LEARN HOW TO DO WATERCOLOR BLENDING LETTERING USING BRUSH PENS. THIS IS AN EASY STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNERS!

WATERCOLOR BLENDING LETTERING TUTORIAL

I made this video as part of our #LetteringPositiveVibes challenge. After posing my video on Instagram, I got a couple of questions about the watercolor blending, so I decided to make this quick tutorial to show you a simple way to do a watercolor blending technique using your brush markers.

Watercolor is not my strongest suit when it comes to lettering, so I decided to practice it more. The best way to make it a little less intimidating for me is to start with the supplies I know, brush pens. Water-based pens are great for watercolor because you can use their ink to produce watercolor projects!

If you’d like to know more about lettering challenges, check this blog post or head over to my Instagram @vialdesigns to learn more and join the challenge.

This step-by-step video tutorial shows you how to do watercolor blending lettering following 3 easy steps! The last 2 steps are optional but can take your piece to the next level.

I’m excited to show you this watercolor blending lettering tutorial! 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.

COLLABORATION WITH ARTEZA

Arteza recently reached out to me to collaborate. They are a premium art supplies company.  Even though I had not tried their products before, I’ve seen other artists on Instagram creating amazing pieces, so I was stoked for the opportunity to collaborate with them. They sent me a set of 48 TwiMarkers. This is my review and experience so far with these TwiMarkers:

They are…

• Dual-tip, which means they have a brush tip on one end and a Fine tip (0.4mm) on the other. I loved the fine tip. It’s delicate, and I think they are great for everyday writing, bullet journaling, and adding details to the letters.
• Water-based and have one hundred different colors. Great for watercolor and blending, which is what I decided to use them for on this tutorial.
• The one thing I noticed is that the brush tip of the pens is not super firm, which makes it harder to get thin upstrokes when I used them for lettering. For this reason, I think I will be using the brush pen side more for watercolor, coloring, and blending techniques because of all the color options they have!

I received the brush pens as a gift to try, but this is my honest review! I always give my honest opinion, beliefs, and experience with all and ANY products I share on this blog.

Also, I wanted to recognize their excellent communication. After working on the customer service field forever, I can always appreciate when companies treat their clients and partners with respect. This has been my experience with this collaboration and I’m glad I agreed to work with Arteza.

Tools Needed for this Watercolor Blending Lettering Tutorial:

Watercolor Blending Lettering Tutorial

Step 1:

Letter your word using a light gray marker. I used Arteza Cloud gray A219. This will give you a great base lettering to follow when you are adding the other color to blend.

Make sure you’re using a watercolor paper for this technique. Regular paper will not hold your brush pen lettering nor the water you’re going to use for the blending. 

Step2:

Using the color of your choice, cover the top part of the letter. I’m using an Arteza Arctic Blue A552.

Step 3:

Use a small brush dipped in water to blend the top color into the rest of the letter. Repeat the same process with the rest of the letters until you are done. 

Add water as needed. Adding more water will help dilute the color making it lighter. Keep this in mind when you are adding the water to the lettering. 

And that’s it! those are the 3 simple steps you can use to create beautiful watercolor blending lettering using your brush pens!

Step 4: (optional)

Outline your lettering using a fine tip marker. I used the Arteza TwiMarker Noir A101. This step is optional, but I just think that this adds character to your lettering piece.

Step 5: (optional)

Another thing you can do to embellish your lettering is to add shadows to your letters. To add shadows, you can use the same light gray marker you used for the based lettering.

Shadowing technique tip:

The key to shadows is consistency. I like to do my shadowing to the right and underneath of every stroke. Essentially you are recreating the letter, just slightly to the right and below. You could also do the left side and underneath. 

NEED HELP GETTING STARTED WITH LETTERING?

These blog posts will help you get started:

• How to start making beautiful letters today

• Best lettering tools for beginners

I hope you find this tutorial useful and are ready to try watercolor blending lettering. If this is your first try, aim for progress over perfection. Your early projects are not likely to be perfect — if that is even possible when it comes to lettering!

Be kind to yourself. We are our biggest critics. If you doubt that, come post a photo of your project in our Calligraphy Made Simple Facebook group and ask what folks think of it — you’ll be amazed at how others see the beauty even when you just see the mistakes.

I’d love to see your first projects — it’s fun and inspiring!!  Tag me @VialDesigns on Instagram and use the hashtag #learnwithvialdesigns.

Have a fantastic day!

Xo,

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