Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers


Hello Tombow fans, Serena from @SerenaBeeCreative here! This week, the Tombow Design Team is focusing on lettering. I’m no seasoned letterer, but today I want to show you my trick at some simple and easy blending that any beginner can master! Let’s get started.

Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

SUPPLIES:

STEP 1:

Begin by selecting two shades of Dual Brush Pens in a color you like, preferably one lighter and one darker shade. I’m using Dual Brush 291 and 403.

If you’re just starting off with lettering, I recommend you pick a short word to practice with. Your name is a great place to start!

As I mentioned earlier, I’m not a hand letterer so my simple go to “font” to letter and practice with is tall and skinny! You can’t go wrong with this type of lettering! You can also bring a unique flair to it based on your own personal handwriting style.

Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

First, I like to write out my full name. In the example above, you can see that the ‘N’ and ‘A’ is a little darker than the rest of the letters. This is because I wanted to show you that when using a lighter shade, you can add blending and shading simply by layering the same color over top. This is a perfect beginners trick if you are a little wary about mixing and blending two colors together.

STEP 2:

Using your darker shade (403), add in some thin lines along the bottom and “shaded” areas of your first letter.

Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

STEP 3:

Next, take your lightest shade again (291) and start blending both colors together. I like to start at the bottom and use a flickering motion with the brush tip. You can see in the example below how it looks when both colors are blended.

TIP: You can also use the Colorless Blender Pen to blend out both colors if you’d like. Just keep in mind, using the Colorless Blender Pen will create a different blending effect. Try it out for yourself!Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

STEP 4:

Continue doing this same technique for the other letters in your name. Here’s another look at how I blend these two Dual Brush Pen colors together.

For the letter ‘R’, I added the darker shade on the bottom of the letter.

Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

Using the lighter shade, I went over the darker color and start blending them out by using an upwards/flickering motion.

Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

Continue this technique on the remaining letters of your name.

FINAL LOOK:

Here’s a final look at how it all looks together! This is such an easy technique that any beginner hand letterer can practice!

Easy Blending for Beginner Letterers - Serena Bee

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you give this a try, make sure to tag @serenabeecreative and @tombowusa so we can see!

For more blending inspiration check out this post: Blending and Shadowing Technique by Mandy Faucher.

If you’d like to see more from me, check out my Youtube channel or join my Crafty Rebelles Community!

Much love,

Serena Bee

Leave a comment