Ever since I featured Christine Wisenieski, I have been dreaming about dabbling in my own brush lettering endeavors. I haven’t had much luck with the traditional paint and brush lettering technique, it’s very awkward for me and it’s also (in my hands) very messy! I had read about the Pentel Color Brush and thought it would be easy to find at my nearest art supply store, oh, how wrong I was. This elusive little creature was near impossible to find, I went to four (yes four!) stores and nobody even knew what I was talking about! I finally resorted to buying on -line and waited eagerly for its arrival. I have to say, it’s one of my new favorite lettering purchases to date! The ink is housed in the barrel, it has synthetic hairs at the tip which form the brush, you squeeze the barrel to release the ink and get to lettering! I loved my results, so organic and ‘perfectly imperfect’, my model Michelle above had fun with the pen too and was able to achieve some very cool effects. I even liked when the brush was running out of ink and you could see the dry brush strokes on the paper, it adds to the element of hand done. I haven’t had a chance to scan in my results yet but I have a good feeling that I am going to be happy with bringing the samples into Photoshop or Illustrator and playing with them. Have any of you tried this pen before? Maybelle told me she accidentally bought this pen and it was a happy accident, I would concur!
Tomorrow I shall delve into part deux of the embossing tutorial which I am hoping motivates some of you over the weekend to possibly try your hand at it!
P.S. If you want the look without the effort font designer Ursula Hitz has just launched the charming Olivier font. There’s also Dave Rowland’s Pastiche which is quite nice as well!
Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and the writer of this delightful blog. She recently re-located to sunny Seattle with her handsome husband and two pups, they are expecting a baby girl in December (possibly November). Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.
That little brush is *so much fun* to play with. I got a sample pen for free in a big order I placed online a while back and holy heck did it open up a whole new world for me. It’s so freeing to use, especially after a day of neat & tidy work. There’s no pretty or perfect, and it seems like the more carefree you are, the better the brushed letters turn out. Have you tried using it in your non-dominant hand? Actually makes writing that way kinda awesome. :)
Jess I wholeheartedly agree, it is a lot of fun! I have not tried with my alternate hand but can’t wait to after work and try it, thanks for the tip and your feedback. Btw, LOVE the new font!!!
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/magpiepaperworks/ondise/
It is always helpful to have a review from someone you trust on pens. I want to buy nearly every pen I see but they are usually too expensive ($5 starts adding up REALLY fast) to just get on a whim when there is a high chance of disappointment. I definitely want to get one of these now! I guess I will have to order online as well though since I’m guessing from your tale Blick is not carrying it? I usually get most of my things there aside from nibs.
I went to Blick and all around town and no one even knew what I was talking about! They tried to show me other “brush” pens that did not have the synthetic bristles although they do sell it on line. I WISH they sold it in the store as I get a nice discount there!
I actually began my lettering journey with the purchase of the Pentel Pocket Brush, which is a smaller and more versatile version of the Pentel Colour Brush – I highly recommend it! You don’t have to squeeze for the ink to come through. Anyway, after that I was sold on hand lettering and recently started practicing my neat-and-tidy pointed nib calligraphy, but my heart will always be with the Pentel brushes :)
I have not seen that one! Where’s did you find it? It sounds perfect for taking out and about!
Oh, I LOVE the Pentel brush pen!! I did my logo with it and can play with it for hours (really.)
It’s a good one for sure, I wish I knew it existed sooner! I have about a 101 ideas of projects I want to use it for!
I’ve had the Pentel color brush on my to-buy list for the past two weeks. This post has definitely inspired me to take the plunge and purchase!
Hey! Well I just wanted to thank you a lot, I’ve been struggling so much on a t-shirt design due next week and I hadn’t had the proper tools to do what I had in mind until I stumbled upon your blog. Thank you so much for sharing! Don’t stop creating :)
,carE