Do You Need Special Paper For Calligraphy

Under: Frequently Asked Questions/By: Ximena

So you are wanting to start calligraphy but you don’t know what paper to use.

Well, I am here to help.

As a beginner, I may understand that looking for the right supplies might be hard, so this a tutorial/article to be able to help you out for finding the best paper for your modern calligraphy.

But let us first answer your question.

DO YOU NEED SPECIAL PAPER FOR CALLIGRAPHY

You do not need a special paper for calligraphy. The biggest factor when looking for paper is just making sure that it is bleed proof.

Let me give you a quick summary of what we are going to be learning about today:

What You Should Look For in Paper
Paper for Brush Lettering
In general what type of paper for modern calligraphy
Final Thoughts

Now onto the first section…

What You Should Look For In Paper

So the main thing for all different types of lettering or modern calligraphy is to make sure that your paper is bleed proof.

First things first I would not recommend flimsy printer paper that is bleed proof.

But there are other options. Like a more high-quality printer paper would do just fine.

( I will show you specific options in a little bit)

BRUSH LETTERING PAPER

So there are a few bit different guidelines when talking about different forms of modern calligraphy.

The one that I talked about above was in general if you are using a pencil, dip pen, etc for lettering.

But here we are specifically going to be talking about brush lettering.

For brush lettering, you are using a very delicate tool ( your brush pen).

If you want it to last long er and not get frayed ( if you have no idea what that is here is an article that I wrote all about this).

So first things first it should be bleed proof like all other calligraphy paper.

But we also want to make sure that it is smooth.

You might be like wait isn’t high-quality printer paper smooth, not so much.

Depending on the type of printer paper we are talking about it actually may lead to fraying in your brush pens since the paper is rough.

It may feel smooth but isn’t really.

So how are you supposed to know if a paper is smooth enough?

Sadly you won’t know until you try it out with your brush pens since there isn’t exactly paper just for your brush pens.

But that is why I am here.

Now I am going to be giving you recommendations on the perfect paper for the type of lettering that you are going to be doing.

Best Recommendations For Brush Lettering Paper

This article is actually part of my four-part series so if you are looking for some more options here are the links to the articles that may provide you with some additional information.

I am just going to give you the one that I most recommend for brush lettering is the Rhodia pad.

I explain a little bit more in the articles above.

So now let us get started.

One of the cheapest papers to get for practicing brush lettering regular tracing paper.

As you can tell this paper is pretty smooth and bleed proof enough for your brush pens.

I would recommend this as your cheapest alternative for practicing your brush lettering. I would necessarily use it for your big projects but will do it for practice.

One of my favorites is the Strathmore Tracing Paper witch very inexpensive.

Next…

I recommend looking into different marker pads. There is a wide variety of different marker pads you can choose from.

Using paper that is specifically for markers makes sure that it is not bleed proof and is smooth enough for your brush pens.

I know that there is a Strathmore Marker Pad and a Canson Xl Marker Pad.

But there is a ton more that you can choose from.

If you are overwhelmed your best bet is Canson XL.

The next option is…

High-quality printer paper.

I know that I said not to use printer paper but there is this one type of printer paper witch would be great for printing out some practice sheets.

That is HP PREMIUM 32 Lb PAPER

Very high quality, smooth, and bleed proof.

Making it one of the best papers for your brush pens.

Now let us move onto dip pen calligraphy and some other different things you can use.

Recommendations of paper for calligraphy

All the recommendations that I stated above you can use just for your calligraphy like the marker pads and printer paper.

But I don’t think the tracing paper would be a good choice but of course personal preferences.

Here I am just giving you some more recommendations that are more geared to dip pen calligraphy.

So for more of those people who are doing high-end projects I recommend getting bristol board.

Bristol board is this nice thick paper great for dip pen calligraphy but I would not use this for brush lettering.

Now if you are wanting a cheaper alternative sometimes just regular cardstock would do the trick (but not for brush lettering).

The thing is if you are going to be doing a lot of dip pen calligraphy projects you are going to be drawing on all types of surfaces.

While brush pens are a little bit different that you might need to buy more often with the different surfaces you use them on.

But like I said above you don need special paper for doing calligraphy.

If you have a nice high-quality printer paper at home you are all set.

Final Thoughts

You have just learned that you actually don need special paper for calligraphy and that just getting a marker pad can be enough to practice your awesome lettering skills.

If you are wanting some more recommendations check ou the links above.

You have some more questions, then go ahead and comment and I would get to you as soon as I kind.

I hope that this was helpful to be able to give you some cheap paper alternatives for your lettering.

Do You Need Special Paper For Calligraphy