Brush Pen Lettering: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Learning Decorative Scripts and Creating Inspired Styles (Hand-Lettering & Calligraphy Practice)

I offered to handwrite the addresses for my friend's upcoming wedding invitations, but didn't realize how daunting a task this would prove to be! I tried out a couple envelopes using basic cursive, but realized immediately I was in over my head. So I went on the search for an inexpensive book on lettering that would help me learn the basics without overwhelming me. I tried another one initially that was actually *written in* brush lettering, which exhausted my eyes almost immediately. This book, however, ended up being perfect. It starts by laying out all the tools you'll need and then goes into an explanation of the basic technique. The most helpful part, though, is the practice section. It breaks the letters scientifically apart into different letter pieces. Then you can progress to making full letters. After reading this book, I was slow at first, but now I'm a third of the way through the envelopes and making steady progress!

I LOVEEEEE this book. My friend Brooke and I have been getting into caligraphy and some other fun artsy stuff, we even took a pigment and parchment class that was a ton of fun. The book itself is aesthetically pleasing, I mean really, the glossy pages and the layout of the book are exactly what you would expect from a book focused on art. This book did a really great job of taking you through the basics of how to do lettering. I honestly used to think that the only thing you needed to create art was a pen and a piece of paper, this book blew my mind in terms of how many different types of pens you can use and for what types of letters they're used for. Also, obsessed with rainbow lettering, I didn't know it was even a thing but oh my god, this book literally introduces you to so many different things it really is a great way to get into gorgeous letters and words. The book is full of inspiration and step-by-step instructions! It's so fun. Grab a friend, some different types of pens and paper and get the art vibes going! You won't regret it.

I am a complete beginner when it comes to brush lettering.

I recently bought a different book to get started and after a couple practice sessions I just really wasn't happy with it. I was scrolling Instagram and came across Grace Song's page. I decided to buy her book (this book) because of her IG page and I'm so glad I did. It really comes through that she is a teacher because she breaks everything down so well! She explains everything you could want to know in a way that you'll remember.

I started out by reading the entire book and now I am going back through so I can practice. While the beginning of the book is full of basics, including how to hold your brush pens, the end of the book is full of awesome creative ideas on how to expand your art once you have the basics down.

I really recommend this book! Especially if you're only planning to buy one book to learn. This is it! I wish it had been my first purchase.

I own several hand lettering books, and this one is my favorite. Grace Song does an amazing job of providing step-by-step directions starting with the most basic brush pen skills. She teaches how to draw letters and once you get the hang of that, how to connect letters to form words.

I especially love the chapter about adding embellishments to your letters. She shows several different ways to do this, including how to use watercolor brush pens to create ombre effects.

I am an advanced beginner at lettering, and have been struggling with how to add flourishes to letters and how to develop my own lettering style. Even with daily practice, I felt like I wasn't really advancing my skills. This book gave me helpful tips and insights for new techniques to use when I hand letter. I love that Grace shares her personal insights on what worked for her as she taught herself how to hand letter. Her advice has been extremely helpful to me. I have gone back and re-read this book a few times already to pick up more tips and get instructions.

The DIY project tutorials included in the book are perfect for beginners (and beyond.) This book taught me that you don't have to be an expert to make something unique with your lettering.

There are 15 different practice worksheets at the end of the book. My favorites are the script alphabet practice sheets. They help me practice my upper case and lower case letters.

All in all, there is no wasted space in this workbook! It is a must have resource for anyone who wants to learn how to hand letter. I would pick Grace Song's Brush Pen Lettering book over any of the other books I have already purchased in the past. It is the perfect way to get started on your hand lettering journey. All you need to learn is this book, a brush pen and paper.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I am super happy with everything about it. You will be, too!

I have tried so many books - lettering, calligraphy, etc. I finally found one that brings everything together. Using different colours to show how to form letters is just brilliant - entry point, forming words and exit. Forming 'the odd ones out' (letters) was quite useful. Connecting letters to build words - invaluable. Breaking down the strokes and telling which to use to form which letter has made such an impact - entrance stroke, underturn, overturn, compound curve, oval, reverse oval, full pressure stroke, etc makes more sense now. I no longer feel frustrated as I could not follow along with others, my letters were just not forming like the examples. Thank you Grace!

This is a great book. It reminds me of when I was being taught penmanship in school. I remember learning to write cursive. I could not wait. This would be perfect for anyone, especially since cursive writing and penmanship are not taught in school anymore. Of course this book goes into great detail. I especially like the section on using pressure to make the letters bolder, fine and medium. It changes the entire look. The author encourages everyone to develop their own style. Everyone has a different spacing, slant, and size of loops. There are step by step, easy to follow directions for each of these sections and there is practice space to perfect or develop your own style. It would be better to doddle and practice lettering than playing with the lastest fidgets!

This is a fantastic book. As a true beginner I learned so much from this book! The teaching style is friendly and supportive, the how to information is very thorough, and there are lots of project instructions for lettering envelopes, creating compositions, using various colored brushes and how to get that beautiful ombre look, how to add flourishes and a section on bouncy lettering. Honestly, each of these sections could be expanded into a full book on their own if you are a serious calligrapher at heart and want to learn to do this commercially, but you do get all the essential information you need to get started. It is the perfect foundation to start with. The book is very concise yet comprehensive and the letters are just beautiful (with a true slant). The book even includes 4 blank pages with guidelines for 2 different heights (one for small brush tip pens, ie. 7mm, one for large brush tip pens, ie. 15mm); 2 based on the 7mm x-height, 1 with and 1 without slant lines, and 2 based on the 15mm x-height, one with and one without 55 degree slant lines. At the very end, as a bonus, you get 8 full words to practice using a big brush pen (based on the 15mm x-height): hello, welcome, dear, cheers, thank you, and happy birthday. The only drawback to this book is the size ie. physical dimensions of the book, and the binding. It is a bit challenging to practice over the letters with tracing paper. You need to really bend the spine to flatten out the book, then move your tracing paper as you go through the book page (as the size of the tracing paper, (8 1/2 x 11) is much larger than the book page. Despite that, my calligraphy has improved the most using her practice sheets inside this book (compared to other practice books I have tried, and I have tried quite a few going through hundreds of sheets of practice paper). Its easy to trace over anyone's lettering, but more difficult to go from copying to writing solo. With Grace's book its much easier to make that transition because she deconstructs the letters stroke by stroke (as compared to other books that normally write numbers and draw arrows over the letters to learn the stroke order), and the guidelines with the 2 different heights with the slant lines are really helpful. With that I was able to move from just copying to writing words solo after just practicing one word like "hello" on just a few pages. You can buy the author's practice workbooks in her Etsy shop to print out on standard size paper, which gives you one entire page for each letter to practice with (both upper and lower case letters) based on the 15 mm x-height for big brush pens like Tombow dual brush pens (ie. the larger tip on that brush). Grace is an educator by day and it really shows in this book; this isn't just a book written by a calligrapher, this is a book created by a professional calligrapher who is also a really excellent educator/teacher, which is really rare!

I have bought a lot of books on this subject and by far this is the best book ever. There is not a lot of fluff but a whole lot of information that is very important and essential to learning this subject. The information in this book also helps with calligraphy. Don't waste your time on others, this is the only book you'll ever need.

I love this book, it definitely has what I need and I’m more of a visual learner when it comes to this so I don’t neccesarilly read the instructions but it’s nice to have them!

I have always loved calligraphy, and Brush Pen Lettering shows how to take your basic calligraphy lettering skills to the next level with brush pens. This book gets you started by understanding the different types of brush pens made from natural hair, synthetic hair, or felt. Then, it provides technical support with detailed illustrations for basic strokes and letter combinations. Since I am always on a budget, I really appreciate methods for using a pencil to build muscle memory rather than use expensive paper, pens, and ink. The tone of each chapter is positive, and I felt encouraged to follow the author’s guidance with her motto, “Practice makes progress,” using the troubleshooting techniques and drills for practicing control. And what can we do with all these lettering skills? I love the DIY projects with detailed directions and illustrations for practical projects like gift tags, place cards, watercolor splash greeting cards, and kitchen and gift ideas.