Supplies You Need To Start Hand Lettering
The art of hand lettering isn’t just the latest trend that has seemingly taken over social media and the design world. Lettering can be a favorite hobby, part of your design skillset, or even a full-time job. And as an artist who shares lettering tips, tricks, and videos on Instagram every week, the question I get asked the most often is “What are your favorite pens for hand lettering?”.
While tools do not the craftsman make, I do have some favorite items that I use consistently for personal work and client projects. Hand lettering differs from typography and calligraphy because you’re drawing letters by hand instead of arranging or writing them. Because of this, it’s possible to learn how to do hand lettering with just about any writing instrument or artistic medium.
For this list, I’ve got you covered with my tried and true hand-lettering essentials. We’ll go over everything I use on a daily/weekly basis that will help you start to work on different hand lettering styles. Please do keep in mind that you don’t need everything on this list to start drawing, it takes time to build up your artist’s toolkit and you can absolutely start drawing with what you already have! :)
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate, and if you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a small amount of revenue. Whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you. :)
Pencils and Erasers
Rembrandt Art Design Drawing Pencils - Regular pencils in a pack with a wide range of hardness grades. Quite nice for sketching and shading.
Pentel Sharp Mechanical Pencils - 0.5mm mechanical pencils in a pack of 2. My daily go-to for just about everything, the lines are quite precise and erase quite easily.
Staedtler Mars Premium Quality Vinyl Eraser - A good every day eraser to use that gets rid of graphite very well.
Paper Mate White Pearl Latex Free Eraser - Some folks prefer the pearl erasers so I’m including those too - no such thing as too many erasers!
Sakura SumoGrip Retractable Graphite Eraser - A giant retractable eraser. Need I say more? :)
Bohin Extra-Fine Chalk Pencil - A random extra I’m including because it’s a mechanical pencil with tiny chalk lead. Perfect for detailing or outlining or shading any chalk project!
Pens and Fineliners
Sakura Gel Pens Gelly Roll Black (08mm) - My tried and true go-to for most things. I’ve probably got 20 of them on my desk right now. I adore coloring with gel pens, and these are my favorite for bullet journal lettering!
Sakura Gelly Roll White (05mm/08mm/10mm) - The size 10 is the best white gel pen I’ve ever used and writes over just about anything. Don’t forget to wiggle it on some scratch paper to get the ink flowing for best opacity!
Sakura Gelly Roll Black (06mm) - Good for thin detail lines and outlining. Have I mentioned that I enjoy creating art with gel pens? :D
Sharpie Fine Point Pens - More fine point pens, good for sketching, lining, lettering, and drawing.
Tombow Mono Drawing Pen - Ya gotta have options!
Sakura Pigma Micron Pen Set of 6, Black - Tiny tips and big tips for whatever you need.
Sakura Pigma Micron Pen Set of 8, Black - This pack has the addition of the Pigma Graphic 1 which is great for filling in spaces.
Triplus Fineliners - Gorgeous fineliners in a rainbow of colors, perfect for writing and/or outlining.
Markers and Paint Pens
Sakura 3-Piece Extra Fine Pentouch Metallic Paint Marker - Super opaque metallic goodness. They definitely smell like paint pens but they’re kind of magical so it’s worth it.
POSCA Black & White Set of 6 Pens - The paint markers I used to write in my journal and ON my journal in that one video.
Posca Paint Marker Extra Fine Special Set - Extra fine paint pens that aren’t included in the above set.
Sharpie Poster-Paint Markers White Medium Point - The pens I used to outline my “Community Happens Over Coffee” Mural.
Crayola Supertips 50ct - I’d recommend the 100 count but it’s hard to find online at the moment, so the 50 count will have to do for now.
Sakura Koi Coloring Brush Pens (Gray) - Gray brush pens in warm to cool tones - I like to use these for shading and shadowing letters
Sakura Moonlight Gelly Roll Pens - Opaque gel pens in vibrant colors and beautiful neutral grays
Paper, Journals, and Rulers
Westcott Stainless Steel Office Ruler, 6-Inch - An awesome little journal ruler, perfect for just about anything and easily fits in your pencil pouch for travel.
Stainless Steel Ruler, 6-inch (Black) - Similar ruler but this time in black! ;)
Note: The type of paper you choose is completely up to you, your budget, and your medium. Different weights of paper react differently to different pens and markers, so I’m sharing a few options from plain printer paper to nice notebooks.
Epson Bright White Printer Paper - Budget-friendly and great for a quick sketch or to just get an idea out of your head and onto paper.
Tracing Paper Pad - For tracing other compositions when you don’t want to redraw everything (10/10 would recommend)
Confidant Hardcover Notebook - “A hardcover notebook from Baron Fig that’s small enough to go everywhere you go and big enough to work with all day long, whether at home, work, or in transit.” Lays flat, comes in 7 colors and with three different paper options. My go-to options for just messy sketches and doodles. Also the notebook I painted the cover of with those POSCA pens.
Archer and Olive Dot Grid Journal - You can use code LIZ10 to save 10% off any A+O purchase:) This is the notebook I use for bullet journaling and for organizing nice copies of sketches, doodles, and compositions. The 160 GSM paper means that most pens and even most paints will not bleed OR ghost through to the other side. These journals even come in black dot grid paper as well as kraft dot grid paper. I own too many of them. :D
Archer and Olive Planners - Both dated and undated planners with that lovely high-quality paper and beautiful covers.
Archer and Olive Clearance - Be sure to always check their clearance section for discontinued and discounted notebook styles!
Again, please don’t feel like all these supplies are necessary to have before you even start hand lettering - I encourage you to just grab any pen and paper you have lying around and just get creative! But if you’re craving more, I’ll be talking about the supplies and programs I use for digital work in my next blog post. I’m See you then! :)
<3 Liz
