In a creative rut? The mail art ideas showcased in this blog post will inspire you to dazzle someone’s mailbox with innovative lettering, clever illustrations, and pretty postage.
Transforming an ordinary envelope into mail art offers an excellent way for calligraphy and lettering artists of all levels to practice their craft. The simple, transient nature of envelopes makes them an ideal medium for testing new techniques or revisiting favorite ones. Today, we’ll explore 12 artistic mail art ideas designed to get you excited about sending something beautiful in the mail.
It’s okay to let an illustration dominate your envelope! Try dedicating the space on the left to an artistic element — like this flourished bunny — and use the remaining space on the right for the address. (A flourished marinera dancer would also look amazing.)
Many artistic envelopes make good use of pointed pen calligraphy and lettering. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to know how to wield a pointed pen in order to create eye-catching mail art! Try experimenting with different lettering styles, graphic elements, and everyday pens.
If you don’t have time to draw, there’s another way to grace your envelopes with a dose of creativity: decoupage. This is also a great technique to use if you’re short on time! Just cut out your illustrated element/s, glue it onto the envelope, write out the address, and the envelope is ready.
If you prefer to put your return address on the front of your envelopes, try adding some embellishment. Emphasis is normally placed on the recipient’s address, so giving the return address some love is a surprising way to switch things up.
The front of an envelope usually takes center stage. Try switching things up by keeping the front of the envelope plain …
Then, make the back of your envelope pop with a cool illustration or flourish!
I love using ombré lettering to make a recipient’s name stand out on an artistic envelope! The trick is to write in pencil using faux calligraphy first, then fill in the empty downstrokes with watercolor or colored pencil.
There’s a time and a place for clean and professional-looking envelopes. Some days, though, you just want an envelope that expresses your creativity with lots of different doodles. To that end, draw flowers, branches, dots, whatever!
Try coordinating your envelope or calligraphy colors with the predominant color(s) of your postage stamps. Choose your stamps before you write, then pick your ink(s) accordingly.
If you’re at a loss for mail art themes, look no further than the season that we’re in! You can use themes from an upcoming holiday to cobble something together. (For those in the US, the Fourth of July would be a good theme right now.)
I love the look of quick, contrast-filled sketches. This fashionable sketch of a perfume bottle features the recipient’s address. If you can incorporate an address into your messy sketch like this, all the better.
Watercolor calligraphy is a unique technique that will leave your recipient wondering how you achieved such a cool effect! You can learn how to write with all different colors of watercolor in the How to Create Watercolor Calligraphy tutorial.
You don’t have to stick to one medium per envelope — feel free to experiment! The envelope below was created using felt-tip pens, a dip pen, and graphite pencils.
I hope that you enjoyed these fun mail art ideas! Here are a few tips for success:
I know that many people are hesitant about the post office’s reaction to artistic envelopes. Try to follow the advice in the From Creation to Destination: Mastering Mail Art Delivery article, and your envelope will have a good chance of being delivered.
Happy mailing,
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