first try with pentel's aquash

[reneewrites]

i recently got my hands on brush lettering (since it's all the rage now) & i must say i'm pretty happy that i get to create something new & it's not too bad for a first try! i used a pentel aquash brush in medium & realised that i should've gotten the small one too because i find it alil difficult to control my letters using the medium. will try the small aquash brush & see how it goes!

i also tried using a cheap regular rounded brush to create calligraphy - bad idea maybe i need more practice with it. i may invest alil on the brush because the one i was using has fibres that keeps coming off so it affects my lettering. i want to start trying watercolour calligraphy so i would think a good set of brush is important! do let me know if you guys have any recommendations for it! (& also for watercolour)

here's what i've created so far - this is a 5"x7" frame piece.
i also had fun creating the "splatters" effect using that cheap brush!

please feel free to comment & let me know how i can improve my works further (:



cheers!

[tiffany.c.a]

Yay Renee! It looks very nice, pretty consistent for a first try.

[reneewrites]

thanks, tiffany for your kind words! still need to practice, practice, practice!!

[artbyrim]

Hi Renee!

Wow that's really great for a first try! I have all the sizes of the aquash pen and I only use the fine point one for lettering. The medium and large ice mostly used to add watercolor wash on some pieces.

There are two ways to hold a brush pen that has bristle hair. You could either hold it as you hold a felt tip brush pen which is angled. Or you could hold it upright with the brush barely touching the paper for hairlines and then push the pen down with your finger to create downstrokes. Try both ways and see which fits!

The brush makes a lot of difference at least for me when doing watercolor calligraphy. Try a winsor and Newton cotman. So many great watercolors out there. I like concentrated liquid watercolors that you can just dip your brush in. Ph. Martins are great. Heard good things about ecoline but never tried it

Good luck!

[ericp]

Before you go out and splurge on pro brands like Winsor and Newton or Daniel Smith (not that there's anything wrong with that  )  you may want to try your hand with cheaper watercolors first.  You may want to try both the tube watercolor and the pan (dry cake) watercolor to see what you prefer.

The pans are typically used for watercolor work in the outdoors because it makes for a compact kit.  Some folks here on FF have posted that they bought a cheap kid's set and it works fine even though you get less quality of pigment and typically very little resistance to sunlight (color alteration is important for watercolor works, as you know and this is why the pro brands are really worth it).

Personally I found a very nice (and cheap!) brand of tube watercolor in my local art supplies store.  In my case:   Royal Talens Van Gogh.  (Alas!! no longer available from my store    but I actually bought about thirty tubes so I should fine for a very long time  )
You should find, like me, that one small dot of liquid watercolor on a plastic palette will last quite a long time.

I find the tube watercolor easier to mix than the cakes.  I also use watercolor for calligraphy.  The small dots dry up and can be re-wet later so it's the best of both worlds IMHO.

Good luck!

[jeanwilson]

We all have to decide where to splurge and where to save. My vote is always for the better art supplies and i scrimp on other things. I share my better supplies with my students so they can decide for themselves if the better supplies really make a difference and I have yet to find someone who prefers the cheaper supplies. They all seem to get better results with WN brushes and good quality watercolor and gouache. If you can't afford the better supplies, don't let that stop you from making art. If I am in a situation where I only have the less expensive supplies, I still have just as much satisfaction with the process. If you can only afford to upgrade one at a time, I would go with the more expensive brushes first. They do things that a cheap brush will never do.

[reneewrites]

@artbyrim
thanks!! that's awesome - i'm keen to get the smallest aquash size to do lettering as well! just to see how it goes (& i have a feeling it will be better/easier to control for me) would be nice to see some of your works with the watercolour wash! would love to try that for my own too

thanks for the tips & brush recommendations! i did both ways of holding the brush pen like you said - angled & sort of upright with less pressure onto the paper (quite different than the normal way i usually write). i think i'll have to practice more & try to get a better feel for it.

i definitely like watercolour & will be trying that soon! yeah, i heard that Ph. Martins inks are highly recommended. never heard of Ecoline before though. oh & i'm also keen to try out masking once i master lettering using watercolour!


@ericp
thanks, ericp - yes, it's definitely in my plans to try out cheap watercolour first. not intending to splurge on it just yet!

wow, interesting things for me to note - i didn't know that there are different types of watercolours that has better or not so good resistance to sunlight! i still got loads to learn

& thanks for the recommendation! i'll keep an eye out for it (Royal Talens Van Gogh) - may or may not have it here in my local store. & thirty tubes?! that would probably last me a lifetime! LOL

thanks again!


@jeanwilson
cool! i'm sure noone would ever want to go cheap after they've tried the more pricier range - it's usually better in quality (you pay for what you get) i'm all for going for the best but as of now, i think i'm good with trying all options first i suppose it depends on each person's preferences thanks! i will probably consider going for the more expensive brushes first! after my ordeal with the cheaper brush LOL

[ericp]

I forgot to comment about Ecoline.  It's a great product.  In one of my watercolor sketching books, the author mentions that he uses Ecoline to beef up his work with strong saturated colors (that may otherwise be difficult to do with regular watercolor).  He says that the Ecoline colors are splendid but they typically do not resist well to light.  I can't say if this claim is accurate.

I have one bottle of Ecoline (a really splendid indian red) but it's "expensive".  I would rather buy a simple 3$ tube that makes double (or more) in volume instead of a 10$ bottle, but that's just me.  The color is splendid and for professional work it may be useful, once again, to complement your Daniel Smith or W&N with this Ecoline.

BTW to be clear, it's OK to start with a more modest product to get the hang of it, and then you can move up to the 15$ tubes        In any case, do check out the absolutely definitive watercolor web site by Bruce McEvoy, it's truly fabulous!

http://handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html

[adelynmakes]

I love using the Aquash brushes!  I have one permanently filled with black ink.  Great work for a first go with a brush!

[reneewrites]

@ericp
no worries, thanks so much for all your help! i will check out the watercolor web site by Bruce McEvoy as you have suggested

@adelynmakes
me too! even though i haven't really tried many other brushes, i must say that Aquash is pretty good i decided not to have the black ink permanently in it just in case i don't intend on buying an extra brush to use for other watercolour tries! anyway, thanks for the compliment

[clairewcohen]

Hey hey! I'm looking to play around with one of these brush pen's as well.  What kind of watercolor/ink should I purchase?  What is best for envelopes?

[ash0kgiri]

I know I'm a little late to respond. Looks great for the first attempt. Even though I have not done calligraphy with brush but I have used them extensively. Practise is what you definitely need as you need more control. Even though I agree with all members with superior products, IMO the brush with fibres coming out would lend a good texture and style to your calligraphy piece.

- Ashok