It’s all about the right tool: BRIGITTE shows you the best hand lettering pens for every occasion. Regardless of whether it is a fineliner, brush pen or marker: the material is at least as diverse and creative as hand lettering itself.
Hand lettering is popular with many people as a hobby because it is a great way to relax and switch off. Plus, you don’t need much to create great works of art: In addition to suitable paper, practice and creativity, the right hand lettering pens are the key to success. We’ll show you what’s important when making your selection and what you should consider when buying.
Which hand lettering pens are there?
You can use any pen you want for hand lettering. The options for the pens are just as diverse as the designs you can create. For that special one Brush lettering do you need Pens with a brush pen tip. This is similar to a brush, but does not consist of individual hairs, but rather of a synthetic material and is therefore easier to use. There are also different papers you can choose between. To start with, you can use a smooth paper that has both Fineliner and felt-tip pensbut the more sensitive brush pens also work well.
Hand lettering pens with a small tip
Pens that have a small brush pen refill are usually the easiest to use. The tips of these hand lettering pens are not too soft and will forgive you small mistakes. You can also use the fine lead to draw particularly small and elegant fonts.
It is suitable for delicate hand lettering Tombow Fudenosuke particularly good. With this pen you can choose between different colors and degrees of hardness: On Black model with a hard tip is a reliable companion for hand lettering beginners. The delicate yet firm tip of this hand lettering pen is particularly easy to control. The ink was developed on a water basis and can therefore be blended afterwards with a watercolor pen and water.
In contrast to the Tombow Fudenoske, the Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen Brush water resistant. This means that you can paint over it, but you can no longer blend it. This hand lettering pen has an intense color scheme.
Medium-sized brush pens as hand lettering pens
Medium-sized brush pens are a good choice, especially for beginners Compromise for entry: The brush tips are often relatively soft and flexible, but can still be easily controlled. Especially if you are still at the beginning of your hand lettering career, you need a lot of patience and tact. Hand lettering pens with a large tip make trembling hands or small wobbles quickly visible when drawing. You can practice with small or medium-sized pens before trying out the larger models.
The Edding brush pens have a flexible tip that is also very insensitive. The set offers a wide range of colors and is not expensive. That’s why these hand lettering pens are particularly suitable for the first attempts.
While many brush pens have a synthetic tip, these score points Crayola Supertips with a lead consisting of an ink pad. This makes these hand lettering pens insensitive and almost indestructible because they do not fray. At the same time, you can paint both thin and wider lines well with them.
Large brush pens for hand lettering professionals
With hand lettering pens that have a large tip you can generous lettering draw. However, because they have a wide range of motion, they are also more difficult to control: patience, practice and tact are required here. For thin lines, hold the pen vertically; for thicker lines, you can hold it at an angle across the paper.
The absolute classic among brush pens are the Tombow Abt Dual Brush Pens. They are particularly high quality, but are also priced in a higher category. You can choose your favorites from more than 90 colors. The brush tip of these hand lettering pens is very sensitive. That’s why you should only use it on very smooth paper and not press too hard, otherwise the lead can quickly fray. For small touch-ups, the pens have a felt-tip tip in the same color at the back.
Although the Tombow Abt Dual Brush Pens can also be blended with water, the most professional way is to use this Amteker brush pen set work if you want to achieve watercolor effects in your hand lettering artwork. The color application of the individual tones is very strong and can be applied undiluted to paper with the brush pen tip. If you want to mix two colors or create a lighter tone, you can work with the included water brush and dilute the ink.
Which fineliners and markers are suitable as hand lettering pens?
Many brush pens already have an integrated fineliner tip. Because you don’t necessarily need brush pens for hand lettering, you can also just work with markers: With them you can not only repair small mistakes or add decorative elements to your lettering, but also draw “faux calligraphy”. This translates to “fake calligraphy” and means imitating brush pen fonts with fineliners. With these hand lettering pens, make sure that you only apply light pressure when you draw with them. Fineliners in particular often have a sensitive tip that can quickly break.
The Staedtler fineliner come in a set with 6 different line widths. So you are equipped for all cases and can experiment with thicknesses between 0.05 and 0.8 millimeters. You can even use these hand lettering pens in combination with watercolor pens and water: The Staedtler fineliner are waterproof and will not run if you work on the paper with moisture.
The combination of two different tips in one hand lettering pen is the Tombow Twintone-pencils particularly practical: you have a very fine lead with a diameter of 0.3 millimeters as well as a slightly thicker one in one color.
The Stabilo Point 88 pencils are the classic among fineliners. They are available in almost countless colors and tones and sets. The tip is only 0.4 millimeters thick and is particularly suitable for delicate drawings. The ink of these hand lettering pens is water-based. If you want to use these fineliners in combination with watercolor pencils, you should use the latter first and wait until the ink is completely dry.
With pencils you score points in preparation
Even if it often seems that hand lettering artists can draw seemingly perfect lettering freehand, it is usually not that easy even for professionals. With a Pencil You can sketch out your hand lettering design or insert guide lines – and then simply erase them from the finished lettering.
Hand lettering pens are particularly good Pencils with a so-called “case lead” again Faber Castell mechanical pencil TK9400. Thanks to the special lead, you can work more delicately with this hand lettering pen than with a normal pencil, which quickly becomes dull. The hardness level “HB” is a good middle ground between soft leads that are easy to smear (“B”) and harder leads (“H”).
A mechanical pencil also dulls over time. You can sharpen the lead again and again – but this only works with one special sharpener. A normal device will be more likely to harm your hand lettering pen. This Dahle mine sharpener box has an automatic sharpening stop to sharpen your pencil as best as possible without sanding it too much. This sharpener is suitable for different lead thicknesses and can therefore be used flexibly for different hand lettering pens.