The most popular tools for modern calligraphy
If you find yourself wanting to create calligraphy but have no idea where to start, then this is precisely the blog post for you! I’ll walk you through which supplies to buy.
What tools do i need for modern calligraphy?
Now that we know the basic difference between traditional calligraphy and modern calligraphy, it’s time to review some of the essential items that we will need.
Modern calligraphy can be practiced with a whole variety of different tools, such as –
- Brush pens
- Classic dip pens
- Pencil
- Markers
- Broad nib pens (Parallel Pen)
However, if you are a total beginner i would advise you start practicing with a brush pen simply because it is much easier to learn how to work with compared to the traditional dip pen.
Here is a list of some of the most popular tools for modern calligraphy
1. Brush pens!
As i just mentioned, the brush pens are the easiest tool to start off with.
The reason is that the brush pen has a flexible (felt) nib which allows you to create nice thick and thin lines with ease.
This is essential for calligraphy, and we are going to come to that part right after the tool recommendations.
Here is a recommendation for brush pens –
- Tombow Dual Tip brush pen
- Tombow Fudenosuke
- Crayola Markers
- Ecoline brush pens
- Lyra brush pens
- Artline Stix
- Pentel fude touch sign pen
- Sharpie brush pens
2. Traditional dip pens
Traditional dip pens consist of two parts –
- The nib
- The holder
The holder can either be a straight holder or an oblique holder (check the image below)
Working with dip pens takes a bit longer to learn, and here is why –
When you work with a dip pen you need to hold it on a specific angle in order for the tines of the nib to open up equally, thus creating a thicker stroke (aka shade).
On top of that, you need to hold it on a certain angle in order to avoid your tip getting stuck in the paper when you create hairlines (thin upstrokes).
Essentially you can buy the parts separately but since i constantly see many beginners struggling with this, i would recommend you to take this calligraphy set by Manuscript.
As you can see in the picture above, this set comes with an oblique holder, the nibs (with great flexibility) and a bottle of ink.
This is a great set for beginners that gives you everything you need to get started.
Keep in mind that with this tool you will need to constantly dip your pen in the ink, it will require more maintenance with the nibs, etc.
Taking that in consideration, once again i would recommend starting off with a brush pen (like the above mentioned)
3. The Pencil
This tool is such an essential part of ANY lettering/calligraphy toolbox.
When it comes to the pencil, I would recommend a simple **HB pencil **or a mechanical pencil like the Staedtler Mars 780 Technical Mechanical Pencil
Just remember not to underestimate the value of the pencil!
Aside from the pencil you will also need a ruler in order to create your guidelines.
The best ruler for calligraphers is the rolling ruler.
The rolling ruler allows you to quickly draw parallel lines as well as other shapes with ease
