The Art of Brush Lettering: A Stroke-by-Stroke Guide to the Practice and Techniques of Creative Lettering and Calligraphy

by Kelly Klapstein

A complete guide to brush pen lettering, The Art of Brush Lettering takes a meditative approach to creating beautiful letterforms, plus freestyle lettering, faux calligraphy, and special effects.

Instagram brush lettering artist Kelly Klapstein (@kellycreates) takes a simple, serene approach to teaching the art of creating beautiful letterforms with easy-to-use and richly colored brush pens. Kelly begins by guiding you through the tools you’ll be using and the best ways to position pen, hand, and paper.

She goes on to demonstrate a range of basic strokes and drills, detailed tutorials for both lowercase and uppercase alphabets, and lessons on freestyle lettering, faux calligraphy, and a variety of special effects.

Also included for practice and improvement are exemplars for tracing and worksheets for basic strokes and drills, lowercase and uppercase letters, punctuation, and numerals for both large and small brush pens, so you'll never have to look far to find the best examples to practice from.

• ISBN13: 9781631593550
• Publish Date: 30 November 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 21 July 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Quarry Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 160
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of The Art of Brush Lettering from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

For the sake of honestly, before reading this I didn’t know that much about brush lettering or calligraphy, outside of the fact that I would love to learn how to do something that beautiful. There a basic guide was pretty much the perfect thing for me, and I was lucky enough to spot exactly that on NetGalley.
As far as introductory guides are concerned, this one is pretty solid. Klapstein spends some time talking about the history, techniques, and even some relaxing and stretching exercises. She covers things that it never would have occurred to me would be relevant for calligraphy (I can safely say I was not expecting to see neck stretches in this book), but I actually appreciate how thoughtful and thorough she was about it.
If you’re intimidated about supplies (quality, how much, etc.) then don’t worry, Klapstein has your back on this as well. Not only does she list out all the items you’ll need, but it isn’t an overwhelming amount you need to track down (nothing more depressing than picking up an art guide only to realize you could never afford the supplies listed on the first page). She even explains the differences in certain supplies, and why you may choose one over the other.
While I can’t claim I’m an expert at brush lettering now (there’s going to be a lot of practice in my future before I can say that), I can safely say that I have a better grasp of it. Which is really what I was looking for here, and for that I’m grateful.

For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

I love calligraphy books. There is something very relaxing and meditative about sitting quietly and finding a thoughtful zone and seeing a piece come together on the paper. Even (especially?) the practice that goes before getting comfortable with a new technique is a meditative process and valuable for the quiet time and sense of mastery it provides.

The author of The Art of Brush Lettering talks in her introduction about the mindfulness and relaxation of daily practice and the satisfaction that comes from making progress with the lettering techniques she presents in this book. The writing style is calm and inspires confidence even with beginners.

The book starts off with an introduction of what brush lettering is, what style of lettering this particular book covers, along with photographs showing the materials and some different styles of pens and how they work and what the strengths and differences are. How to choose and care for your tools is important and she does a decent job of explaining how to lengthen the life of your pens, what kind of paper to choose and how to make/print practice sheets for lettering.

Our bodies are our most important tools, and the author uses several pages with photographs explaining ergonomic working positions, relaxation, posture and combatting fatigue including exercises for relaxing muscles in the shoulders, neck, hands, arms and fingers.

She rounds out the introductory chapters with a discussion of papers and other supplies (rough paper vs. smooth and how it impacts the durability of the brush pens, etc). The introductory chapters comprise roughly 20% of the total content.

The next chapters are set up in a primer format. Pages of strokes and parts of letters/spacing/words which will make up the tools with which the artist creates. These chapters begin simply and develop in complexity and completeness as they progress. These chapters form roughly 30% of the total content and are thorough, but not intimidating. They include clear, concise diagrams and practice examples.

The last half of the book is given over to elaborating on the basics. There are chapters on freeform lettering and special techniques to make dimensional, highlighted or otherwise embellish the basic letters covered in the primer.

The end includes a complete set of tracing and practice templates with examples and good photographs to help the artist along.
There are no links at the end of the book, but there is a simple index included.

Lovely and relaxing prose, beautiful clear photography and good, well explained practice sheets. A worthwhile addition to the calligrapher's library.

Four stars
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.