More info here!