Lettering Tips & Tricks

Hello there, Madison here!

I was blessed with the opportunity to be Wheat & Honey Co.’s 2020 Summer Intern and I led the “Learn to Letter” workshop this past month. You can check out my blog of my amazing experiences here.

I am so excited to share with you my tips for Hand-lettering! Be sure to check out our recorded instruction and downloadable guide here.

I began lettering when I was in 8th grade (!!!), five years ago! Through lots of practice and teaching myself, I got to where I am today. Lettering is such an amazing way to share your faith and encouragement with your family and friends. From addressing invites, to making beautiful signs, lettering is an amazing skill that can allow you to do many things. 

Now, for my biggest piece of advice: Take your time and be patient. Lettering is more of an ‘art’, rather than a different way to write. This new skill will need lots of practice and patience. 

You can check out my first pieces to see how much practice helped me below! I am confident soon you will be proud of your lettering skills.

Now for my three main tips for lettering: 

• Bold thick downstrokes + light thin upstrokes
• Practice this on the Basics page of our downloadable worksheet.
• Tilt your pen for the thick downstrokes instead of just pressing down hard. For the light thin upstrokes barely press down to get a thin line.
• This is a hard skill! Practice Practice Practice!

• Pick up pen in between strokes

• Practice this on the Lowercase + Uppercase page of our downloadable worksheet. 
• Practice this with the letters (i.e. the letter “b” you will do the first loop and brush stroke down. and then pick up your pen and readjust before making the curve and loop to finish) Check out the picture ‘A’ at the end of this post for a visual of this tip.
• This goes back to taking your time with lettering and that it is an art. Be patient.

• “Bounce” your letters

• Practice this on the Practice Words page of our downloadable worksheet.
• The bottom of your letters vary on the line to give a “bounce” effect.
• Check out the picture ‘B’ at the end of this post for a visual of this tip.

• Tips for creating a piece of lettering art:

• Add Embellishments
• There is a page in the guide to see examples of embellishments and you can trace them for practice. Ex. banners, florals and greenery
• Embellishments transform your few words of lettering into a beautiful piece of art.
• Pair lettering with capital block letters
• Ex. “HAPPY” in all capital block letters looks great “birthday” written in fancy lettering
• Check out the picture ‘C’ at the end of this post for a visual of this tip.

• Final tip: Practice, Practice, Practice!
• You got this! Share your pictures with #wheatandhoneyco or #wheatandhoneycoworkshops so we can see your creations!

Lettering pens can be found here.

Our online workshop and lettering kit with everything you need to be successful can be found here. 

Picture ‘A’:

Picture ‘B’:

Picture ‘C’:

Madison Wright