Marker Calligraphy Resources for Beginners!

Have you seen all those beautiful handwritten words on Instagram and always were curious about trying? Think that it’ll be expensive and difficult and there are SO many tools needed? Well, modern calligraphy has really taken off in recent years, but you can achieve some of the same effects with a regular marker! Marker calligraphy focuses on technique rather than tools. For the month of June I’ve been practicing on my own and now I’m sharing the resources I found for getting started quickly! Here are five marker calligraphy resources for beginners:

1) Jaime Bedard – Intro to Hand Lettering with Crayola Markers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LpJpxqDHgg

This first beginner’s marker calligraphy video introduces some basic drills and alphabets for getting started. This video focuses on showing different drills rather than explaining technique. Personally, I like learning this way, since I’m very visual, and prefer to follow along with Jamie as she makes her strokes and letters.

Jamie hasn’t updated her channel in over a year, but it’s the first video I watched all the way through after searching for “marker calligraphy” and bouncing through another video.

2) Dawn Nicole

https://bydawnnicole.com/better-brush-calligraphy/

and

https://bydawnnicole.com/motivational-free-calligraphy-practice-sheets/

Dawn Nicole’s website is full of free calligraphy worksheets. Simple, easy to download, and perfect for tracing and getting started! While it’s not specifically for marker calligraphy, it’s an excellent opportunity to practice and develop before investing in other tools.

Additionally, I think Dawn Nicole has a very distinct style when it comes to lettering and the worksheets definitely have a different look than the quick alphabets shown in the first video. I learned a lot about different styling and curves that can be used to make up different letters!

3) Happy Ever Crafter – Basic Calligraphy Strokes (Beginner Calligraphy 101)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj962-cU2PQ

Now we’ll start getting into the more technical ones! Don’t be discouraged or worried though!

Becca from Happy Ever Crafter is so legit. She has a bunch of videos but this one contains the best explanation of the basic strokes. Additionally, she breaks down an alphabet into the different strokes so you can see how each letter is made up of different combinations of the basics! Just be aware that this isn’t specific to marker calligraphy either!

If you’re willing to be patient, sign up for her “Show Me Your Drills” program and practice all of your basics with other students when it opens up again!

4) Rayane Alvim

http://rayanealvim.com/create-calligraphy-crayola-markers/

Unlike the Happy Ever Crafter one above, this one is specifically for marker calligraphy. It goes over basic strokes, words (like “minimum” and “aluminum” or “aluminium”), and phrases.

5) Crayligraphy by Colin Tierney

https://www.crayligraphy.com/learn-crayligraphy

Colin is a master of the marker. Seriously. He runs a weekly challenge on his Instagram called #saturcray with a different theme every week. While doing my research, I came across his site but nothing particularly stood out to me. Only recently did he start adding tutorials and at the time of this writing is only up to Level 2. My only concern with this one is that it is entirely explained in words without many pictures or videos to illustrate the concepts. I’m convinced it will be full of amazing content, will be an excellent resource for beginners.

And there you have it! 5 marker calligraphy resources for beginners to get started right now. Like literally. Right now. Get a marker and you can write your first letterforms with the basics listed here. Be willing to dabble. Be willing to experiment. And have a lot of fun.

^.^

~ Karina