What Should A Beginner Calligrapher Buy?
When starting out calligraphy I had no idea what I should buy, and maybe you don’t either. So today I am going to be giving a full rundown on what you are going to need when starting out calligraphy and hand lettering.
Here is the quick and short answer to your question if you are in a hurry:
What you should buy when starting out calligraphy depends on the type of calligraphy you want to learn. Here is what you need to learn pointed pen calligraphy:
- Calligraphy Nib
- Holder
- Ink
- Bleed Proof Paper
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Eraser
As you can tell you don’t need a whole lot of things to learn calligraphy, but what you get depends on the type of calligraphy that you are going to be learning.
This is a summary of what I am going to be talking about:
- What Type Of Calligraphy You Want To Learn
- Materials For Brush Pen Lettering
- Materials For Pointed Pen Calligraphy
- Materials For Hand Lettering
- Free Calligraphy Supplies Checklist
- Final Thoughts
As you can tell at the end of this article I am going to be giving you a free downloadable checklist to help you out.
What Type of Calligraphy Do you Want To Learn
Depending on what you are wanting to learn you are going to of course going to need different materials. For example, in pointed pen calligraphy, you need a dip pen, but for brush lettering, you need a brush pen.
If you are having a hard time figuring what each certain type of calligraphy is you can check out my article about it here.
Finding what they of calligraphy that you are wanting to learn can help you figure out what supplies you need, and what you don’t need.
Now I am going to be going over all of the different materials that you are going to need for all of the different types of calligraphy.
Materials For Brush Pen Lettering
BASICS
Pencil, eraser, and ruler.
PENS
Now one of the amazing things that you need for brush lettering is a brush pen. Your brush pens can range from small tipped brush pens and big tipped brush pens, they each have their own level of flexibility.
One of my top recommendations for brush pens would be a Tombow Fudenosuke. I have a tutorial about how to use this brush pen specifically, you can check it out here.
- It is easy to control
- It is small
- Has a hard tip and soft tip
CONS
- Not that affordable
- Dries out faster than usual, with a lot of use
If you are not wanting to use a brush pen you can also use a regular Crayola marker for your brush lettering. The tutorial is linked here.
PAPER
This I find is one of the most important supplies when it comes to brush lettering, because having the wrong paper can ruin your brush pens.
WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR?
- Paper should be smooth
- Bleed proof
- Thick
For a lot of beginners, I recommend any type of marker pad that you can find at an art or craft store. If you are looking into printing out practice sheets I would recommend HP Premium 32 lb paper.
If you do not get smooth enough paper for your brush pens it is going to lead them to fray faster. I have a full guide to paper and specific recommendations which you can check out here.
Materials For Pointed Pen Calligraphy
BASICS
Pencil, eraser, and ruler.
PENS
For pointed pen calligraphy, you are going to need a dip pen. Which is a combination of two parts, a nib, and holder. These are then put together and dipped into ink.
When looking for your nib and holder you have to be careful that the nib can fit into the holder.
One of my favorite combinations of nibs and holders, that I recommend for beginners, is the Nikko G Nib and a Speedball pen holder.
INK
Now there is a variety of different inks that you can use for calligraphy.
There is:
- Acrylic Ink
- Sumi Ink
- Walnut Ink
- India Ink
- Etc
All of these different types of inks can be used for calligraphy.
For ink one of my go-to brands is Speedball. They have India ink and acrylic ink at very affordable prices for beginners.
If you are not wanting to use ink, or are looking for a more affordable option, you can actually make your own ink using paint. This is an article that I made to help you do this.
PAPER
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
- Thick
- Bleed proof
- A little bit of texture
When looking for paper you are going to want to make sure that it is bleed proof, since you are using a lot of ink. I recommend a little texture to your paper, but not that much because you still want to smoothly draw with your dip pen.
I have a full guide about paper, which you can check out here.
Materials For Hand Lettering
PENS
When doing hand lettering it can make up of almost any type of pens/materials that you have at home including all of things that I have said above. Hand lettering is just a form of drawing letters in any which way that you like too, which can include doing calligraphy.
Right now I am just going to be listing out some other supplies that might want/need for hand lettering:
- Any ballpoint pen
- Pencils
- Erasers
- Micron Pens
- Sharpies
- Literally, any pens that you would like to use
As you can tell nothing specific…
PAPER
For paper, it all depends on the materials that you are going to be using. I would still recommend thick bleed proof paper, which can cover almost any materials that you have.
But if you are going to be using brush pens you are also going to need smooth paper.
Free Calligraphy Supplies Checklist
This is just a simple checklist that you can get and use for getting your supplies 🙂
I will also be sending you emails on how to improve your calligraphy with tips.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this helped you out to learn about the different supplies that you should get and need to start this amazing hobby. If you have any more questions about calligraphy or this article, feel free to comment.