Erica has a really groovy lettering tutorial with a pretty tie-dye watercolour technique. You will learn how to blend different colours of Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks. There’s also a free printable lettering template for you to practice this groovy lettering style!
Kelly Creates Supplies: Watercolor Palette and Pipettes, Watercolor Paper, Watercolor Brushes, Watercolor Inks Set 1 and Set 2, Black Fineliners
In the northern hemisphere, it’s summer. And summer is always a prime time to bring out the tie dye! It’s the Summer of Love, baby!
For something fun and funky, we are going to letter a little saying and will use our Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks to give it a tie-dye treatment. This is a perfect opportunity to make a gift for someone. We all know someone who would appreciate a framed print or a hand-made card telling them “You are GROOVY.”
Begin by lettering the word GROOVY using the 1.0 Kelly Creates Black Fineliner. You can use any style of block letter, but I personally think one with a little 1960’s flair looks best. You can practice with this template. Click HERE to download this printable worksheet or click on the image below.
For this tutorial, letter GROOVY in all capital letters. The left side of each letter should be thicker with the right side being thin lines. No lines should be straight; curved lines only! Add a little serif to the tops and bottoms of the strokes. You can use your pencil first, and then trace over top with the Black Fineliner, and erase pencil lines after.
Add the words “You are” above GROOVY. Choose any style you like. I used my Kelly Creates 1,0 Black Fineliner to create a simple script for the letters.
Add drops of the Poppy, Deep Yellow, Emerald and Violet Kelly Creates Watercolor inks to the Kelly Creates Watercolor Palette, with each in a separate well. Add only a drop or two of water using your pipette to dilute the ink. Then add a drop of the Blue Kelly Creates Watercolor ink to another well. Do not dilute the Blue.
Lightly “paint” the wide area of the G with the Kelly Creates Watercolor Brush 1 using only water.
Place your Kelly Creates Watercolor Brush 1 in the Kelly Creates Poppy Watercolor and touch it to an area you painted with water. The color will travel through the water you have placed on the paper. Do not cover the entire area with Poppy ink. NOTE: Use very little ink on the tip of your brush otherwise the colours will overtake each other and will blend muddy.
Clean your brush in water. Use your Kelly Creates Watercolor Brush 1 to pick up a little Kelly Creates Deep Yellow Watercolor Ink and touch it to the area near the Poppy ink.
Continue this process with the Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks in Emerald and Violet. The colors will mix from one to the next…just like tie-dye. This blend of colors creates the base of your tie-dye.
Lightly touch your Kelly Creates Watercolor Brush 1 to the Kelly Creates Watercolor Blue Ink in the palette. While the ink is still wet in the tie-dye base color, lightly touch the Blue ink in one or two spots. The Blue will bleed. Let it happen naturally! If it is not dark or vibrant enough, you can add more Blue ink in the same spot(s).
Repeat this process for the rest of the letters in “GROOVY.” Feel free to mix up your base color “pattern” from letter to letter. I like when the painting is not symmetrical for this project.
Hopefully this tutorial brings a smile to your face and inspires you to bring a smile to the face of someone else!
For more lettering inspiration, follow Erica on Instagram @ericalligraphy2!
To shop the supplies Erica used, click on the links below or visit http://www.KellyCreatesStore.com
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