Trying Out Brush Pens

Back in the beginning of this year, I wanted to learn how to do calligraphy. I learn well by teaching myself, by playing around & seeing what works best for my brain. I really wanted to learn calligraphy because I knew it would be something that I could do to relax & decompress. I have found that I haven't quite caught onto this as fast as I had anticipated- not to say that I'm the most awesome human or that calligraphy is simple!

I had started off with using a nib & ink and loved it. I struggled with keeping things consistent with the ink but found that when I was getting it right, it was looking good. My biggest thing though, was because I'm a disaster in general, I was getting ink everywhere. When I was doing this at my home, it was fine because I prepared for it. But I do a lot of house & animal sitting, and I knew I couldn't just bring my ink to other peoples homes in fear that I would accidentally destroy things that weren't mine.

So, I had looked into trying out brush pens so that I could travel with them. I didn't realize how different they would be from the ink- although in hindsight, of course they would be totally different!

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To see my recap on using ink, click here!

I did quite a bit of research before I settled on the brand of pens I would purchase. I settled on Tombow pens which I got for a good price on Amazon and I also use practice pages & cardstock to write. I love these pens because all the ones I ordered are dual tip so I'm able to play around with 2 different styles of tips which produce different styles of lines.

The biggest thing for me was I had to start learning completely over. When you use the ink & the nib, it's much easier to naturally make the lines thicker & thinner based on how your pulling the nib. With the brush pens, I struggle with creating those lines in a simpler way. I'm definitely still getting the hang of it!
What I find too especially is that when I work with the ink, the lines are made & that's that (at least for me). Whereas with the brush pens, I can fake those lines. So what you can do, is write out a word and essentially fill in the thickness of lines to create the style of calligraphy. And while I do this with the pens as I'm getting used to this- I feel like I'm cheating. But in my head I do know that brush lettering & calligraphy have their differences too so that makes me feel better.

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I do like brush lettering because it's easier to fix my mistakes- because I'm without a double still making lots of mistakes. You're able to make a tweaks much easier than when using ink.  It's also much more predictable than the ink. With the ink, there might be an air bubble in the nib & it might explode a little over your paper. Or if you run out of ink in the middle of a line, it can be tricky to recover especially for a super beginner like me!

What I also like about the dual tip pens is you can play with colors a little! I was nervous to try this and while my first attempt isn't perfect, it still came out cool! I like that with the brush pens for me, I'm able to create more diversity in a single piece. I have fun mixing & matching colors very simply and it makes creating something a lot more fun in the moment!

I'm sure that somehow this technique could be done with ink, but I am nowhere near that type of skill with the ink considering I splatter everywhere still. Whoops.

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What I am enjoying also, is with the pens, I'm having an easier time playing around with different types of fonts. I still have a lot of playing around & practicing to do, that's obvious, but I've come a long way. I have a good time mixing & matching different styles. I enjoy playing around a lot & I tend to go from one thing to another quickly then back again. With the brush pens it's easier for me to do that!

Overall, I enjoy the brush pens and the nib & ink in such different ways. I think had I learned on brush pens first, it might have helped me a little more with learning how to use the nib & ink. I do feel that I'm more comfortable with the brush pens currently in regards to being able to take chances & playing around. I love working with colors really easily with the pens, although I haven't tried experimenting with colored ink quite yet. The way the black ink comes out does look a little sleeker than the pens do but the pens give me a better opportunity to do more right now. I greatly enjoy both of these techniques & am really enjoying learning! I would suggest if you're interested in trying either of these options- start with the brush pens! Happy crafting!