Hello, Lovely! Today the Tombow Design Team is teaming up with Lawn Fawn‘s Design Team to show you some awesome ways to use Tombow and Lawn Fawn products! You may have landed on my post from Melissa M. I am excited to share a fun technique that is perfect for any letterer… especially the beginner, by demonstrating how to use stamps and faux calligraphy together to create a fun and unique hand lettered project. At the bottom of my post, you’ll find the lineup for the rest of the hop – make sure you check out everyone’s awesome projects! And don’t forget to visit the Tombow blog to enter to win some fantastic prizes from Tombow and Lawn Fawn! Happy hopping!
GETTING STARTED
I often get asked what do to learn lettering. It can be hard to not just want to pick up a brush pen to letter one’s heart content, however it’s easier said than done. Illustrations can also be a challenge for a beginner. This tutorial will show you 3 ways to create beautiful lettering using faux calligraphy and embellish that lettering using stamps. This project is fabulous not only for the experienced letterer, but a wonderful place to start grasping the idea of calligraphy with any writing utensil, not just a brush pen.
LETTERING TOOLS NEEDED
- Tombow Twintone Markers
- Tombow MONO Drawing Pens
- Lawn Fawn Photopolymer Clear Stamp Sets
- A Black Stamp Pad
- An Acrylic or Glass Stamp Block
FAUX CALLIGRAPHY: STEP BY STEP
Faux Calligraphy is lettering that has thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes that are actually hand drawn in to look like letters created by a calligraphic brush or pen. The new Tombow Twintone Markers and MONO Drawing Pens are PERFECT for creating faux calligraphy. This form of lettering is great for practice when just beginning to learn how to create letterforms and getting a feel for how the upstrokes and downstrokes form a letter.
To start, write out a word in your favorite pen; for larger lettering I suggest using the bold tip of the Tombow Twintone Marker and for smaller lettering the fine tip of the Twintone or the Tombow MONO Drawing Pen are perfect. It doesn’t matter whether the words are written in a script or block lettering style, just be creative with how you create the design of your word or phrase.
After lettering the word or phrase, go back and draw in thicker downstrokes on each letter. If you get confused on which parts of the letter are downstrokes, these are where your hand is pushing down in order to form letters. The upstrokes are when your hand is pushing up and these are thin in calligraphy.
Then color in the downstrokes and touch up any parts of the word that need to be filled in or touched up. There you have it… quick and easy faux calligraphy! For more information about faux calligraphy you can also check out the online classes in the Lettering Bundle on Brit + Co as there are some great courses that teach faux calligraphy and would be great to practice with these amazing Tombow pens!
STAMPING: STEP BY STEP
A letterer, I commonly lean on brush pens when I create a project, but I just recently began to use stamps more and have found them to be both easy and fun to use. Drawing in illustrations to accompany lettering is extremely popular right now and using stamps to help accomplish this affect can be great when short for time or lacking drawing confidence. To begin, place the stamp you desire, like this pineapple stamp from the Aloha set that caught my eye, on a stamping block and dip gently into the stamp pad to make sure it picks up plenty of pigment.
After placing it gently onto the paper, lift it. You can also add additional shapes and layer shapes onto your paper.
Let the ink dry for about 15 seconds or so and then add in details and color with Tombow Twintone Markers. These dual tipped markers have a bold tip and fine tip that are great for coloring in and adding details.
POSSIBLE PROJECTS
Now that you know how to create faux calligraphy and stamp, here are three fun ways to incorporate the two techniques together to create one-of-a-kind lettering pieces.
1.PUNNY QUOTE
- Create a punny quote by adding lettering around a stamp. Above, I used the pineapple as an o in the word cool. The bold tip of the Twintone Marker was perfect for adding in bouncy faux calligraphy that was bold and playful.
2. PLANNING
- Planners are very popular right now and it’s super easy to personalize your planner with some simple faux calligraphy and fun stamps. I used my MAMBI Happy Planner, but this technique would look amazing in any kind of planner. Start by adding stamps from the Lawn Fawn A Birdie Told Me and Plan On It sets. Then add in faux calligraphy with the fine tips of the Tombow Twintone Marker or the Tombow MONO Drawing Pen. Add in some colorful details and it makes a perfect art piece right in your planner!
3. HAPPY MAIL ART
- I love a pretty piece of mail and the Push Here stamp set from Lawn Fawn comes with some fun shapes and phrases that are perfect to add to the outside of an envelope. Add in some lettering with the Tombow MONO Drawing Pen and some embellishments with the Tombow Twintone Marker and you have a some happy mail that is ready to be delivered to someone special.
HAPPY HOPPING!
There you have it: 3 ways to use faux calligraphy and stamps to create some lettering magic. I can’t wait to see what you create! For more tips and tricks about how to use Tombow products check out the Tombow Blog at Blog.Tombowusa.com and say hi over on my instagram @renmadecalligraphy. To see the next project in the hop, visit Lynnette and for the full lineup check out the list below and don’t forget to enter the giveaway! See the Rafflecopter for the giveaway below as well!
BLOG HOP LINE UP WITH TOMBOW USA & LAWN FAWN
Happy Hopping and Lettering to you!
