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Quick Ombré Lettering Mail Art Tutorial
Mail art doesn’t have to be intricate to make an impression! In today’s tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a colorful, eye-catching envelope that only takes a few minutes to put together.
If you are in the market to make a quick yet polished piece of mail art this weekend, then you’ll enjoy this tutorial! As long as you’ve got a few colored pencils, a pen, and an envelope, you’re ready to rock and roll. Just a quick word of warning before you begin: this ombré lettering technique is a little bit addictive! I have a hunch that you’ll use it on many more projects to come! Here’s how to make it:
1. Write Your Recipient’s Name in Faux Calligraphy
First, use a pencil to write your recipient’s name in large whimsical calligraphy such as Kaitlin Style.
Make sure you use a pencil for this step! Next, use the faux calligraphy technique to draw downstrokes with your pencil. If you don’t know what a downstroke is or how to make faux calligraphy, take a moment to read this tutorial!
If you’re not sure how to identify and/or draw in downstrokes, read the Faux Calligraphy Tutorial. Finish up by using a marker, black gel pen, or dip pen to trace over the pencil lines. Make sure you don’t trace over any intersecting lines! All of the downstrokes should be nice and solid.
You can use any pen or marker to trace over the lines. I happened to choose a fine-tipped permanent marker because I know the ink won’t smudge when I erase my pencil lines. 2. Fill in the Downstrokes with Colored Pencil
Now, it’s time to give your mail art some color! Begin by using a red colored pencil (I like Prismacolor) to fill in the tops and bottoms of the downstrokes. You should apply a lot of pressure to the pencil as you color the very top and very bottom of the letters. This will give you a nice, deep red tone! As you tease color out toward the middle of the letters, let up on the pressure to result in a less intense red.
Make sure you erase your pencil guidelines before starting this step! Next, take an orange colored pencil. Use it to color over your intense red tones, which will blend the two colors together. Then, continue to color inward such that there’s only a small uncolored space left in each downstroke.
Don’t apply too much pressure to the colored pencil as you color near the center of the letter. Otherwise, the color will be difficult to blend later. Complete the ombré effect by using a yellow colored pencil to go over the orange parts of the letters as well as the uncolored spaces.
You can apply firm, consistent pressure to the yellow pencil as you use it to color in the rest of the letter. Too add extra shine and depth to your ombré lettering, use a clear Gelly Roll Glaze pen to go over the downstrokes.
The lettering will become delightfully glossy and saturated if you color over it with a Gelly Roll Glaze pen! 3. Add an Address to Your Mail Art
At this point, you’ll want to find some open space under the ombré lettering. Take advantage of that space to write your mail art recipient’s last name in Sans Serif letters. You can use any writing instrument to do so; I just happened to choose a dip pen!
For extra visual interest, you can add dots between each letter of the last name. Next, write the recipient’s address in any calligraphy or font style that appeals to you. I chose to use Kaitlin Style calligraphy to match the ombré name.
Feel free to separate the mail art recipient’s name and his or her address with a line. I chose to use Kaitlin Style calligraphy here for the address, but you can use any calligraphy or lettering style that appeals to you! Erase any pencil guidelines you may have drawn. At this point, you can add a stamp collage with a color scheme that corresponds with the colors used for the ombré lettering!
Notice that all of these stamps feature yellow, orange, or red tones — just like the ombré lettering! And … voilà! A piece of mail art that’s impressive and artistic, yet only took a few minutes to make. Of course, you can customize this tutorial any way you want to. Use a different color scheme for the ombré lettering, switch up font styles, and/or skip the stamp collage! No matter what modifications you make, the mail art will still look good.
I hope that you enjoyed and felt inspired by this short tutorial! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments. Otherwise, thanks very much for reading TPK, and have a great weekend!
Warmly,
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