Becoming a Brush Lettering Badass

Before we get started, Holly gives you a few housekeeping rules including where to access our private group, how to participate on social media, and when she will critique your work.

Hey Hey! So happy to have you here! We all have to start somewhere. Take a moment to get to know your instructor, Holly McCaig. Learn about my background, and desire to share her experiences with brush lettering.

In this section, we will discuss the supplies used in this course that will help you achieve your brush lettering goals. Bonus! Download the Brush Lettering Shopping List from the backstage library or in this lesson.

In this section, Holly will give you a brief overview of what you’ll be learning in Becoming a Brush Lettering Badass, as well as where to access resources and more.

An introduction to the tools we’ll be using.

Most people probably already have these foundation tools in their art/craft stash. And, if you don’t, you should! They come in handy in lots of art mediums. While you are not required to use them in brush lettering, they are super helpful!

​Before I go into discussing the brush pens we will be using in this course; I wanted to tell you about the types of pens you will find on the market for brush lettering. There are two types of brush pens to consider, and their tip type can determine those.

In this section, we will talk about the supplies we are going to use in this class. Do not worry, I’ll go into more detail about them in a future module.

There are a whole lot of terms to describe the various parts of letters. So much that it can be slightly overwhelming. For this brush lettering script course, we’re going to break down just the script letters.

Humor me by learning this because it makes you sound smart when talking about lettering with your friends. Plus, you never know if it will show up at your next trivia night as a question. Use the diagram on the right to refer to each term. Bonus: Download the Letter Diagram below.

Depending on your age, you have probably gotten used to your handwriting just being what it is. I want you to use the practice sheet that I’ve included with this course to complete an exercise.

Learning how to hold a brush pen can be slightly challenging when for years, you have been holding your pen the traditional way to write letters. However, with time and practice, you’ll determine what works best for your brush lettering style. Everyone is different in this area. But, I will help you get started.

Keep practicing the basics and you’ll get much better. Each pen will have a different tip, and that will also determine how you will grip the pen and how you will apply the pressure on your paper to achieve your strokes. Bonus: Download the stroke practice sheet below.

Forming the alphabet will give you plenty of practice opportunities to create your different basic strokes and combine them. This section will be a video demonstration of me writing the alphabet as both capital and lowercase letters. Bonus, download the alphabet diagram to help you write each letter, below.

How to write various words in the basic brush lettering style.

Learn all the swoopy, and dippy letter formations of popular trendy brush lettering.

When it comes to brush lettering, I believe that you’ll find inspiration all around you! The style of hand lettering has taken an upswing in the past couple of years, and I see it everywhere. It’s in magazines, on album covers, all over product packaging and even on clothes. If you haven’t seen it, then you truly aren’t opening your eyes!

As I mentioned in previous modules, and in my video demonstrations that you’ve been able to watch, I highly recommend sketching out your ideas. In this section, I’m going to sketch out my ideas for my project.

Creating your masterpiece! I want you to take the time to create your first brush lettering piece and share it with us in the group! I’ll gladly give you some guidance!

This lesson will give you a basic overview of scanning. I use the Canon LiDE 120 so you’ll have to adapt settings to your device.

In this lesson, I’m going to explain Raster vs. Vector and show you how I clean up my work in Photoshop before I vectorize it in Adobe Illustrator.

Finally, we’re going to learn the settings I use and adjust for vectoring my brush lettering in Adobe Illustrator.

It’s wrap up time! Watch the final video – and THANK YOU!

Artwork PDFs

Get your bonus workbook, Pretty Little Letters

All of the course downloads mentioned in one location including the guide book.