Faux Calligraphy With Brush Pens

Fauxligraphy is the best way to learn hand lettering. I want to show you how to do faux calligraphy with brush pens to help you experiment with your lettering style. This is a simple way to add something different to your hand lettering that anyone can do. It definitely makes your lettering stand out.

If you are new to faux calligraphy, I broke down the basics in The Secret to Fake Calligraphy. Now we’re going to add this fauxligraphy technique to our brush lettering to really make our letters pop. I started using this style and I loved it so much that I kept doing it and trying it in different ways. My friends on Instagram really liked it as well so I decided to share this tutorial with you.

If you would like to watch the video tutorial instead of read it, here’s the video:

Faux Calligraphy With Brush Pens

With a brush pen, you will use it like normal at first giving it the thicker pressure on the downstrokes. Then you will add a thinner line next to your downstroke leaving the center open. It looks like fauxligraphy but with regular brush lettering. Having that highlight in the center of the downstroke really makes the letters pop. This is a great way to make a certain word or phrase stand out in your hand lettered quote.

I like to use Karin Markers and watercolor paper because it blends easily where you combine your strokes. When I use Crayola Supertips, it leaves a little dot where I pick up my pen because the ink didn’t blend into itself. I also tried it with Tombow Dual Brush pens on smooth paper and it did work well. It didn’t leave a dot because they blend a little easier. I decided to connect my letters and the colors don’t blend seamlessly between letters. I actually like that look, but if you don’t, you could spend a little more time blending the connection points.

3 Styles of Fauxligraphy With Brush Pens

There are so many things you can do when you combine brush pens and faux calligraphy! I have 3 specific ideas of styles you can try. I hope these help to spark some other ideas as well!

1- The regular

This is simply what I showed you already. Use the brush pen like normal and then add a thin line to the downstroke leaving the space.

2- Adding a faux shadow

Do you struggle knowing where to add shadow to your lettering? Letter your word with or without thick downstrokes. Then add a gray fauxligraphy line next to all of the downstrokes. This is an easy way to add a little faux shadow.

3- Adding color

This is almost like adding a shadow but with blending a few colors. I added the color of the next letter to the downstroke of the previous color and let it blend naturally.

Which style is your favorite? Is this something you want to try? I’d love to hear what you think! And if you want to try it later, pin this image to Pinterest!