HAPPY SPRING! I am so ready for a new season. This last month concluded with my toddler in a full-arm cast (wrist fracture from a spill at the playground), me in an ankle brace (sprained ankle from volleyball), and my husband in a sling (dislocated shoulder while working out)! It’s been a little crazy here, but we are all moving forward and I am SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT. My son is back in the sand and dirt and water… and I am back on the court. Full speed ahead!
I wanted to share some material I’ve been working on for a local Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group that I’ve been part of. It’s a wonderful group of moms that meets every other Friday to share life and motherhood and coffee together- there is always coffee. A few weeks ago, they were looking for someone to teach something craftsy to the group for a fun artsy morning they were planning. I’m not particularly crafty, so it wasn’t until some of the ladies at my tables remarked about my calligraphy and lettering that I realized I had something to offer!
You might remember that a couple years ago, I picked up brush calligraphy as a nice stuckstay-at-home mom hobby. Since I was still nursing, many of my fun activities were limited to things that were nearby, easy to start/stop, and not easily ruined by a curious toddler (who is now FOUR… when did that happen?!?!). That’s when I decided to learn brush lettering, which is a branch of hand lettering and modern calligraphy. I got better at it (I can write in a straight line now!) and even taught a brush lettering workshop for a church fundraiser last year. So when the ladies at my table were so encouraging about my lettering (someone even guessed I was a designer based on my lettering! I was so flattered- art has never been my thing haha), I decided to offer to teach the whole group some brush lettering basics.
Since this was a group of “Mothers of Preschoolers,” I thought it would be so cute and appropriate to teach using Crayola markers! They’re such a great tool for learning brush lettering since they are easy to find, relatively inexpensive, and very forgiving for lettering! I figured most of the moms would have a pack handy and it would be a fun and easy thing to practice and doodle with alongside their emerging little artists at home.
So I created these drills, and worksheets just for them:
Free Crayola Calligraphy Drills and Worksheets
Someone mentioned that the moms would probably appreciate having access to the videos at home, so I decided to create and upload it all here to share with everybody:
This first video is the starting point for most brush lettering and calligraphy. The basic idea behind calligraphy is to create a contrast between thick lines going down and thin lines going up. When done right, the words come out looking artistic and beautiful. Each letter is made from a series of basic strokes, which you can learn in the first “Drills” video.
Now for actual words. Have you ever tried applying the “heavy downstrokes and light upstrokes” method to the cursive that you learned in third grade, and found that it just didn’t look quite the way you’d hoped? That’s because in modern calligraphy, letters are not formed the same way you learned to write cursive in elementary school. There are different ways to form letters that maximize the beauty of a letter and eventually a word. See the letter “b” in the lowercase alphabet video below for a good example. Realizing that there is a completely different way to form individual letters was the turning point for me in figuring out how to make beautiful brush lettering.
Here’s another tip: When you write a word, expect to pick up your marker frequently. Don’t think of it as writing one word or even one letter at a time; think of it as writing one stroke at a time, as demonstrated in the “lowercase alphabet” video above.
And just for fun, here are some bouncy numbers you can practice:
I had fun preparing these drills and worksheets for the workshop. When I made them, I thought I was just going to make copies in black and white, so I just chose whichever marker felt juiciest at the time. Little did I know that my husband was going to diligently scan them all in color for me to share here on my blog, so if the colors don’t seem that well thought out, it’s because they weren’t haha. In case you missed it earlier, here it is again:
Free Crayola Calligraphy Drills and Worksheets
Enjoy the printouts and videos, and please share any of your progress and creations with me!
6 responses to “Free Crayola Calligraphy Drills, Worksheets, and Tutorials”
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That looks really fun and so pretty; I’m going to give it a try!
By the way, had your dad’s pan fried chicken thighs for dinner tonight…so good as always!
Yes, maybe while babysitting or something haha 😉 We had the pan fried chicken thighs yesterday- nice to think how we might be eating the same meal on any given night 🙂
Thank you so much! You are so talented! 🙂
Aw thanks, Nancy! How is the teaching gig going??
THANKYOUUUUSomuchhh
You’re welcome! Hooray for new skills this year! 🙂