The best brush pen calligraphy supplies for beginners. Everything you need to start learning modern calligraphy using brush pens.

THE BEST CALLIGRAPHY SUPPLIES FOR BEGINNERS

Last year, I created a blog post showcasing the best supplies for pointed-pen calligraphy. Then this week, I realized I’ve never done a blog post showing you the best calligraphy supplies for brush pen calligraphy.

So, I had to fix that, and in this blog post, I’m sharing THE BEST supplies you need for brush pen calligraphy.

Side note: While it is essential to get the right tools, nothing beats practice.

Practice is the most important thing you can do to improve your calligraphy skills. You don’t need expensive tools to start learning calligraphy. All you need is a pen and paper, which you most likely already have. In this blog post, I show you how you can start learning calligraphy.

This post may contain some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy here. 

BRUSH PENS

First, I’ll start with the brush pens I recommend – from small-tip to large-tip brush pens.

I won’t go into detail regarding the brush pens.  Because I do that in this blog post for that. These are some of my favorite pens. The ones I’ve tried and recommend to anyone starting brush pen calligraphy.

SMALL TIP BRUSH PENS

Tombow Fudenosuke Hard, Soft, and Twin Tip.

Tombow Fudenosuke Colors.

These pens are relatively new. They were launched into the world in September last year. If you’d like to know more about these brush pens, I have a detailed review of them in this blog post.

Pentel Touch Sign Pen, Fude Brush Tip

LARGE TIP BRUSH PENS

I prefer and recommend small-tip brush pens for beginners as they are easier to control. But if you’re starting, you can also use brush pens with a larger tip. These are the ones I recommend:

Tombow Dual Brush Pens.

Artline Stix Brush Pens.

Sharpie Stained Fabric Markers, Brush Tip

I know these markers are for fabric, but they are SO juicy and incredible to write on paper too!

PAPER

Using the right paper for calligraphy is SO important to protect your brush pens. After all, you don’t want to spend money on good brush pens only to damage them with poor quality paper.

And which one is the best paper for calligraphy? I’m glad you asked.

When it comes to paper, the smoother, the better, if you don’t believe there is such a thing as a super smooth paper, then try it for yourself. Get one sheet of paper I recommend below and one sheet of regular printer paper. Run your hands across the paper and feel the difference.

Here are the top 3 kinds of paper I recommend for brush pen calligraphy:

HP Printer Premium Paper – 32lb

This HP Printer premium paper is one of my favorites! I use this paper daily. This is NOT the same as regular printer paper. It’s way smoother. Remember, it’s all about the smoothness (is that even a word?) of the paper.

Rhodia Pad

Rhodia pads are my second favorite. They come in 3 different types: dot, plain, and graph. So you can pick whichever you like best. I love the “graph” one.

The dot pad is my second favorite of the three. It still has guidelines, but they are not as prominent. Another great thing about these pads is that they come in different sizes.

Strathmore Tracing Pad

Tracing paper is like the best of both worlds. It gives you the smoothness of regular paper with the visibility you need when you need to trace your work.

If you are anything like me, then writing on books is almost like a sin, even when they provide practice pages. Writing on my calligraphy or hand lettering books is a no-no for me. That’s when tracing paper comes to save you (or your book for that matter).

You can use tracing paper to go over the calligraphy guides and practice in a more structured way.

Other tools you will need:

• Practice worksheets

As I mentioned before practice is super important to become better at calligraphy. Especially when you are a beginner and you are getting the hang of your new brush pens.

I got started learning calligraphy with some Free Worksheets I found online. Then, as I wanted to progress more, I invested in Calligraphy Worksheets. Also, purchased several worksheets from amazing calligraphers.

Now that I’ve learned how to make my own, I want to share them with you so you can start learning too!

• Modern Calligraphy Books and Workbooks

UPDATE:

After a lot of requests, I finally finished my Modern Calligraphy Workbook for beginners.  I included everything you need to start learning Modern Calligraphy Today!

Everything I’ve learned and everything I wish I knew when I first started is on this workbook!

I’ve received amazing feedback since I launched it and that’s why I’m sharing it with you. The best part is that it’s an instant download! So you’ll have access to it right away to get practicing and learning!

I LOVE BOOKS!

I’m borderline obsessed with calligraphy and self-help books. These are the top 3 modern calligraphy books I recommend for beginners. I’m listing them in alphabetical order by name and not by any order of preference.

Of course, I think the best one is mine, but I don’t offer a printed version at the moment.

I’d love for you to have different options for learning modern calligraphy- that’s why I’m sharing these calligraphy books with you!

I own them all and I know any of these books is going to give you so much knowledge.

BRUSH LETTERING FROM A TO Z:: A Fun and Comprehensive Guide to Creating Modern Calligraphy with a Brush Pen by Emma White.

This is a comprehensive book, and I recommend it for beginners. It covers the basics, materials, getting started, basic strokes, alphabets, forming words, numbers, symbols, advanced techniques, project ideas, and troubleshooting.

This book also has a few tips for lefties. I like that this book provides a lot of space for practice. Now, I’m not one to write on books, but this is when the tracing paper I mentioned above comes in handy.

THE ULTIMATE BRUSH LETTERING GUIDE: A complete step-by-step creative workbook to jump-start modern calligraphy skills by Peggy Dean.

This book covers everything as the book above. Something new that the book above doesn’t cover is how to photograph your work and step-by-step DIY projects where you can apply your calligraphy skills.

This version has her lettering through the book. I appreciate that she wrote a whole book by hand, but I can understand how it can be a little overwhelming for some people to read. The picture above shows a recent version of the book. I don’t know if the lettering has changed.

LETTERING WITH PURPOSE: Creative Techniques and prompts for making meaningful, inspirational hand-lettered art by Brittany Luiz.

This book is a little bit more advanced. It is excellent for beginners, but it takes it a step further, like showing you how to digitize your lettering.

It has several alphabet ideas and advanced techniques. This book also gives you many tutorials on creating different styles of art prints.

• PENCILS:

HB Pencils are my favorite. Any pencil really will do, but I always try to use Tombow Pencils. This is because I like their quality and are easier to erase.

•  ERASERS:

It’s always tempting to use the eraser at the end of your pencil, but I highly suggest investing in a quality eraser. It will make your life easier when it comes to erasing pencil sketches and guidelines. I highly recommend the Tombow Plastic Eraser for erasing the pencil. And the Tombow Sand Eraser for erasing harder things like ink. This eraser works best on thick paper because it works by removing the top layer of your paper.

Final thoughts…

I gave you a comprehensive list of the best calligraphy supplies for beginners. Now, you don’t have to buy everything, pick one to try, then move to the next. Choose what works best for you. Also, don’t let the lack of calligraphy supplies stop you from starting calligraphy.

If you want to start today, all you need is a pen and paper. Practice until you get the basics down, then move to the next step once you get your calligraphy tools.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful. and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

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