How to Practice the Alphabet with Brush Lettering

One of the things I have noticed with beginners learning brush lettering or calligraphy is the inclination to study letters in alphabetical order. I am going to tell you NOT to progress in alphabetical order.

I know we all want to jump in and just start writing words, but the best way to learn is to start with the drills and basic strokes, and then move on to the letters. For example, after learning the ‘underturn’ drill, you will practice the lowercase ‘i’ and ‘t’. The sheets below and in the video are from BUNDLE 1 in my shop: Drills and Lowercase Alphabet for large brush pens.

Here is the order of letters you can use as a reference, grouped in the order of easiest to most difficult.

1. Underturns
2. Overturns and Compound Curves
3. Ascenders and Descenders
4. Ovals and Reverse Ovals
5. Oddballs: r, s, x

By following this order, you will experience more success and your letter forms and strokes will improve more quickly. Remember, it’s also about building up muscle memory, so don’t rush ahead and learn ovals if you still haven’t mastered the compound curve.

Whether you’re using a large brush pen with the worksheets from Bundle 1 or using a small brush pen with Bundle 2, study the letters in this order and you’ll see a big difference!

Here is my new YouTube video that explains how to proceed when learning the lowercase alphabet:

If you would like to get updates on my video tutorials on YouTube, click HERE to visit my channel and subscribe.

If you would like to get a Tombow Lettering Set, click HERE on my affiliate shopping link or click the picture of the Advanced Lettering set below. The Lettering Sets include both large Tombow Dual Brush Pens and small Tombow Fudenosuke pens. I recommend getting the Advanced Lettering Sets even if you’re a beginner. You can use the pens in this set with any of my worksheets!

Happy Lettering!