Skip to content
Search Search

Learning hand lettering made easy – with our STAEDTLER Hand Lettering Guide

View video

This video is provided through the third-party provider YouTube, a Google service. Allow Google services to be used on this website to view YouTube videos. You can also give this consent for just this video:

Active YouTubeShow this video only

Further details can be found in our privacy policy. You can also revoke your consent there. | About us

Now quite trendy in the art scene, hand lettering is what everyone is talking about. Hand lettering is the art of creating beautifully written words which are more like works of art than just letters on a page. Creating these works of art will require the right type of paper as well as the right lettering pens and brush pens. In our hand lettering guide – which is specifically designed for beginners – you will learn what ✔ materials are needed to get started. We will also show you which ✔ fonts you can use for hand lettering.
Check out our hand lettering course for beginners and level up your art skills!

A small excursion:

What exactly is hand lettering?

Hand lettering is the art of beautiful writing. Calligraphy or letter art is about arranging letters in an aesthetically pleasing manner. In this way, each letter resembles a small work of art, as the main focus is on its artistic design. The word “lettering” comes from the English word “letter”.

Where can you use hand lettering?

There are many facets to hand lettering, so you can use this art form in a wide variety of projects: such as designing greeting cards, decorations, personalised gifts, book covers, art prints, boards and many other creative projects.

You can use hand lettering to create original birthday wishes, Easter cards or Christmas cards. You can create eye-catching, personalised cards, greeting cards, place cards, etc. which will bring lots of joy to the recipient, especially because they will appreciate how much work and effort went into the creation of your hand lettering design. You can also create individual lettering posters for your home.

What is the difference between hand lettering and calligraphy?

The origin of hand lettering lies in the art of beautiful writing – calligraphy – and describes the flowing transition between painting and writing. The biggest difference between the two disciplines is that hand lettering involves drawing letters, while calligraphy focuses on the artistic writing of letters and characters.

What is the difference between calligraphy, hand lettering, brush lettering, typography, etc.?

The term hand lettering refers to all visual art forms that deal with the artistic design of letters. Hand lettering allows you to combine different fonts and styles and use different pens types. There are many facets to hand lettering, so you can use this art form in a wide variety of projects: whether for designing greeting cards, decorations, personalised gifts, book covers, art prints, boards and many other creative projects.

  • In brush lettering, you use brushes and brush pens to draw lines with varying line widths. The more pressure you apply to the tip of the brush, the thicker the lines. Brush lettering is one of the most popular and widespread forms of hand lettering.
  • For faux calligraphy, you can use a conventional fineliner, a gel roller, or a fibre-tip pen. Faux calligraphy imitates brush lettering so that the letters look as if they have been drawn with quills or brush pens.
  • Calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing, performed with the help of pen and ink.
  • Typography refers to the art and study of writing. This involves the artistic design and embellishment of legible text.
  • Bounce lettering: With bounce lettering, you give individual letters a dynamic look that makes them appear as if they are jumping off the page.
  • Serif and sans serif: With serif, letters are provided with leading and trailing strokes, whereas with sans serif, leading and trailing strokes are omitted.

In hand lettering, letters are elaborately drawn and embellished by hand. You can create different fonts in numerous styles depending on the stroke angle and width of the lines, auxiliary lines, and horizontal strokes. The term “hand lettering” refers to various lettering styles – including 🖌 brush lettering, 🖌 faux calligraphy, 🖌 serif and sans serif as well as 🖌 bounce lettering.

You can find out more about this in our free hand lettering course or in the following videos.

Learn hand lettering:

How to get started

In this video, we introduce you to the most important products, basic hand lettering techniques and our helpful Hand Lettering Creator Tool with numerous exercises and alphabets – guaranteed to make your journey into the world of hand lettering design a complete success!

View video

This video is provided through the third-party provider YouTube, a Google service. Allow Google services to be used on this website to view YouTube videos. You can also give this consent for just this video:

Active YouTubeShow this video only

Further details can be found in our privacy policy. You can also revoke your consent there. | About us

In this lettering course, you will receive detailed hand lettering instructions and valuable tips on how to implement a wide variety of writing styles. We will also show you which materials are part of the basic equipment and which techniques you can use. In our sub-course on “Alphabets, words and compositions”, you will receive templates for various layouts and compositions as well as initial instructions on how to decorate and embellish lower-case and upper-case letters and whole words.

Before getting started

Before you get started with the topics “Hand lettering materials”, “Hand lettering techniques”, “Alphabets, words, compositions”, and “Advanced techniques & inspirations” below, we recommend the following link for some helpful information to help you get started in the world of hand lettering:

► The most common mistakes and how you can avoid them

► All about our Hand Lettering Creator

Before getting started

Hand lettering materials

To the course

In this part of the course, you will find out which materials and tools are absolute must-haves in your hand lettering toolbox.

Hand lettering techniques

To the course

Learn the most important hand lettering techniques: so that you can create individual characters and let your creativity run free.

Alphabets, words, compositions

To the course

In this part of the course, you will take a look at the alphabets of different writing styles, individual words, compositions, layout, and decorative elements.

Advanced techniques & inspiration

To the courses

Discover advanced hand lettering techniques as well as creative templates and tutorials for creating a wide variety of letterings.

Before getting started:

Learn hand lettering fonts: Typical beginner mistakes

Before you dive into our online hand lettering course for beginners, you should watch the following video. We explain typical mistakes that beginners often make when they want to learn hand lettering, and show you how to avoid and correct these mistakes. This video is therefore a helpful learning resource for beginners and all those who are already lettering and looking to improve their technique.

View video

This video is provided through the third-party provider YouTube, a Google service. Allow Google services to be used on this website to view YouTube videos. You can also give this consent for just this video:

Active YouTubeShow this video only

Further details can be found in our privacy policy. You can also revoke your consent there. | About us

Mistake #1: You are not using the right pens

Brush lettering combines thin and broad lines. You should therefore use a brush pen that allows you to draw both thin and thick strokes – this requires a pen with a flexible tip. This is quite the opposite of what you would use for monoline. Here, you need a consistent line width, which is why a fineliner is the right tool.

Mistake #2: You write whole words at a time

With hand lettering – in contrast to traditional writing – you should lift the pen from the paper after each letter or word element. This ensures a clean look for the lettering and that every letter can be drawn correctly.

Mistake #3: You write too fast

Don’t be fooled by hand lettering videos – their playback speed has often been increased, which can make it look as if the artist has lettered entire sentences very quickly. Furthermore, these videos feature artists with years of experience in hand lettering. So, take your time with hand lettering and place greater emphasis on optimising the pressure, direction, and shape of your brush strokes.

Mistake #4: You are not holding your pen correctly

Make sure not to hold your pen vertically or too close to the tip. This will prevent you from drawing wide lines. Instead, you should try to hold your pen about 2 to 3 cm above the tip. Your posture is also important: You should sit on the entire seat and lean against the backrest, mentally anchoring both feet on the floor. Your elbows should be bent at a 90 degree angle, and your desk should be in line with your forearms.

Mistake #5: You don’t use auxiliary lines for hand lettering

To ensure that your lettering creates a harmonious overall look, it is important to takeauxiliary lines into account, such as the height of the letters, so that your letters and words are as even as possible.

Mistake #6: You are not practising enough

It is important that you first practise drawing the basic strokes before you connect them together. Each letter is made up of a combination of upstrokes and downstrokes – so it’s important to learn these details first.

Mistake #7: You are not using the right tip

The size of your letters depends on the tip used. If you draw small letters with a large tip, the result will be barely legible.

Mistake #8: You are using the wrong paper

For most techniques and styles, you should use smooth-coated paper; otherwise, the brush tip will fray. You can use lighter paper (80 to 100 g/m2) for practising. You should use thicker paper (180 to 200 g/m2) for the main work. If you are using watercolour media, you should draw on watercolour paper. As far as the sheet size is concerned, you can start with a smaller format such as A5. The page orientation is also crucial. For most lettering, it is advisable to align the paper horizontally.

Mistake #9: You compare yourself with others

Nothing is more demotivating than comparing yourself with others. Hand lettering is primarily about expressing your personality. The beauty of hand lettering: perfection is not the goal. In reality, art is in the eye of the beholder and it is primarily about getting into a state of flow, expressing one’s uniqueness and inspiring with an artistic signature – with an individual message.

PreviousNext

These are the nine most common mistakes that beginners make when hand lettering. These mistakes can be prevented by using our Hand Lettering Generator – the tool introduces you to the basics of hand lettering and offers you numerous practice sheets, templates and designs to learn the different fonts.

Learn hand lettering with the creator from STAEDTLER

With our free Hand Lettering Creator, you have instant access to a variety of: ✔ Basic exercises ✔ individually generated exercise sheets for alphabets & words ✔ with ready-made templates. Discover our hand lettering creator now and give your hand lettering skills an upgrade!

Hand Lettering Creator

To the courses

You might also be interested in:

Advanced techniques & inspiration

Meet our hand lettering experts

The Design Journey Art Class is brought to you by STAEDTLER UK in partnership with Crafty Arts, our online retail partner.

Crafty Arts are a family Arts & Crafts business, offering a wide range of art supplies, as well as tutorials and tips, so you can be creative daily.

Get everything you need for all of the Design Journey Art Classes exclusively through Crafty Arts!

Crafty Arts

The STAEDTLER Design Journey Art Class

Have you created your first hand lettering motifs and would like to share them with others? Link us with #myDesignJourney on social media!

If you are also interested in other painting and drawing techniques, take a look at our other Design Journey Art Classes. Here you will find online courses on topics such as:

  • Learn to paint with watercolours with Nadja Illert
  • Drawing animals with Sine Hagestad
  • Perspective drawings with Dan Beardshaw
  • Drawing with ink and watercolours with Kalliopi Lyviaki
  • Drawing techniques with coloured pencils with Melanie Übleis