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Learn Basic Strokes

Lesson 4 from: Brush Lettering Basics

Laura Worthington

Learn Basic Strokes

Lesson 4 from: Brush Lettering Basics

Laura Worthington

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Lesson Info

4. Learn Basic Strokes

Lesson Info

Learn Basic Strokes

do some really basic strokes just so that you guys can get warmed up with using this brush and really get used to using your wrist and your arms. So what, we're gonna dio? Yes, real simple stuff. So once you go ahead and take your favorite sheet of paper here, shirts caught and basically I just want you to from tops and bottom of the page Long strokes. And you can go zigzag kind of up and down like this. These don't need to be pretty or beautiful. I'm just simply wanting you guys to get accustomed. Teoh, You know that motion that that feeling of using your wrist in your arm, you notice that for some of you, it's it's good to have a little bit of contact with the paper? I generally tend to use my balance point as the bottom part of my knuckle on my pinky, and that will usually be the one point that is resting on the page when I'm doing this. So I'm not completely off of the page with my hand. I have a little bit of contact with it. Some people are really good about not having any contac...

t at all with the paper but me personally, that's what Ideo It's just like that. And so what I want you to really focus on is tohave the brush down to its side. You see, I've got arrested like this and it's on the side instead of being on top of it or anything that way. So I'm gonna take a look at everybody and how you're kind of holding your brush and make sure that I've got you guys situated correctly. Let's start with beautiful Sean over here. Let me watch you do that. So hold it a little bit down to the side like that, and it's kind of like a scraping motion. It's almost like think of Ah, think of like a scalpel and you've got it right. Definitely. Keep your fingers kind of locked while you're doing that and something here. You want any kind of on its side like this? Go. Yeah, and even more so, like you can kind of rest it back in the crook of your palm. And then it's kind of like this, dragging almost like the scraping that we're doing. Yes, you've got it perfect. And try doing some fast ones where you're kind of doing zigzags up and down the page. Oh, wow. We have to lefties right over here in the same table. I love it. All right, let me what you do that quick? Very. You know, you should. What I do is squeeze enough to and I'll watch this little plastic barrel right here on what kind of squeeze? Enough to watch it sort of fill in with ink. And then usually that's enough to kind of keep me going, OK? Yeah. And then if you're having a hard time doing that, like, here's what all kind of do is kind of like bend it. You seem like ending with my fingers. Okay. Yeah. You just mangled lapping. Be hard on it often. Kind of like, lean it down a little bit more. And the medium since you two are left handed with these strokes, I would actually recommend going from the opposite. Yes, you're not totally You're not getting your hands on it too much. I do. I do have ah question. First of all, is my ink not coming out all the way? Or is it supposed to be sort of, you know, it's a little bit to get used to in the beginning. And so you should. What I'll do is I'll watch the soul Plastic barrels filled with ink like this. If once you get kind of enough on there, it will be good. It'll be good to go for a while. OK, so so is it okay that it's just coming off? Oh, yeah. Looking for okay? Is there a name of this particular stroke? You know, it's just up, up, down zigzag. Okay, let me actually get different. She s So what I want you to do is try Teoh, keep your hand in contact with the paper, okay? And it's kind of like the scraping motion. You see, how like the barrel is back? Kind of in the crook of my palm. Yes, and I've been trying really? OK. Am I pushing on the ink as I'm doing? You know, I used to try to fill it, like getting plenty of ink on there and then go through and do it. Oops. And so it's You should kind of like between stuff. Perfect. That That's what I like to see. Yeah. So this pinching here am I pushing on the nib are right here on the belly of the brush. That's a really good question. So it's kind of this area right in here. It's like the middle part of the brush that's making contact, and so you'll notice. One thing that will happen is that you'll tend to get, like, rough edge on one side and then a really smooth edge on the other, and that's okay, closer. And so keep your wrist locked when you're doing, that's your actual like this. So you're not, you know, moving your wrist. It all okay, the out of looking good moves the paper and not your hand. So this is something that was really hard for me to get used to when I first started learning how the letter is that I would have this tendency and a lot of people do this. I have this tendency, Teoh. You know, I'd start my lettering, and then I get way down to like, the bottom of the page like this, and then I get into the top of the page and I'd be like this or be way over here away over here. So what I generally do is keep my non dominant hand for me. I'm right handed. So use my left hand on the paper. And I used that to move the paper rounds. But I'm trying to keep my hands in the same place. And the reason why you want to do that is because, you know, you really want to get used, Teoh. A one particular posture. One set up that works really well. If you're having to learn how to let her appear here, here, over here. You know, it doesn't work out quite as well, right? So we really want to get our posture in one perfect place and move the paper and not your body. All right, so let's do a couple of other of these strokes. Yes, man. Do you think do people need to have this brush to practice at home, or can I just start doing something with whatever tools they might? Absolutely. I mean, if you have felt brushes, fine. You know, if you have any kind of regular brush that you have laying around, watercolor brush, whatever you have totally fine

Class Materials

Free Download

Worksheet | Lined Paper

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Basic Strokes & Alphabet
Resource Guide
Expressive Lettering Adjectives List
Alternate Letterforms
Tools & Materials List

Ratings and Reviews

lynny
 

Wow!!! Great class, terrific presenter! Easy to follow, professional, enthusiastic, fun!!! Most CL presenters have at least one of those attributes, but not all. CL Management: have potential new presenters learn from Laura's class. Only one suggestion: Laura's constant hair interference gets really tiresome and irritating. She frequently tosses her hair over a shoulder, and moves her hair behind her shoulder with her hands, and "fights" her hair being in the way during the whole presentation. Very distracting. Laura obviously loves how her very long hair defines her personality, and I'm not suggesting that is a bad thing. But for these short presentations, perhaps Laura would consider corralling all that hair with a loose ponytail, behind her back? That said, I bought the course anyway, as she is an outstanding teacher.

Debbie Smith
 

I loved loved loved this class. So wish I had been there in person. Although I'm not so great with the brush lettering, Laura was so perfect in her teaching and I definitely have some ideas to put into practice.

Shawn
 

This class was amazing it had high energy lots of details . It shared new ideas on where I could use such beautiful lettering I'm super excited to use it in my business and on my note cards! Buy it!

Student Work

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