Tombow Watercolor

I have a new hobby obsession. I've discovered "modern" calligraphy (also called "brush lettering").  I don't know why I find brush lettering fascinating but I think it is SO cool!  It all started when Jordan and I were on an evening walk through our small little town last Fall after visiting my favorite coffee shop (best coffee ever).   As we walked, we saw that a new shop had opened up so we decided to pop in to see the new store!  It felt like walking into Pinterest personified.  This little shop sells prints, art, mugs, and all kinds of goodies, each with elegant brush lettering.  The shop keepers were very welcoming and invited us to a 2 hour upcoming calligraphy class!  I was sold!  The class would be 2 hours of instruction plus a practice booklet and calligraphy marker to take home.  The only trouble is that all the classes offered just didn't work out for our schedule.  Bummer.  Even more disappointing is that I'm concerned this little shop is struggling to build a customer base.  I hope they survive and stay in business!

Despite not being able to attend the calligraphy class, it sparked a curiosity and I began to research this world of calligraphy.  During that research, I continually came across people gushing over how much they love Tombow markers.  Over and over again, people raved about these markers and different techniques used with them.  I decided to purchase my first pack of markers to dabble around with calligraphy.  

Top Left: This is my FIRST package of Primary Tombow Dual Brush Pens.  I found them on Amazon for about $13.  You can also find the Bright color package on Amazon for $15. These markers have an unbelievable following in the craft world (I'm talking super LOYAL customers).  After using them myself, I see why.  They are water based markers and they have a very versatile tip for calligraphy.  Each marker even has a fine point so that you have maximum flexibility with whatever art you're working on.

Top Right: Because the markers are water based, they are often used as a substituted for water color paints.  In this picture, I'm just rubbing the marker on a plastic paint pallet to get some of the red color out.

Middle Right: I used a paint brush dipped in a tiny bit of water to thin out the red color and began working on a piece of art (I used Cansan 130lb multimedia paper)!

Bottom Left: This is a regular plastic paint pallet.  You can see I was using it for all colors in the rainbow.  If you YouTube Tombow markers, you'll find that almost any kind of plastic will work with this technique.  Some people just use a laminated piece of paper!

Bottom Right: My Grandpa taught me long ago that a paper towel is an extremely useful tool when painting!  I used a plain old paper towel to help me control the amount of water on my brush.  It also helps in case you want to "erase" your work while it's still wet.

One Saturday morning I felt inspired to sit down and play with my new markers. (Tip: I suggest you stay away from too much caffeine... shaky hands makes it very difficult to paint or draw!)  I was trying to mimic the look and feel of some watercolor art I had found on Pinterest.  I just loved the girly pinks and purples and thought that flowers might be the most forgiving for my first test run (which is true by the way, flowers do seem to be very error friendly).

These are pictures of my first watercolor.  It turned out a little differently than I expected (and not at all like the Pinterest photo), but I liked it.

Top Right: This was my "finished" art, at least the watercolor portion.  I was still undecided about what to put in the white space.  

To add embellishment, I used a Sharpie paint pen to add some metallic silver dots.  It's VERY subtle but I thought it was a fun touch!

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Pause for a few weeks... as much as I was enjoying my new found hobby, I didn't come back to it for a few weeks because life just got in the way.  I DID however, continue to research various techniques for Tombow markers and discovered I needed wanted a light board (aka a "light box").

A light board has SO many uses but most people use them for arts and crafts.  There are many calligraphy practice books out there but I was thinking that a light board would be helpful to have for tracing.  With a light board, I could use pencil to draw my own designs (with the benefit of an eraser) and then trace that design on nicer paper.

I found this particular light board on Amazon for around $80.  It's pricey because I opted for a mid-size board (size A3).  The size scale of light boards matches the size scale of European paper.  A4-A0 is a European paper size with A0 being the largest (logical, huh?)  A4 at 21cm by 29.7cm was just too small!  I opted for the A3 at 29.7cm by 42cm, a much more suitable size for this kind of art.

Side note: we later named the light board "Louis" because he's made by a company called Litup and well, he lights up!  If you're a fan of the tv show, Suits, then you know I'm talking about Louis Litt!   

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Using my new light board, aka "Louis," I was FINALLY able to finish my art!  Louis has been most helpful for watercolor projects but he has also helped me learn the calligraphy skill.  Practice books are great, but I found that I wanted to mimic certain fonts not found in practice books.  It's an excellent way to learn by trial and error!

Top Left: I'm hard at work!  Focused.

Top Right: This is a better image of what I was working on.  As a newbie, I do NOT trust my calligraphy skills, especially after I spent so much time working on the water colors!  Tracing from a computer font with Louis put me more at ease.

Bottom Left: I'm still a newbie and "S's" are really difficult!  This is a close up of my fuzzy "S".

Bottom Right: See, he's made by Litup!  This is also a good picture to show that the board is only 0.31 inch thick.  Amazing.

I had so much fun working on the floral project that I decided to try my hand at something else.  I was looking for something simple (semi-easy) so I landed on this wreath with various shades of green, brown, and teal.

This was really simple and the perfect beginner design.  I'm not quite sure what I will do with this finished piece but I love how it turned out!

After a few weeks I was starting to play around with various techniques.  It's difficult to see the detail in the picture below, but I had fun trying to practice various skills.

I haven't really found the font that comes natural (yet) but I LOVE my "M" pictured above.  Like handwriting, I'm sure that I'll develop my own style.  The above picture was done without the help of "Louis" but with the aid of a picture. 

We had some friends move into a new home recently so I made this little project for them.  The hand lettering was more difficult than I expected because I used a much more frilly font.  Also, even though I've had fun with the water colors, I found it to be way too much pressure to put water colors on the paper after I had finally got the calligraphy right.  Instead, I opted for a less-is-more approach.  I used my markers and special ink to create a paint splatter effect (channeling the 80s).  To keep it interesting, I used some regular water colors but also added a metallic ink.  It's difficult to see, but the bottom right picture has the best angle to catch the pearl color of the turquoise ink.

That's all I have for today.  As I mentioned, I'm obsessed with this new art!  I've been experimenting with my own calligraphy style, various types of paper, and water colors the last several weeks and will probably continue to do so!