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SURPRISE: This Brush Pen Worksheet is Only Available for One Week!

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SURPRISE: This Brush Pen Worksheet is Only Available for One Week! | The Postman's Knock

A couple of weeks ago, I released a limited edition worksheet set: the CLASSIC Amy Style. While learners seem to be enjoying the dip pen and Procreate versions of the worksheet, I’ve had a few requests for a brush pen version! With the clock ticking on the expiration of the Classic Amy, I decided to hunker down and make a brush pen worksheet set happen. My timing means that it’s only available for a week: but hopefully that gives you enough time to snag it if you’re interested!
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How I Conquered My Fear of Brush Pens

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This post was written by Ana Corral, the newest edition to the TPK team! This is her first blog post, so don’t hesitate to show her some love in the comments! To learn more about Ana, you can click here. 

How I Conquered my Fear of Brush Pens | The Postman's Knock
Hand lettering doesn’t have to be PENful. Hehe.

I grew up familiar with a variety of brushes. I was practically birthed with a paintbrush in hand, brushing my hair wasn’t too difficult to grasp, and brushing my teeth is pretty much second nature. The only brushes that truly haunt me are brush pens. Despite a background that’s rich in illustration, typography, and design, I find brush pens to be quite intimidating. Honestly, the only brush pens I’m familiar with are the Faber Castells I stole from my dad’s art stash before I left for college (he knows now, don’t worry)! Up until this week, I’ve used them exclusively to illustrate. So, when Lindsey asked me to write my first blog post about conquering the brush pen, I cued up all of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, burned some palo santo, booked an extra therapy session, and buckled in!

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Six Amazing Brush Pens for Beginners

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Six Amazing Brush Pens for Beginners | The Postman's Knock

I remember when I first set out to purchase brush pens. I was so excited to try out brush pen calligraphy! Then, I saw the overwhelming online selection. I ended up blindly choosing a few brush pens. While I connected with some, there were others that ended up in the junk drawer! The goal of today’s comparison post is to prevent you from buying brush pens that won’t work for you. My hope is that, based on what you read here, you can choose beginner-friendly brush pens that you connect with!
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“Juicy” Brush Pen Calligraphy Tutorial

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"Juicy" Brush Pen Calligraphy Tutorial | The Postman's Knock

The other day, I saw a video on Instagram that inspired me to develop this “juicy” brush pen calligraphy tutorial! In it, the artist utilized several common art supplies to make playful and eye-catching lettering letters. I modified the supply list to fit the things that I have available to me, and I hope that you’ll do the same! To create this tutorial, you’ll need:

  • Brush pens (or broad-tipped markers such as Crayola)
  • A pencil + eraser
  • A fine-tipped paintbrush
  • A white gel pen (such as Gelly Roll) + a black pen

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Introducing the Elegant Janet Style Brush Pen Worksheet Set

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Janet Style Brush Pen Calligraphy Worksheet | The Postman's Knock

Brush pens are the casual, careless, and effortlessly cool cousins of dip pens. They’re approachable and affordable, which is why you probably spot them often on social media! Today, I’m pleased to announce that a brand-new TPK brush pen calligraphy worksheet set is now available: The Janet. The goal of the worksheet set is twofold. It will teach you how to use brush pens and how to use brush pens to write in an elegant, Copperplate-inspired calligraphy style!
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Free Brush Pen Calligraphy Worksheet

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Free Brush Pen Calligraphy Worksheet | The Postman's Knock

I first released this simple brush pen worksheet in 2015. Little did I know that it would become one of the most popular printables on TPK! With 131,500 downloads and counting, many a brush pen enthusiast has worked through the exercises in this worksheet. Today, I want to talk about what you can learn from filling out the Free Brush Pen worksheet, as well as other brush pen resources that you can take advantage of on the TPK site!Continue reading…

A Word on Left-Handed Calligraphy

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Lefty Calligrapher Elisabeth Young Writing
Elisabeth Young of ElisaAnne Calligraphy helped me out a lot with photos for this blog post — I want to extend a huge thanks to her!

If you’re a lefty, you are already aware that you’re in the minority. That has, unfortunately, probably led to frustration in your left-handed calligraphy learning endeavors. Hopeless as it may seem, I promise you that anyone — right- or left-handed — can create calligraphy! For this blog post, I decided to go to the source, and I asked south paw newsletter subscribers about their experiences with writing left-handed calligraphy. I received quite a few responses discussing issues and struggles when writing, tips and tricks for improving lettering, plus some examples of work. This blog post is a compilation of the most important takeaways.

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Using Brush Pens for Calligraphy + A Collection of Worksheets

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Using Brush Pens for Calligraphy + A Collection of Worksheets | The Postman's Knock

I have several blog posts on the TPK website that teach you how to write calligraphy with a dip pen. Today, though, I want to give the spotlight to a different tool — the brush pen! I have written a general overview of brush pens before, but today I want to focus on using brush pens for calligraphy in particular. Flexible tips, quick-drying ink, and familiarity (since you’ve probably worked with markers before) make brush pens a wonderful candidate for not only creating modern calligraphy — but also for learning how to create modern dip pen calligraphy!
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A List of TPK’s Free Printable Calligraphy Practice Sheets

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Free Calligraphy Spacing Cross Drills Worksheet | The Postman's Knock

The TPK blog is peppered with free printable calligraphy practice sheets to help you improve your penmanship! However, with 400+ blog posts on this site, some of the best freebies may have eluded you. For that reason, I decided to create a compilation of the free dip pen and brush pen calligraphy practice sheets and present them to you in this article. Some may look familiar, while others may be new to you! My hope is that these will help you to set aside some “me time” to improve your penmanship, relax, and indulge your creativity.
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The Top 6 Reasons That People Decide to Learn Calligraphy

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Calligraphy Guidelines | The Postman's Knock

Throughout my years of having this website, I’ve heard from many people who have decided to learn calligraphy. I’ve noticed that, in general, the motivation behind their learning can be attributed to one (or more) of six reasons. I find that to be very interesting, and a reminder that we’re all not so different! Today, I’d like to share those reasons with you.
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