Best Calligraphy Lesson Pasadena Near Me

4worldlovers: I’m ALL for using simple painting techniques to build up to really impressive pieces of work. If you can paint a star, you can definitely make this piece.

This project is perfect for journaling or even for some adorable wall art. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Strathmore Art to develop a creative watercoloring workshop.

Daler-Rowney Aquafine Watercolor Set of 24 (not the exact same set I used but has the same colors!)

This workshop was created in collaboration with Strathmore Art. All opinions are my own. I do not endorse products that I would not personally use. Some links are affiliate links which means I would get a small commission if you choose to purchase. This helps me continue to make free tutorials!

Let’s begin with some practice before we jump into the final piece. I mentioned earlier that we will be combining simple painting techniques to come up with something really amazing.

Begin by painting some simple stars. Experiment with the colors until you’re happy with the color motif. It is easier to paint smaller stars with a smaller tip paint brush. Here, I’m using a size 2 round.

I chose to use cool colors in the blue and purple family since I want to paint the galaxy lettering in this same color scheme.

If you’ve never done faux calligraphy, you’re in luck because I have a little practice sheet for you!

Let’s sum up the process if you’ve never done faux calligraphy before. Start by writing the desired word in cursive. I’ll be writing the word “light”. Next, thicken the lines that are supposed to be “downstrokes”. (DOWNSTROKE = when you’re writing and your pencil moves DOWN the page vs UP the page). For the areas of the lettering that your pencil moves downward, you want to thicken those lines. This achieves the look of a brush pen calligraphy by using every day tools.

Once you have some practice under your belt, let’s get started on the final piece. Use a pencil to lightly outline the letters you will paint over. I also wrote out “BE THE” above the cursive word “light”.

Gently roll a kneaded eraser over your pencil markings. This will make the pencil markings less obvious when you paint over them

Using a kneaded eraser instead of a regular eraser lets you more gently remove dark pencil lines and not remove them completely. A kneaded eraser also has the added bonus of being less messy (no eraser dust!).

Make sure that you can still see your lines. You want them faint enough to be less visible once paint is added but not so faint that you can’t see where you’re supposed to be painting.

Step 5: Paint tiny stars on the thick downstrokes of your faux calligraphy lettering

Start by painting tiny stars in clusters along the thicker parts of your faux calligraphy letters. I chose to only do it for one part of each letter. For example, the letter “g” has two areas that has thicker downstrokes but I chose to paint on only one of the thicker lines.

Paint little clusters of 4-5 stars. I like to switch up the colors so you get a little variety. Like I mentioned previously, I’m using pinks, blues, and purples for the stars to match the galaxy lettering inside the word “light” but feel free to have fun with a number of color combinations!

Let the painted stars dry before moving onto the next step!

Once the stars are dry, use the same brush pen to fill in the faux brush calligraphy lettering. Follow the pencil lines as best you can. Here is where a round tip watercolor brush comes in handy. You can see that the tip of the brush is capable of painting extremely thin lines but it can also be flattened to paint thicker lines as well.

Work patiently and slowly here. It is really easy to make a mistake (speaking from experience!). If that happens, it’s still possible to save it by painting your lines a little thicker.

Again, you want to allow the paint to completely dry before moving on to the next step. Smudging happens!

Step 7: Use a gold gel pen to add a “drop shadow” to your lettering

4worldlovers: Gilbert's Lettering proudly serves his clients with a wide range of customized products and services through calligraphy, hand engraving, and hand-made crafts for events, home decorations, gift givings, and/or personal use.

Gilbert's Lettering is a one-man operation calligrapher, lettering artist, and hand engraver located in Los Angeles, CA. He incorporates his skills in traditional and modern calligraphy to the services he offers such as place cards, seating charts, welcome signs, promotional business signs, menus, home decorations, hand engraving, laser cutting, on-sites, live events for brand activations, weddings, holidays, promotions, and many more!