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  • Five Banner Tutorials – Free Printable

    by

    Lindsey Bugbee

    — 108 Comments

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    Banners can help you to emphasize a word or phrase in a tasteful way! In today’s post, you’ll find a printable that will teach you how to draw five different types of banners. You can use those banners for mail art projects, logo design, general artwork, or whatever else you’re working on!

    Five Banner Tutorials | The Postman's Knock

    If you like calligraphy and/or hand-lettering, knowing how to draw a banner is bound to come in handy eventually. In this post, you’ll find some tips for drawing banners, plus you can download the free Five Banner Tutorials printable!

    Tip #1 – Write Your Lettering First

    Banners are often used to emphasize text or lettering. If you plan on having lettering in your banner, write the lettering first. That way, you can center the banner to fit the lettering.

    Watercolor Hexagons Mail Art Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    I free-hand sketched some pencil guidelines here, then wrote the name using Flourish Formal Style calligraphy.

    Tip #2 – Always Make a Banner Pencil Draft

    No matter how diligently you follow the examples in the Five Banner Tutorials printable, there’s always a possibility for error. If you have the time, you should use a pencil to make a draft of your banner around the lettering or calligraphy.

    Watercolor Hexagons Mail Art Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Make sure you use light pressure to draw your pencil draft! You never know what parts of the banner you’ll need to erase.

    Tip #3 – Include Breaks in the Banner for Ascenders or Descenders

    If some of the letters in your word have particularly tall ascenders or low-hanging descenders, include breaks in the outline of your banner to accommodate them. Doing so will prevent your banner from being too large.

    Watercolor Hexagons Mail Art Tutorial | The Postman's Knock
    Notice that I left breaks in this banner to accommodate the letters “N” and the “A”. To see how this envelope turned out, you can check out the Watercolor Hexagons Mail Art Tutorial!

    Tip #4 – Don’t Skip the Shading

    All of the banners in your Five Banners Tutorial printable include some sort of shading. Adding lines, dots, or a blended shadow helps to distinguish the back of the banner from the front and give it some dimension.

    How to Draw a Banner | The Postman's Knock
    The densely spaced, curved horizontal lines in this banner help to give the illusion of dimension.

    Tip #5 – Add a Touch of Color

    Banners look even more vibrant if you give them a little bit of color! I like to add fairly dark watercolor to the back ribbons in my banners, then use light watercolor around the edges on the front ribbon(s).

    Flourish Formal Style Calligraphy Mail Art | The Postman's Knock
    You can use watercolors, colored pencils, crayons, or other media to add shading to your banner. This will help the banner to stand out even more!

    6. Enjoy the Free Printable!

    I suggest printing the Five Banners Tutorial off on any paper you have handy. Since you don’t have to write on this printable, the paper quality really doesn’t matter. Use the printable as a reference next time you want to make some mail art, a banner for a cake, a bullet journal page — whatever!

    Five Banner Tutorials | The Postman's Knock
    No need to print this off on fancy paper — whatever you have on your printer right now will work!

    You can find the printable for free by clicking here. Try giving each of the banners a go, and don’t be afraid to make your own modifications! Some experimentation and confidence go a long way in creating striking and artistic banners.

    Thanks very much for reading TPK, and enjoy your weekend!

    Warmly,

    Lindsey's Signature | The Postman's Knock