Disclosure: I’m an Ambassador for Blink Lettering and have free access to resources. All thoughts are my own. This post also features affiliate links
Teaching yourself to letter is hard. You see pretty pictures on Instagram and dive straight in, quickly growing frustrated and asking yourself why your version doesn’t look the same. It’s so important to learn to walk before you run and, when it comes to lettering, that means starting with the basics: the strokes.
My lettering has come on so much after just a week working with Blink Lettering’s Better Brush Drills. For a brief comparison, here’s a look at some of my lettering from last year…
Compared to now…
Probably worth taking some time to have a crack at those practice sheets, right? And it’s super straightforward; you just spend ten minutes a day practising the same strokes, getting to grips with the angle of your pen and building that muscle memory.
Day one is all about remembering to go thin on the up stroke, thick on the down stroke, and combining the two.
Day two focuses on underturns and overturns – it’s normal to find one easier than the other. All the more reason to practice the harder one!
Day three is my favourite: the compound curve. I love doing a row of these when I’m testing new pens.
Day four’s ovals were by far my least favourite. My shapes are inconsistent and it’s so hard for me to transition between thick and thin. Again, all the more reason to practise!
Day five focuses on ascenders and descenders, so I deviated from my usual repetitive ‘joy’ practise page and threw in a few ‘b’s and ‘h’s.
Day six picked up on a few little-used strokes which deserve a mention such as pesky ‘x’s and ‘k’s.
Day seven re-capped the key strokes from the last six days and I was excited that my new Pentel pens arrived just in time (look out for my review and giveaway post). I’m loving these shades and they made it even more fun to practise.
Hopefully it’s not just me and you can see a difference between my first and last page of joy, particularly with those pesky ovals.
Up next is the alphabet challenge and I’m really looking forward to developing my skills and finding my own style with this. Who’s with me?
Find out more by checking out the Blink Lettering website and Better Brush Drills Facebook group.
Edit (28/08/21): Milly has updated her resources for 2021 and you can sign up for her new six-week course for a bargain £55!