Here’s the list of all my absolute favorites – pens and other items that I could never do without.
Which pencils and paper should you choose if you want to work with letters? Unless you have unlimited funds and time (but hey, if you do: congratulations) and can try your hand at the world’s entire range, it’s great to get some starting points to have somewhere to begin, so it doesn’t have to be completely wrong or very expensive. Whether you work professionally with lettering (or have the ambition to do so) or just want to know which pens are reasonable to buy when you want to start drawing letters, you can find guidance here.
Pens and notebooks are the salt of life for me. In all honesty. It makes me happy to own and look at them. But I usually get even happier using them, and thanks to my job, I do it every day, so I think I have a pretty good idea of which things are really good shit.
When I started, I ordered pens from Amazon that shipped from Japan (pro tip: don’t do that, it’s not good for the environment or your wallet – unless you live in Japan, that is). Now there are great pens available much more easily – the range is huge, which is great fun but also a bit confusing. Over many years as a lettering illustrator with an almost unhealthy interest in paper and pencils, I’ve managed to run through quite a few, though, and I’ve sorted out some of the most prominent tools for you here.
Pencils
Here’s the thing: you don’t need a fancy pencil to draw fancy letters, in fact, that’s the kind of pencil you need to put the least amount of effort into, I think. Cheap is good. Just make sure it’s not too hard or it will be difficult to erase. Buy a mechanical one if you want to avoid sharpening. But if you’re still looking to splurge on a really AWESOME bastard, get Blackwing.
Finliner
With fineliners you can choose the size of the tip and whether they are water-soluble or not. I usually work with Staedtler Pigment Liner or Sakura Pigma Microns. They are quite similar, even in the sizes offered nowadays, but maybe Micron’s is a bit blacker? I usually use the slightly thicker sizes 8, 10 and 12 if I don’t want to worry about small details.
Brush pen small
Small brush pens are usually a bit easier to control and therefore perfect if you are relatively new to lettering. But they are also very useful for all those times when you don’t want to draw big letters. My absolute favorite since I first found lettering as an art form is the Pentel Sign Brush Pen. They are available in 24 beautiful colors and have a very fine and durable lace.
Brush pencil medium
Medium sized pens make the letters bigger because the lines are thicker. They require a slightly steadier hand but offer great rewards: lots of color and letters that add more impact. My favorite here has an amazingly fine nylon tip and magical colors: Stabilo Brush Pen. An insanely charmingly supple tip with great punch, a sheer delight to use.
Brush pen large
Well, this is so difficult! There are so many big, generous pens that create juicy lines with emphasis and attitude – but I think I’ll choose Karin Markers. They come in lots of colors (including metallic) and have a tough nylon tip that makes them much more durable than similar felt-tip pens. Plus, they’re affordable, which is always a big plus – few things are as creatively inhibiting as feeling like you’re “wasting” when using the material.
Watercolor
All the brush pens I’ve listed have water-soluble paint, which means you can get a similar result using a regular brush and watercolor – it’s a bit more difficult because you don’t have any support in the brush and have to have a really steady hand. But it’s fun! You could also use watercolor as a background and then write on it with a brush pen. I mostly use Winsor & Newton. Their Cotman series works great for that, but if you want to go a bit further, go for the Professional. There are 108 colors to choose from, which of course can be mixed into an almost infinite number of tones. You can use the same series of brushes, I think, Cotman are synthetic and good all-round brushes.
Markers
When it comes to alcohol-based marker, I say Sakura Pen Touch, always! I use the largest sizes, 2.0. The black is blacker than night and the metallic colors are incredibly opaque. It is very easy to use alcohol-based paint when applying shade because it does not dissolve and stain in the gray shade.
When it comes to coloring markers, I always use Winsor & Newton Promarkers. You can layer and tint them, and they come in 189 colors. That thing alone.
What about acrylic pencils? Well, I choose Posca. Easy! They are opaque and come in a wide range of colors and many sizes. Perfect for uninterrupted drawing fun on windows, paper and other materials.
Paper
A good paper is a great investment because it can increase the durability of the pen and bring out colors and textures well. A pen can feel completely different depending on the surface you drag it across. I usually work with my own paper Ink & Lise Lettering Pad Smooth, which is uncoated with a really nice and smooth surface and comes in many different weights, and believe me, it treats the pen with GRACE.
On top of that, I have to champion coated paper, which marries SO well with alcohol-based pens and gives some brush pens an amazing luster and finish (while some get faded and tired – take your pick). It is absolutely wonderful to draw on – like butter. Ink & Lise Lettering Pad Coated is my top tip!
Notebooks
Show me your notebook and I will tell you who you are. No but seriously, I have my entire life, and definitely my entire planning of my job, in notebooks. I use two different ones daily: A Sot book for my morning pages – the diary entries that I always start the working day with. It’s wired, lies flat on the table and has lovely fingerprints here and there. It may sound strange, but it is absolutely delicious.
For my planning I use a Leuchturn 1917 dotted. The paper is just the right thickness and it too lies flat as a pancake on the table. I have mine in A4, a big bastard that I can fit a whole week on one page, I like the overview and that I have PLACE. But if you need to take yours with you outside the office/home, you might want to go for a smaller and more convenient version.
Digital
I work with an iPad pro, with apple pencil and Procreate. I also use Adobe’s Creative Cloud, especially Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign. For storage, I use Dropbox.
So, that was a quick review. I will come back with some specific info about some pens, and maybe a comparison between them, later on. And don’t forget to email me if there’s anything in particular you want me to address here, I’m all ears.
