Hand Lettering: Water Brush 101

Hello everyone!

I have an exciting announcement to share with you all!  Those that follow me on Instagram have probably already heard, but for those who haven’t, I’m happy to share with you that I was chosen to be a brush lettering tutor on the Random Olive Tutor Team!

You can read more about the Tutor Team and the other awesome tutors by clicking here.

Olivia from Random Olive is a fantastic letterer that I discovered on Instagram many months ago.  She does a lot with watercolor and water brush lettering!  I’ve been using brush pens for over a year now and after being chosen for her Tutor Team, I have decided to give water brush lettering a try!

I’m starting my water brush lettering journey with a few basic supplies:

• Liquid Watercolor (I used the Artist’s Loft brand from Michaels)
• Water Brush (This is the Pentel Aquash Water Brush, Medium)
• Practice Sheets (I used the Comprehensive Brush Letter Practice Guide)
• Paint Palette

The Brush Letter Guide I linked above is quite large!  I only printed off the first ten pages or so to start.

I mainly focused on the basic strokes (down stroke, up stroke, and combinations of the two) during my first practice session.

I started with the basic down stroke page.

Using a water brush is completely different than using a brush pen, so while this exercise may look super easy, it’s actually a tad difficult!

As you can see, I had trouble with consistentcy! That’s something that can be fixed with practice though!

Here is some of my “U” practice.

It’ll take me a while to get used to all the moving bristles of a water brush!

Pentel makes their Aquash pens in several different sizes.  I bought a medium tip because that is all they had at Michaels.  After this first round of practice, I have decided that a small tipped brush may be easier for me and produce better lettering!

I’ve found the small brush on Amazon and will be purchasing it very soon!

In the meantime, here is a photo of my first attempt at letters.

As you can see, the medium brush (or maybe it’s just me!) makes the letters rather chunky looking!  I think with a smaller brush, I will be able to produce better letters.

I’ll be back again soon with more water brush lettering updates!  In the meantime, follow me on Instagram for more lettering fun! 🙂

Happy Lettering!