Mix elements of nature with some easy typography and you can create amazing things.I’m not kidding.I’m no typography expert but I can show how you can create beautiful art.Whip out those colored pencils and get hold of some black paper.Read on to learn this easy typography art tutorial.
I love any kind of art on black paper.Black makes colors pop and seem vibrant on paper. And if you add in some kind of bling like copper or gold, then it’s bound to look gorgeous. Now ,this is a fairly simple typography art that you can attempt which can be done with simple colored pencils. I’ve used a set of artist’s grade colored pencils for this project but it’s absolutely not necessary.If you don’t own one of your own , you can borrow the Crayola set your little one has ! 😀 That’s going to work just fine.And if you don’t have a little one, you may need to find another way out ! Before I make you run away,let me stop myself from cracking these horrible jokes .I really want you to stay and read.
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The materials you’ll require for learning this typography art tutorial are
- Black paper ( card stock or sketchbook)
- Gold paint pen (optional)
- Colored pencils ( Artist’s grade or Student grade)
- Graphite pencil
- Ruler or T-square
- Eraser
Step 1:Take a black colored paper. Offset about 2cm space from each side. Draw with a pencil to form a rectangular shape. Mark 2 cm guidelines from the offset line till you reach the end.Draw the guidelines with a pencil.Make sure the pencil marks are light. Press down with very light pressure. A better alternative would be to use a soapstone marker that is easy to rub off with your hand. It’s white and easy to remove.If you don’t have it, use the method as I did.
Step 2:Draw block alphabets of a short word of your choice randomly. You don’t have to follow the exact flow of letters I’ve done here. I chose the word “HOPE” because it’s a word that does’t need an explanation. What I mean is you can just say it to someone who is feeling down and it probably makes him/her feel better.At least that is what I think.
Step 3:This step is completely optional. You can choose to leave the words as it is. All you need to do is rub it off in the end. Just be careful you don’t erase the colored pencil parts.I’ve used a gold paint pen here. But you may use copper,bronze,silver or even white. All of these will make your letters pop!If a seasoned typography artist sees my letter “O”. I probably would get shot for making such a messy one.Rub off the guidelines and other pencil marks  after writing the letters. This is so that you won’t have trouble erasing them after you draw with colored pencils.
Step 4: The fun part! Start drawing leaves emerging from each of the letters. You may draw single leaves or a cluster of leaflets.Anything goes really. I started with a single leaf with veins and a smaller cluster.Before I started with this project, I made a patch drawing of the different greens I have in my set.The color I’ve used here is “Permanent Green”.This is from my favorite FC Polychromos set.It’s an oil based colored pencil and glides beautifully on paper.Remember that you don’t need to use the same. Any colored pencil with any color will do.
Step 5:Next I used the color “Permanent Green Olive” and continued with drawing the leaves. Change directions of the leaves randomly.I filled in one of the clusters with the same color I drew the outline with. After that I used the color “May green”.I joined one of the leaves from the letter “H”to”O”.Draw leaves of different shapes, sizes and colors to form a beautiful pattern.
Step 6:Continue drawing leaves.Fill in the gaps wherever necessary. You can overlap certain leaves or connect and join a few others.Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder like they say.And in this case the doer.The other colors I used were “Grass Green”, “Light Green”and “Light Cadmium Yellow”.
Step 7:Keep the paper away from you and check for harmony and cohesiveness.When you’re satisfied, call the project done!Gift it to someone you love or frame it and hand it up on your wall for inspiration.
What do you think?
Don’t the colors black,gold and green blend beautifully together?What did you think of this typography art tutorial?What short words would you use if you try this out?Some other wonderful words I can think of are “Dream”,”Shine” and “Care”.Let me know all about what ideas and words you would incorporate in the comments below.Plus tag with #makeinkstruck on Instagram and I’d would love to see and share!If you loved this , don’t forget to subscribe by signing up the form below! Have a wonderful day!
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How beautiful!!! I love the green on black!
The green definitely pops up on the black paper doesn’t it? Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a lovely day! x
This is so beaturiful!! 😀 love it!
How sweet of you to stop by! Thank you so much. I absolutely loved your post on creating a watercolor pattern. Definitely on my to do list of projects ! Have a nice day ! x
The gold on black really pops! You’re very talented.
Thank you so much Mary! I really do feel black makes a statement every time!The little black dress is a fitting example. Thanks for being a huge support like always ! x
love it!!! Wish I were artsy!!!
I think everyone is artsy in some way or the other. Try this ! I assure you it is as easy as it looks. Thanks for stopping by! Have a nice day! x
Oh this seems so simple and easy to do. Loved the colors and how they really go together.
You are truly talented + creative 😉
It is quite simple to so. You’re very sweet with your kind words Eileen. Will you be trying this? If you do,please share it with me. I would love to see. Thank you for stopping by! Have a lovely day ! x
Wow. How nice is that. Is so talented!
Thanks kindly Talia ! So glad you stopped by 🙂
So pretty!
Thanks kindly Shauna ! 🙂
This looks easy and fun! I just got my staedtler ergo color pencils and look forward to creating a LOVE card. Thank you for the tutorial!
Hi Julie! I did see the lovely finished work on Instagram and I think it’s gorgeous. Thank you for trying out the tutorial. Love seeing happy comments like this 🙂