The business side of a hand lettering and calligraphy start-up | Part 2
Welcome to Part 2 of ‘the business side of a hand lettering and calligraphy start-up!’ I hope you enjoyed Part 1. This blog post is going to focus a lot on social media – let’s get into it! Do you have to have many followers to start turning a hobby into a business?...
The business side of a hand lettering and calligraphy start-up | Part 1
Warning: this blog post is going to be crazy-long – and this is just part 1 of 2! I’m super passionate about all the stuff I’m about to spill, so prepare for an essay. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! How do you start a creative business from scratch? Good...
5 common misconceptions about brush pen lettering and calligraphy
Are you discouraged from trying to learn brush pen lettering or calligraphy because of all the myths and rumours you've heard? Let me clear up a few things for you! 1. You need good handwriting to do lettering or calligraphy FALSE. Lettering (in particular) is a...
How to get the ombrè effect in Brush Pen Lettering | Artline Stix Brush Marker | Ombrè marker
Back in October 2016 the lovely people at Insider Art put together a video of my brush pen lettering work, showcasing what I do with Artline Stix Brush Markers in particular. It was fair to say the internet lost it's mind a little bit and everyone wanted to know more...
Inside Black Chalk Co’s home office
Hi guys! Today I'm going to show you around my little home office / workstation and how I go about setting myself up to letter as well as storing all my goodies. My workstation is in a little nook between the front door (pictured) and the kitchen (to the left...
Happy New Year! FREE 2017 downloadable Goal Setting Worksheet
Hey guys, Happy New Year! I hope you all brought in the New Year in style! Or like me, on a couch watching Zoolander 2 with bae. Whatever turns your wheels. I wanted to get SERIOUS about my goals this year so I've whipped up a little Goal Setting Worksheet that I...
Learn Brush Pen Lettering – ONLINE! | Online course in Brush Pen Lettering commencing February 2017
HEY GUYS! It's 1.00am in Melbourne but I have no chill right now. Probably because it's still 25 degrees Celsius and I am dying. It's also the holidays which means I should probably be doing something more exciting with my life, but time off from my real job means...
Get creative for Christmas! | Melbourne Workshop | Brush Pen Lettering | Saturday 10th December
'Tis almost the season! Calling all Melburnians - come and join me on Saturday 10th December for a solid session of Christmas creativity. Think Christmas cards, gift tags, gift wrap, baubles - you name it! Let me teach you a handy (pun intended) new skill and...
Break the line | Why sticking to the staple strokes and taking it slow will improve your letterforms | Brush Pen Lettering
I want to talk to you guys today about the importance of slowing down when you create letters, and always keeping the staple strokes in mind. It can be easy to skip ahead or leave our drills behind once we get stuck right into brush pen lettering – “I knowww how to do...
But, what about the other strokes? | How to draw letters k, r, s, x, z | Brush Pen Lettering
It's been a looong time since I've made an instructional blog post, but there's no time like the present! This post is going to talk you through how to draw the letters that don't just use staple strokes, such as k, r, s, x and z. If you've been following my blog for...
Melbourne’s New Home of Art Supplies
Hey guys! I don’t know about you, but when I started hand lettering I was pretty overwhelmed with how many supplies were out there. Getting my hands on these products and actually learning the craft was...
#TimeToWrite – an Officeworks campaign
When was the last time you wrote something with a pen? Remember back in the day when we didn’t have keyboards at our arm’s length at every moment, and actually had to put pen to paper? When we would write in our diaries, or hand write assignments and essays and to-do...
How to master the thin upstroke
So you’ve been playing around with brush pen lettering for a while, but you just can’t 100% nail that thin upstroke? Don’t worry – you are not alone! Mastering and then maintaining a thin upstroke is one of the hardest parts of brush pen lettering. Some days you might...
New Art Range at Officeworks Fitzroy
Hey guys! If you haven’t already heard me singing the praises of Officeworks over on Instagram, you’ll be pleased to learn that their Fitzroy store (Melbourne, AU) is now stocking over 7,000 NEW art products! Whaaat? I know. Most importantly for my Melburnian...
Interstate Brush Pen Lettering Workshops
About a month ago I announced some dates in October / November that I would be travelling interstate to hold Brush Pen Lettering workshops. I'm now pleased to say that tickets to Brisbane, Hobart, Perth, Sydney and Adelaide workshops are now on sale! For more...
“How long have you been hand lettering for?”
Without a doubt the most common question I get asked on Instagram (aside from "what pen is that?" and "can you write my name?") is: How long have you been hand lettering for? Well, perhaps to your surprise - not all that long! Here's my overly-detailed hand...
Melbourne Workshop – Sat 18 June
Haven't you heard? Digital is sooooo last year -- and handmade is BACK, baby! I'm running my first in-depth workshop on Brush Pen Lettering and I'd love to see you there! Click here to book your place now! Date: Saturday 18 June 2016 Time: 9.30am - 12.30pm (3 hours)...
Drills
Alright pen pals! Are you ready to get drilling!? (Cheeky innuendos are not going to stop BTW). Last lesson we learned all about my staple strokes of brush pen lettering – and now we’re going to learn the importance of repeating them all, a LOT. I’ve mentioned “muscle...