In this calligraphy step by step tutorial I am going to be talking about how to do calligraphy with highlighter and can you do lettering with highlighter. 

I decided to write this article because I find it helpful to be able to do a fun hobby on a low budget. Instead of you starting out having to buy brush pens or other calligraphy supplies you could just use regular utensils.

I also find doing lettering/calligraphy with a highlighter very simple and easy for beginners. 

So let me just give you a very brief summary of what we are going to be learning today:

• Can You Do Lettering With Highlighter
• Materials
• How To Hold The Highlighter For Calligraphy
• Learning the Basic Strokes
• Final Thoughts

Can You Do Calligraphy With Highlighter

I have noticed that a lot of people have been asking me this question. One is probably because it would be awesome to be able to learn lettering with such materials. 

Two it could get you creative neon colors.

Let me just give you the short answer so that we could move onto our calligraphy tutorial today.

You could totally do calligraphy/lettering with a regular highlighter that you would use for school. The reason why is because it is a chisel tip marker and you could do chisel tip calligraphy.

Now let us get started…

Materials

In this section, I am just going to go through all of the simple little materials that  you are going to need for this highlighter tutorial.

HIGHLIGHTER

Of course, you could use any type of highlighter, but remember that it has to be a chisel tipped marker. I am just going to be using a regular sharpie highlighter.

PENCIL/ERASER

If you are really going to be taking this to the next level and start creating beautiful lettering illustrations you are going to need a pencil and eraser.

But why do you need this?

Well, when starting out lettering in any form I always recommend drawing out your guidelines.

PAPER

Honestly, any type of paper would be awesome. I am going to be using Canson XL Media Paper.

To the tutorial…

How To Hold Highlighter For Calligraphy

Yes, you are going to need to learn how to hold the highlighter in a totally different way. Not just one way, but two ways.

The very first way is holding the marker so that you can create your thin upstrokes. This just means you are going to hold it like a regular pencil but with the tip of the marker touching the paper.

The next way is for your downstrokes. You are going to be holding your pen at an angle so that the whole entire side of the marker is touching the paper. 

This is hard to explain so let me show you what I mean.

If you need any help feel free to comment.

Basic Lettering Strokes

I probably always repeat myself in every blog post it is always very important that whenever you start learning/ calligraphy that you practice the basic strokes.

It has always been my top tip when getting started in any type of calligraphy so let me give you the full list of basic strokes, don’t worry it is not a lot, that you are going to need to learn when wanting to make your beautiful lettering illustrations.

• Upstroke
• Downstroke
• Under turn
• Overturn
• Compound Curve
• Ascending Loop
• Descending Loop
• Oval

Anyway, I really recommend just practice going through these strokes before even starting to form your letters because this is the very base of any type of lettering.

When practicing you are aiming for consistency in not just in the form of letters but size, angle, shape, etc.

Now after practicing we are going to need to move onto the next step actually writing your words or letters.

Here we are going to bring all of the basic strokes together to form our different letters.

So I am going to be using some terms here.

When creating your lowercase H you are going to need to put together your upstroke, ascending loop, and compound curve. 

Very confusing for a beginner so let me show you what I mean.

Now you might understand how the basic strokes can all come together. 

Let me show you some more examples.

If you are having some trouble get your free basic strokes lettering practice sheets here and guide.

Final Thoughts

You have all just learned exactly how to do calligraphy with a highlighter and that is very possible to do lettering without a brush pen or a dip pen.

I hope that you all found this useful and were able to start lettering right now on a budget. 

Again if you are having any trouble feel free to comment and click here to get some awesome free basic strokes practice sheets and other free content.