I have been lettering for a little while now and I never realized why it was so hard for me to letter sometimes and why my fonts/styles looked strange. This video definitely helped me and encouraged me to keep practicing. Thank you!!
Wow I am so glad I found you!!! Beautiful lettering.....there is hope for me 😊 I thought I was the only leftie who wrote with the paper on the side and my hand below so I wasn’t dragging my hand over the writing, so glad I’m not the only one. It is going to take a lot of practice for me to start writing from the side thou now.....40 odd years of writing the same way is going to be difficult to train myself out of! But after watching you I know I can do it, it is possible 😊😊😊😊 and it’s great to know you don’t have to do just drills all the time too as they just got boring and I just wanted to write!!!! So a huge thank you from a new subscriber in cold sunny Cornwall 😊🌞🌺
I did not know I had already watched your channel earlier. A few weeks after I started lettering (about to give up, because although I learnt everything about upstroke, downstroke, etc., and practicing many words, I couldn’t write any better) I stumbled upon your channel and this is where I learnt tips that would suit the style of the lefties.
I hope you won’t give up! It definitely took me a while before I finally had a moment where things clicked & I was able to see improvement! (I’m still improving, tbh!)
I am in the stage of researching before I really start practicing so I am very thankful for finding someone to watch who is left-handed! I am wondering how this will work for me because I tend to write downward. It would always amaze people how legible my writing was because I had my paper turned completely sideways to write. (Right-handed desks don't leave much room for lefties to write and have a text book open.) And I still do that if I am printing , though if I am writing in cursive I tend to want some sort of angle.
I’m happy to help! And I was the same way in school (right-handed desks were the bane of my existence...also...who can work on that small of a space?!) but I’ve found that learning to letter has helped me gain more control & I’ve been able to play with my writing angle more ☺️
Love this series! The thing I'm still struggling with as a beginning leftie letterer, though, is how to actually form the shapes of the letters. When I watch videos from righties on how to form the basic shapes, it's hard to mentally translate that to a pen held at the opposite angle. In other words, should my curves look the same as a right-handed person's would, or is the appearance actually different on the page? It's the transitioning from a bold downstroke to a light upstroke (or vice versa) that I really can't mentally parse. I notice that you actually write parts of letters, then lift your pen and continue, at least in these examples--I'm wondering if that's something most lefties have to do, or if it's possible to write in one unbroken line.
+Avory Faucette Thanks! So, letter shape is tough...part of it is practice (that downstroke to upstroke transition took me ages to master! And I still sometimes get notches in my curves that I have to go back and fill in...I think it’s a lefty thing....) and part of it is figuring out your style and how you want your letters to look. There are some lettering styles that I see that are AMAZING...but they aren’t very compatible with how I, personally, letter....When I was starting, I would make note of any particular letters that I liked from different folks, practice and tweak them to suit me, and eventually compiled a full alphabet in “my” style. (I hope that helps?....). Also, I’ve seen people (lefties and righties) letter both ways - as a word or as parts of a word - and I think it’s mostly personally preference. I know that I tend to go too fast if I letter the word as a unit, so I get a cleaner end result if I work bit by bit... ☺️☺️
It definitely happens to me all the time too! For example, I could never learn how to knit from my mom cause it's so difficult for me to translate a right-handed person's movements into my own, I never know which way to go and if I have to make any loops or something I ended up giving up. I'm so glad I found this channel with some tips for us lefties!
This is what I'm struggling with. I love these videos but finding a resource for a true beginner like just how to form the letters is proving impossible :(
you just made me realize why i 'hate' crocheting and knitting... i just couldn't process the steps as a lefty. i prefer drawing anyway even as i appreciate work of other genres. one day...i want to learn weaving...maybe...
Camila Zamora I’m also a lefty but do knit and my mum, who is one of those weird right handed people 😃, taught me by just sitting opposite me and I just copied what she did mirror image style. I love knitting please don’t give up, there are lots of helpful tutorials here on you tube for us lefties and I’m sure you won’t regret it. 😊🌺 x
Yes! Thank you for sharing your experience! I've been a professional traditional calligrapher for decades, wanting to try the new modern brush lettering style, but it's been a struggle. Your tips and suggestions are exactly what I need to keep going! Thanks so much!
I am right-handed but this video is really clever!! However, I can use these tips in writing Arabic as it starts from Rt to Lt. 👏 Thanks a lot for these amazing tips. ❤
+Aya Hamza thank you!! And I can't believe I didn't think about the right-->left writing + being a righty combo!! Welcome to the smudge club 😂 I'm glad the tips were useful for you! 💛💛
When I studied Arabic it felt like my revenge on righties. All of a sudden, I became the only one in the room without ink/lead all over the side of one palm. Also, being able to see what I've been writing instead of my hand covering it up contributed to the neatness of my handwriting, I think. My, how the tables turn...
i have been mirroring righties with some results, shifting paper angle to maintain correct point of pen direction for the most part. Finding 'cheap' practice paper seems to be the biggest challenge as pens are easier to find, so i decided to stick with tracing paper and canson marker pads til i improve. i appreciate all the tips and effort you put into these tutorials, finding it amazing to 'fall in love again' with writing/drawing. i'd like to incorporate lettering into zentangling, using inspirational, encouraging words and short phrases. so many people are discouraged, or broadcast the 'same old different day' attitude, and i have to make it fresh daily or i wilt. so...finding fun and challenging 'new' ways of being encouraged and re-inspired keeps me from getting drug down by other's heaviness. Thanks for being part of my journey. p.s. yes i'm a lefty, but two years ago, a serious slip-and-fall broke a bunch of bones from left arm to ankle...using drawing became my physical therapy for both hands, which, as it turned out, was like being a beginner in kindergarten. if i can learn from scratch...anyone can. slowing down the speed literally is what's working for me right now, as i have pushed myself to stay in motion and not argue for my limitations.
Thank you so much for your comment! I love all your ideas for introducing lettering into other aspects of your art! I’m honored to have been a part of your journey, especially as it’s not just “art for art” but “art for healing” 💛💪🏼
p.p.s. you've got me thinking about combining learning basic french and renewing spanish using calligraphy/lettering. i found some pigma calligraphy pens with nylon nibs, quite nice...and that too is a challenge as a lefty. these pens ink dry fast, and your first tip reminded me to keep hands off the paper...even when i write or draw as a righty, i forget that whatever is on my skin can cause any pen to skip (with the exception of another favorite pen, any Bic ballpoint...).
Thank you for this video. As for gripping your pen, think of it as holding and using chopsticks! 😇 and I also found (I am just just starting as well) I often have to remind myself to think light, as in light strokes (currently using an actual 00 sable brush and watercolors until my stuff comes in but it would apply to any markers). This is great! Also an awesome excuse to get more pens (yes I totally have a pen fetish). I have a question about the watercolor brush pens (the last two you showed). Do you fill the reservoir with ink or? I think I have some here, got them with my watercolor kits. Again thank you and merry Christmas!
I write the same way, too. Have since I was a little kid. That’s one of the reason I had problem handlettering as well. I tried to letter the same way I used to write normally, and people, it’s not easy. I don’t know if it’s my personal experience, but I’ve noticed that my downstrokes look a lot thinner if I write on a slanted paper than it would when I write with the paper straight.
My letters lean to the left too, when I was at school ( a long time ago), I am 63, the teachers tried to make me write RH but in the end they gave up because my writing was unreadable
I started using brush pen or paint pens from dollar tree( there huge). I really like brush pens I find other pens are too stiff. Also I notice write backwards works but ugh so difficult
yes!!! i fell in love with them a couple of weeks ago...now i know why i hesitated with tombows, and just bought two of their black pens for notan and zentangle accents. the koi brush pens are smaller and feel better in my hand so i used the 40% coupon at hobby lobby for the 6-pack grey scale set for practice and shading.
I got Sakura ones (those are the only ones I can find here in my country) and they’re great as well. I have a small nib size (same as pentel touch) and getting that nib size was the BEST decision I’ve ever made.
the reason the ecoline and windsor and newton pens are so wet are because they are filled with liquid watercolour instead of ink. This gives them beautiful colours but a long drying time and a lot of bleedthrough on thinner paper (like the leuctturms)
Can you please maybe do a feature where you go into detail on filming tips for lefties? I want to do overhead filming of my handlettering but no one would be able to see anything!
I’ve written it down as a video idea but I’m not sure when I’ll get to it! One thing I sometimes do is film with a second angle - the editing process is fussy, but if you film from the side, you can see the lettering a bit better!
Okay I’m struggling hear. What is the name of the first pen you used. I can’t read the name of it and I think I’d like to start with that. I purchased a Stabilo brush pen and I don’t have good control of it. I’d like to try the first one you used. If you could please give me the name of the first pen you used. Thank you
Hii! I’m just starting now and I’m noticing I destroy the tip of the pen when I’m doing a movement left to right because I’m moving towards the tip… is there any specific pen you recommend to avoid this? I don’t know if a harder or shorter tip will help. Thanks!!
Hi! So this is something I struggled with, too. I would say 1) make sure you’re not holding your pen vertically; it needs a bit of an angle and 2) starting with a pen with a smaller/shorter nib could help - I used the pentel sign pens a ton when I was learning (still do!) and I find they stand up well to my lefty writing! Hope that helps!
+Florecita Rockera 😂😂 right?! I don't mind writing that way (unless I have to use a tiny writing space...yikes!), but I could leave the odd looks because I "write at a funny angle" 🙈😅
I feel this is really silly of me to ask. But as a leftie my hand writing can get quite messy(pain in my butt. My normal writing is so messy) did you have to somehow make regular writing less of a mess (if it was a mess before.) I don’t know. My lettering tends to be messy and I’m not sure what to do.
Not silly at all! It’s annoying advice, but really, just work at it 😅 I found that my normal handwriting has improved over the years that I’ve been Bullet journaling. I started writing in all caps because it forces you to slow down; now my handwriting is generally much more legible! Lettering is also just practice...we don’t push/pull the brush pens the same way righties do, so it can sometimes take some experimentation to get an end result that looks ok...don’t give up! It’s definitely possible!! 💪🏼
If I’m lettering on something “taller” like a notebook, I’ll often use another book the same height so I can rest my hand on it...I would then just use the paper under my hand as normal!
+Manon Nielsen true! And for people who paint and such, I'm sure it's great that they do that! ...but I'm a letterer, so it was an aspect I had to work around and thought it would be useful to include in the video in case other people want to letter with watercolors 😉
Hi! I'm a beginner, and I'm having a hard time being left handed and making sure my pen is at the right angle. Do you have any suggestions for me? I'm stuck please help 🤔😟
The angle you need may be specific to you - I recommend trying to hold your pen different ways until find a way that gets you the writing style you want! (I’m sorry I can’t be more specific...it can really depend on the person!)
Thank you, Caitlin! 😊 Your videos helped me get started almost 2 years ago. Brush calligraphy is now my favorite hobby! Fellow lefties, I’d love to connect on Instagram (@leftysharonletters) if i can help with anything (including cheering you on!) 😊
I actually switched over to fine gel pens for that reason 😅😅 (I keep fineliners for spreads, but I don’t write much with them so they last longer) but I’ll add it to my list of videos to film! Thanks!
Mine did at first but now they hold up relatively well (they probably still fray faster than for a righty, but they last awhile). I think what helped me was figuring out the right angle for me when I letter- when I started, I think I held the pen more vertically and it really stressed the brush tip
Ditto....I ordered a bunch of gel pens from Jet Pens a while ago and the shipping from the US is nuts! 😭 next time, I’ll time it for a trip so I can ship them to my parents and then pick them up 🤦🏻♀️😅
