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Calligraphy by Pauline Ibarra

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3 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR BRUSH LETTERING UNIQUE

August 2, 2018

Make Your Brush Lettering Unique via Happy Hands Project

Hello brush lettering beginners! How do you make your brush lettering pieces unique? You have mastered the technique of using the brush pen and you’re even able to write beautiful lettering with it. The next step now is to make your brush lettering unique and different from your usual pieces.

I started out just writing in straight lines. I would centralize the words then that’s it. That’s what beginners normally do. But how do you make your brush lettering unique? Here are 3 ways that I use to give my pieces a bit more oomph:

FORM A CURVE

Make Your Brush Lettering Unique via Happy Hands Project

Sketch some curves lightly on your paper so you can plan where to place your words. Keep the hierarchy in mind—the most important word should be biggest to create more impact. Write your words in a slight curve to make it more interesting. Make the curve a bit wide for easier readability. Steeper curves might be more difficult to write on and read.

WRITE DIAGONALLY

Make Your Brush Lettering Unique via Happy Hands Project

Draw your guidelines either freehand or with a ruler. You can position all your words in the middle or stagger them slightly. The most important thing is to pack your words close enough so you don’t create big gaps that would be noticeable. Fill those negative spaces!

BOUNCE YOUR LETTERS

Make Your Brush Lettering Unique via Happy Hands Project

If you haven’t tried this before, it may seem tricky because you would need to create a balance even when the letters do not touch the baseline. Draw your straight lines first. These will serve as a guide so you will still have letters that touch the baseline. The first letter of the word should touch the line first, then try raising and lowering the next few letters. Stop every so often to check the balance. If your letters seem to be going up, lower the next letter.

Bouncing letters requires some getting used to, but it’s a fun way to make your usual brush lettering style into something different.

There are endless styles that can make your brush lettering even more unique, so I’ll make sure to compile a new set next time. Now it’s time to practice! Looking for brush pen recommendations? You can hop here to see my favourite pens.

in calligraphy, lettering # brush, calligraphy, tips

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Hello! I’m Pauline and welcome to the Happy Hands Project! I’m a lettering artist and calligrapher located in Manila, Philippines.
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