TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3 Tools & Supplies ...... 4 How to Use Your Brush (Pen) ...... 5
MINISCULES 7 Underturn Stroke & Letters (i, u, t) ...... 8 Skinny Loop Letters (w, r, o) ...... 9 Little Tick Stroke & Letters (w, r) ...... 10 Overturn Stroke & Letters (r)...... 11 Compound Curve Stroke & Letters (v, p, n, m, x) ...... 11 Oval Stroke & Letters (a, d, o) ...... 14 Open Oval Letters (c, e)...... 15 Ascending Loop Stroke & Letters (h, f) ...... 16 Lowercase K ...... 18 Loop Turn Stroke & Letters (l, b) ...... 19 Descending Loop 1 Stroke & Letters (q, f) ...... 20 Descending Loop 2 Stroke & Letters (j, y, g) ...... 23 Descending Loop 2 Variations & Letters (z, p, b, s, x) ...... 26
MAJUSCULES 29 Upsized Letters (N, M, J, Y, S, X) ...... 30 Old Stroke Letters Underturn (U, A) ...... 34 Ascending & Descending Loop 2 (I, H) ...... 35 Descending Loop 2 Variations (P, B, D, R) ...... 36 Majuscule Oval Stroke & Letters (O, Q) ...... 39 Majuscule Downstroke & Letters ( T, F, Z, K) ...... 40 Lead-in Strokes & Letters Compound Curve (V, W) ...... 44 Spiral (I, J) ...... 47 Curve (C, A, G, E, L) ...... 49
EXTRA PRACTICES 54 Warmup Drills Practice Sheet ...... 55 A to Z Tracer Practice Sheet ...... 56 Tricky Ligatures Worksheet ...... 58 Pangram Practice Worksheet ...... 60 Blank Practice Sheets ...... 61
EXEMPLARS | INDEX 63 Basic Strokes Cheatsheet ...... 64 Miniscule Exemplar ...... 65 Majuscule Exemplar ...... 66 Welcome to the wonderful world of brush lettering — the art of drawing letters with a brush! Before we get started with actual lettering, I want to take the opportunity to introduce you to a handful of important terms that you should know when it comes to lettering.
WHAT IS LETTERING?
Lettering is literally the drawing of letters. Dip pen, illustrated letters, brush… They all fall under the huge umbrella that is lettering. Brush lettering is simply identifies the tool that's used!
Is brush lettering and modern calligraphy the same thing?
Brush lettering is o�ten confused with modern callig, and no, they aren't the same! Modern calligraphy is a type of brush lettering, but you can do Copperplate brush calligraphy as well — that is still brush lettering.
Modern calligraphy on the other hand, refers specifically to non-traditional styles of (usually script) lettering. Usually, when someone is talking about modern calligraphy, they are talking about bounce lettering!
In this workbook, we'll be learning how to use a brush pen — or paint brush — to letter a script style that is similar to Copperplate calligraphy. This will serve as a good foundation for you to later branch o�f into creating your own styles of modern calligraphy in the future.
'Modern’ calligraphy has been making the rounds lately and if you're here — that's probably what you want to learn! But before we get all into the details, here's one thing you need to remember: calligraphy is not cursive.
Cursive is joined up writing; you ideally write without li�ting your pen so you can write faster. While calligraphy can look similar, the key is to go slow and to break down each and every letter into its supporting strokes.
THE BASIC STROKES
ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
DESCENDER LINE
While a lot of traditional calligraphy looks like cursive, it is important to remember that they are not the same thing! In cursive, you ideally write without li�ting your pen so you can write faster. That's why it's also called ‘joined-up writing’. Calligraphy, on the other hand, is done slowly, and each letter is broken down into basic strokes.
As dull as it sounds, brush lettering is made up of 9 common strokes illustrated above. With these strokes alone, you can form 21 out of the 26 letters in the lowercase alphabet — and some of the capital letters too!
These strokes are the foundation of your brush calligraphy alphabet, and this workbook is structured around these very same strokes!
3 HOW THIS WORKS
This workbook is designed to build on skills you already have. Assuming you start at zero, you'll learn one basic stroke, followed by the letters you can make with it. Then you'll learn another stroke, followed by the letters you can make with those two strokes you now know — and so on and so forth.
This way, you can easily �lip to any stroke you're having trouble with and have a whole bunch of letters to practice with all put together!
UNDERTURN STROKE & LETTERS
WAIST LINE
skinny all turn + li�t the way up BASE LINE
3
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
Each section will show you the new stroke you're learning on the le�t — with all the tips involved — followed by the letters you'll be learning on the right. The first line is for you to practice the new stroke; first by tracing, then alternating tracing and doing it on your own.
A�ter that, you can attempt the letters! First, trace the strokes involved separately, then tackle them on your own. Next, try putting them together (again with the trace first before doing it without). This pattern helps you see your mistakes and correct it right away so you build the right muscle memory!
As tempting as it may be, don't rush your way through the book all at once! Master each set of letters before moving on to the next. Even if you know the strokes already, following the structure laid out here will help you refamiliarise yourself with the basics, learn the alphabet AND make the most of your practice time!
4 TOOLS YOU NEED
Clockwise from le�t top corner: 1. Workbook — this workbook will guide you through the learning the alphabet! Print it out on smooth paper like PaperOne 100gsm Digital, Rhodia, Muji or Campus looseleaf. 2. Tracing Paper — if you'd like to save on printing, tracing paper is great for practicing! Just lay it over your workbook! 3. Brush Pens — for brush lettering, of course. Beginner friendly pens include Tombow Fudenosuke Hard, Pentel Touch Sign, Artline Stix and Sakura Koi Coloring Pen 4. Brushes — An alternative to the brush pen is a real paintbrush (and paint, see #5). Brush lettering can be done with a regular round brush in size 0-2, but my personal favourites are the Sakura Koi Water Brush #2, and Daler Rowney Graduate Rigger #1. 5. Watercolour Palette — any watercolours you can find would do!
5 HOW TO USE YOUR BRUSH (PEN)
There are three important things you need to know about handling a brush or brush pen: your grip, angle and pressure.
Holding a brush pen or a brush for brush lettering isn't too di�ferent from your standard writing grip — as long as you have a fairly standard grip, you shouldn't have to make any major adjustments, if at all.
Whether or not you need to make adjustments depends on the angle you hold your pen. If you tend to grip your pen really close to the tip, you'll need to adjust and move your hand further up the barrel so you can have a gentle angle.
Ideally, your pen should have a 40-50 degree angle from the paper… which allows you to do the last and most important thing when it comes to brush lettering. It allows you to apply di�ferent amounts of pressure on the side of your �lexible brush tip so you can get thick and thin lines.
When you get a brush pen, the first thing you should do is to get to know it — what are the thinnest steadiest lines you can make? What are the thickest? Bear in mind that this might change a little over time as you break in the pen and as your skills improve!
The fundamental rule in calligraphy is that upstrokes are skinny while downstrokes are thick. This is where your first two strokes come in — the upstroke and the downstroke.
In the practice lines given below, practice your upstrokes and downstrokes and get to know your brush pen! Start with the traceable guides and then alternate between doing it on your own in the blank space provided and tracing.
Once you've got the hang of that, let's move on to the rest of the alphabet!
6
UNDERTURN STROKE & LETTERS
WAIST LINE
skinny all turn + li�t the way up BASE LINE
3
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
W 2 3
B 1
ASCENDER LINE 2 3 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1
8 SKINNY LOOP LETTERS
W 2 3
B 1
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
9 WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
LITTLE TICK & LETTERS
WAIST LINE li�t fast + turn
BASE LINE
W 2 3 4
B 1
2 WAIST LINE 3
BASE LINE 1
10 OVERTURN STROKE & LETTER
WAIST LINE press down + turn
BASE LINE
3 WAIST LINE
2
BASE LINE 1
COMPOUND CURVE STROKE & LETTERS
press + turn WAIST LINE
full pressure
skinny all turn + li�t the way up! BASE LINE
11 WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1
2 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1 3
DESCENDER LINE
12 W
B 1 2
W
B 1 2 3
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1 2
13 OVAL STROKE & LETTERS
press + turn WAIST LINE full pressure perpen. to slant
li�t + turn skinny join up! BASE LINE
W 3 2
B 1
ASCENDER LINE 3
WAIST LINE 2 BASE LINE 1
14 WAIST LINE 3 2
BASE LINE 1
OPEN OVAL LETTERS
W 2
B 1
WAIST LINE
2
BASE LINE 1
15 ASCENDING LOOP STROKE & LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE turn + press
skinny up! WAIST LINE
*keep inside mostly straight! BASE LINE
ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1 3
16 ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1 3
DESCENDER LINE
17 Lowercase ‘K’ is *the* oddball of the alphabet. While many of the other letters build up on one another, the strokes you learn to draw this particular letter don't appear in any other letters – except capital letter ‘K’ (pg 42). In this section, you'll learn two ways to write the arm-and-leg bit (that is, the shorter part that sits between the waist line and base line) of the lowercase ‘K’ before putting them together to form the letter itself.
li�t + turn WAIST LINE (mirrored tick)
press + turn
li�t + turn (sharper angle!) BASE LINE
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 2 3
DESCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE press + turn
press + turn li�t + turn
BASE LINE li�t + turn (sharper angle!)
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 2 3 DESCENDER LINE 1
18 LOOP TURN STROKE & LETTERS
turn ASCENDER LINE + press
skinny up!
WAIST LINE
li�t + turn *keep inside BASE LINE mostly straight!
ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
19 ASCENDER LINE
3 WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
DESCENDING LOOP 1 & LETTERS
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
*keep inside li�t + turn mostly straight! DESCENDER LINE
20 WAIST LINE 3 2 BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
ASCENDER LINE 2
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
21 ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
22 DESCENDING LOOP 2 & LETTERS
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
li�t + turn *keep inside mostly straight! DESCENDER LINE
3 WAIST LINE 2 BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
23 WAIST LINE 2 3
BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
24 WAIST LINE 3 2 BASE LINE 1
DESCENDER LINE
25 DESCENDING LOOP 2 VARIATIONS & LETTERS
BASE LINE press + turn
skinny up! li�t + turn DESCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE 1 2
BASE LINE 3
DESCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE press + turn
skinny up
BASE LINE li�t + turn
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE 1 3
DESCENDER LINE
26 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 2
DESCENDER LINE 1 3
27 WAIST LINE press down gradually + turn
full pressure skinny up! turn + li�t BASE LINE
W 2
B 1
W turn + press turn + press
li�t + turn li�t + turn B
28
Uppercase letters are a bit more complicated compared to lowercase.. We begin with the easiest: letters that are simply their lowercase counterparts upsized to fit the greater space uppercase letters require, as well as letters that only use strokes you've learnt in the lowercase section of this workbook.
A�ter that, we'll introduce strokes unique to the uppercase alphabet and build your repetoire from there.
UPSIZED LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1 2
A
W
B 1 2 2
30 ASCENDER LINE 2 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
DESCENDER LINE
31 ASCENDER LINE 2
WAIST LINE 1
BASE LINE
DESCENDER LINE
32 ASCENDER LINE 2
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 1
ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
33 UNDERTURN LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE 2
WAIST LINE 1
BASE LINE
34 ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE 3
BASE LINE 2
ASCENDING & DESCENDING LOOP LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE
1 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
35 ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
DESCENDING LOOP 2 VARIATION LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE
36 ASCENDER LINE 1 2
WAIST LINE 3
BASE LINE
ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE 2
BASE LINE
37 ASCENDER LINE 1 2 3 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
38 MAJS. OVAL STROKE & LETTERS
press + turn ASCENDER LINE full pressure perpen. to slant
WAIST LINE
li�t + turn skinny join up! BASE LINE
ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
39 ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 2
MAJS. DOWNSTROKE & LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE press + turn
WAIST LINE (optional) dot the end turn + li�t BASE LINE
40 ASCENDER LINE 2 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
ASCENDER LINE 2 1
WAIST LINE 3
BASE LINE
41 ASCENDER LINE 2 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 3
ASCENDER LINE 1 2 3 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
42 43 Lead-in strokes are an interesting bunch of strokes a budding calligrapher should get familiar with! Unlike the basic strokes we've learnt early on, these strokes don't form the main body of any letter. Instead, they are decorative strokes that come before the main letter — which is why they are called lead-in strokes! They keep our capital letters from looking big, clunky and boring!
In this section, you'll be introduced to three common lead-in strokes and the letters they are typically used in. Keep in mind that these examples are by no means exhaustive! Once you've mastered these strokes, experiment away! Put them on other letters, or tweak the strokes to look di�ferent — or both!
COMPOUND CURVE LEAD-IN STROKE & LETTERS
press + turn A
full pressure skinny all turn + li�t the way up!
W
ASCENDER LINE 2 1 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 3
44 ASCENDER LINE 2 4 1 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE 3 5
45 Up for a little challenge? Try putting this first lead-in stroke on the letters H and K, which you've already learnt!
46 SPIRAL LEAD-IN STROKE & LETTERS
press + turn ASCENDER LINE
turn + li�t skinny up!
WAIST LINE
ASCENDER LINE 2 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
47 ASCENDER LINE 2 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
DESCENDER LINE
48 CURVE LEAD-IN STROKE & LETTERS
ASCENDER LINE
WAIST LINE
ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
49 ASCENDER LINE 1 2 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
ASCENDER LINE 1 2 WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
DESCENDER LINE
50 ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
51 ASCENDER LINE 1
WAIST LINE
BASE LINE
52 The curve is the easiest way to embellish a regular majuscule. Try it with the letters B, D and R!
53
PRACTICE SHEET
55 TRACER PRACTICE SHEET
56 57 WORKSHEET
You've learnt the letters — now it's time to join them up to form words! (Finally, I know!) With the style covered in this book, most ligatures are pretty standard. You may have noticed most lowercase letters you've learnt have an entrance stroke and a ‘tail’ following it. Simply join the tail of your first letter to the entrance stroke of the next and you're good to go! There are a few ligatures (the fancy term for joining letters) that are trickier though. In this section, you have the more common tricky ligatures to practice — with traceable letters, of course!
58 59 PRACTICE WORKSHEET
Pangrams are sentences that use all the letters in the alphabet. It's an easy way to practice all your letters at once and check your work for spacing and consistency! Besides warmup drills, you can also fall back on pangrams to test out next brush pens. This worksheet uses the pangram “the five boxing wizards jump quickly” — but there are tons of other pangrams you can use out there! “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is another popular favourite!
60 BLANK SMALL
61 62
BASIC STROKES CHEATSHEET
steady constant pressure skinny all steady over turn + li�t the way up skinny!
press down press + turn + turn
full pressure
skinny all turn + li�t the way up!
press turn + turn + press full pressure perpen. to slant skinny up!
li�t + turn *keep inside skinny join up! mostly straight! li�t + turn *keep inside mostly straight!
64 MINISCULE EXEMPLAR | INDEX*
14 20 28 15 14 15 17 21
22 25 16 8 23 18 18
19 13 13 10 15 12
27 21 9 10 11 29 8 8 12
12 9 10 13 29
24 24 26
* To find which page the traceable practice lines for each letter are on, refer to the page number in the circles below the respective letter.
65 MAJUSCULE EXEMPLAR | INDEX*
35 50 37 49 37 51
41 50 36 35 47 41
48 42 52 30 30
39 37 40 38 33
41 34 44 45
33 32 42
* To find which page the traceable practice lines for each letter are on, refer to the page number in the circles below the respective letter.
66