Simple Modern Brush Lettering Tutorial

Have you noticed how popular modern brush lettering has become lately? Everywhere you look, you’re likely to spot an example, from the H&M logo to artwork on Etsy. I think that brush lettering is popular now because of its spontaneity, contrast, and carefree look. It’s a refreshing style when a person is used to neatness and order in art and typography!

Here’s a not-so-surprising secret about modern brush lettering, though: you can easily create it yourself in less than five minutes. To start, do a “dry run” with any pen on a piece of scrap paper. You can use your own handwriting {or a variation of your own handwriting} to create this dry run, as I have done in the photo below.

The “dry run” will allow you to come up with an approximate layout.

Once you have created the dry run, it’s a good idea to go through and make measurements so you can properly space out your final piece. In this way, you can make sure everything is nice and centered; you can see below that I need to move all the lines to the right a bit.

When you’ve figured out your spacing, use faint pencil marks on the paper you intend to make your lettering on to show where each line of text will begin and end.

Now, prepare your brush and ink. I am using black Winsor & Newton calligraphy ink, but, honestly, you can use any ink/watercolor/paint you happen to have at hand! For this project, I am using a medium-small brush; but you can use any size of brush you want. Just remember that the size of the brush will influence the heaviness of the stroke.

From there, you’ll start painting according to the layout you planned in your dry run. The process is quick and organic; I recommend just writing in whatever style you want without thinking about it too much. However, if you’re more comfortable referencing an exemplar, you can take a look at the images below.

Uppercase letters:

Lowercase letters:

{You can download a printable exemplar sheet with these letters on it by clicking here.}

Again, no need to emulate the letters in the exemplar images; feel free to use your own style or handwriting! I have only provided the exemplars in case you need some guidance. Some general tips I would suggest are:

• Write with an upright slant.
• Connect some letters, but let others stand alone; I like modern brush lettering that is written in a mixture of cursive and print. {You can also write exclusively in print … perhaps in a messier version of the Sans Serif style.}
• Write quickly, without thinking about it too much. The point of modern brush lettering like this is spontaneity!

Once you are finished writing, allow your ink to dry, then erase your guidelines.

Then, voilà! You’re finished!

This truly is one of the quickest/easiest tutorials on TPK, and to illustrate its blissful simplicity, I created a video so you can watch the creation of a modern brush lettering piece in action:

Creating Modern Brush Lettering from Lindsey Bugbee on Vimeo.

You may wonder what you can use brush lettering for; there are several possibilities. You can, of course, frame your lettering and display it in your home as shown in the mockup below:

I love using modern brush lettering on envelopes. It can add some interesting contrast to neat, Janet Style-esque calligraphy …

… or you can write the entire address using brush lettering, as I have done using green watercolor in the photo below:

I have seen brush lettering pop up more and more in logo designs and commercial materials; so if you have a business {or if you design for a business}, that’s a consideration! If you like a neater look, you can always write with a brush pen; or you can vary the pressure on your brush {soft pressure on upstrokes, hard pressure on downstrokes} as well as emulate any of the Learn for a Latté calligraphy styles.

I hope this quick tutorial inspires you to create some simple, modern brush lettering! If you try your hand at it, I’d love to see the results on Facebook or Instagram. I am consistently impressed at the talent and creativity I see on both of these social media outlets, especially when it comes to pieces inspired by tutorials like this one!

Thanks again for reading TPK — I really appreciate it, and I’m glad you’re here!

Warmly,