Our Favorite Lettering And Calligraphy Supplies
What are the best pens and art supplies for hand lettering and calligraphy? Well, it depends!
Hand lettering and calligraphy can be done with a variety of writing tools, including:
Brush pens
Dip pens
Fountain pens
Fine liners
The Apple Pencil
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We've compiled a list of some of our absolute favorite calligraphy supplies, including our custom sample packages that will give you a taste of many options (at a great deal!).
Let us quickly introduce ourselves… we’re Jordan (left) and Jillian (right), the twin sisters behind Loveleigh Loops.
We’re calligraphy teachers and authors who have been doing calligraphy for most of our lives.
Make yourself at home here at Loveleigh Loops!
Tens of thousands of students all over the world have learned calligraphy and hand lettering with us, and we’re SO thrilled that you’re here with us, too. Let’s get into our favorite lettering supplies.
This blog post may contain affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Table of Contents
Essential Lettering Supplies
Despite the large number of different calligraphy tools out there, calligraphy is an affordable hobby. You don't need much in terms of materials and most of them are specific to certain styles.
When you think about calligraphy materials that you cannot do without, there are only three things that are essential:
Writing tool: Choose a pen based on your preferred calligraphy style
Calligraphy paper: The quality of your paper matters as the wrong paper can destroy your pens
Ink: Only for fountain pens or dip pens, stick with a beginner-friendly ink. Don't be overwhelmed by the number of different inks out there!
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Where to Buy Calligraphy Pens?
Not every hobby store or office supply business carries a decent selection of supplies for easy shopping. This leaves you to shop for everything online by purchasing calligraphy pens individually. The costs of shipping on every item can add up, and we know that building up your collection of calligraphy materials from scratch can feel tedious.
This is why we have our own calligraphy sets available for you to shop. We made these kits after hearing from students that buying items individually was a headache, and you by no means "need" to shop for a kit like this to learn calligraphy and lettering. We made these calligraphy supply kits to offer convenience to those who are interested: because:
It’s cheaper to buy things together
There are fewer shopping orders and lower shipping costs
No analysis paralysis of wondering which of the thousands of pens to buy
Each set contains a variety of calligraphy pens that we've been using for years and LOVE. Our kits are sold exclusively by Paper and Ink Arts:
Our calligraphy supply kit sold by Paper and Ink Arts
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Brush Pens for Lettering
Here we have one of our favorite kinds of calligraphy pens: brush pens! At Loveleigh Loops, we love modern calligraphy and all the colorful and creative things you can do with them.
As the name suggests, brush pens are markers but with a flexible (brush-like) tip. They come in all kinds of colors and sizes so you can get exactly what you want.
Here are some of our favorites.
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Large Brush Tip:
Small Brush Tip:
Wondering what makes a brush pen different from a normal marker? While you can use some markers for calligraphy and hand lettering, brush pens have flexible tips that allow you to achieve both thick and thin lines while writing:
Lear more in our brush pen beginner’s guide.
Can't decide? Get our brush pen set! It's a collection of our favorite brush pens at an insanely good deal.
Check out the brush pen sample pack >
We also did a huge brush pen comparison tournament where thousands of letterers voted on their favorite brush pens. Check out the results and video demonstrations of each brush pen in our brush pen comparison.
Mono Pens for Faux Calligraphy
Not every style of calligraphy requires special pens. For beginners, faux calligraphy is an excellent place to start your calligraphy journey, and it can be done with a pencil or a monoline pen.
Your normal household pen is a monoline pen, but this category of calligraphy pens also includes fountain pens and monoline markers, and these utensils can get very artistic! Even some professional artists and calligraphers first started out learning the basics of calligraphy with nothing but their favorite fountain pens or monoline markers.
Here are some of our favorites:
Can't decide? Get our sample pack of favorite mono pens! Check out the set here.
You may also like: Faux Calligraphy Beginner’s Tutorial
Dip Pens for Traditional Calligraphy
Where brush pens are mainly used in modern calligraphy, most traditional scripts are done with dip pens and ink. Few of us will be used to writing with dip pens and they come with a bit of a learning curve when you first start out.
Nibs vary a lot in ink flow and flexibility and choosing the right one can lead to a lot of frustration. Here are some of our favorite nibs and pen holders.
Nibs for Calligraphy
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Pen Holders
Ink for Dip Pen Calligraphy
Although traditional calligraphy is mainly done in black ink, you have more options than just black! You can create contrast with white ink and colored paper, or even find glitter ink. Here are some great supplies for beginners to try.
Basic Ink Colors
Black: Sumi
Sepia: Walnut Ink
White ink: Dr. Ph Martin's Bleedproof White
Multiple colors: Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay India Ink
While black ink is the norm, there are endless supplies at your disposal (like this stunning white ink example)
Metallic Calligraphy Ink
Shades of gold: Gansai Tambi Starry Colors
Pearl colors: Coliro Pearl Colors Palette (formerly Finetec)
Paper for Hand Lettering and Calligraphy
Choosing the wrong calligraphy paper is a mistake that's common with calligraphy beginners.
Some of our go-to calligraphy and lettering supplies
While you can certainly use monoline pens or pencils on ordinary printer paper, fancier pens such as brush pens or dip pens require paper of higher quality.Here are our recommended types of paper that will give your writing tools the longevity they deserve:
You may also like: Best Calligraphy Paper (Comparisons And Recommendations)
Watercolor Paints
Not all inks are the same. Using inks that are based on watercolors as opposed to pigment lets you create incredibly creative and colorful things! Here are some of our favorite products:
Watercolor Paint Brush
Consider these paint brush options for doing lettering and watercolors:
Misc. Lettering Tools
These miscellaneous hand lettering supplies don’t fit into the above categories, but are still favorites of ours that you may love using, too!
Digital Lettering Tools
Hand lettering supplies have modernized, and the world of digital lettering is incredibly fun and creative.
The fun thing about these hand lettering supplies is that you may already have them at your disposal! Instead of having to buy an array of physical paintbrushes or pen holders, you can use download an unlimited number of digital materials and carry them around with you on your iPad.
iPad (check which models in our digital lettering iPad guide)
Want to learn iPad lettering? Take our free course:
Please note that the above lists contain affiliate links, meaning that we receive a very small commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate you using the links so that we can continue to provide free tutorials for you!
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Ready to learn more? Take our free online calligraphy course!
Our most popular class gives you worksheets and step-by-step videos to teach even the newest letterer how to do calligraphy. You can get started TODAY with a regular pen and paper. No fancy tools needed. Start today.
