The Art of Watercolor Lettering, Great Craft Book for Yourself or Someone You Love

If you enjoy both calligraphy and watercolor painting, I have the perfect book for you! It’s The Art of Watercolor Lettering: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide to Painting Modern Calligraphy and Lettered Art, by Kelly Klapstein (Quarry Books, October 2019). This innovative book will show you how to combine both disciplines to create your own beautiful lettered artwork using watercolor.

* Complimentary book received for review. This post may contain affiliate links.

Since this book is designed for beginners, it starts with a helpful and easy-to-understand chapter about the basics of the supplies and materials you’ll need. And I do mean basic (a heading in the first part is “What Is Watercolor Paint?”); you won’t feel like you’re in over your head, as it’s never assumed that you’re already familiar with the medium or its techniques. The following chapter, “Getting Started,” explores color and includes several warm-up exercises, with instructions for painting swatches and simple shapes like circles and leaves.

Then it’s on to the focus of the book, watercolor lettering. You’ll learn about letter styles such as block and script lettering, then you’ll move on to incorporating color into your work. You’ll work through exercises and you’ll practice painting letter components like curves, ascenders, descenders, and ovals to create complete and uniform letters, which you can join together to form words. After that, you’ll be ready to progress to the chapter on Creative Techniques. There, you’ll try using different tools like watercolor pencils, brush pens and markers, ink, and even food coloring.

Putting it all together, the Dreamy Designs chapter has step-by-step instructions for creating quotes, wreath designs, monograms, and more. The final chapter, Trace & Learn, is packed with brush script worksheets, exemplars of alphabets in different styles, and even some words and quotes for you to use as you practice.

Kelly Klapstein, the author, specializes in brush lettering. You can learn more at her website, KellyCreates.ca, where she offers worksheets, ideas, and instruction. She even has her own line of products such as pens, pads, stamps, and journals manufactured and distributed by American Craft, available from major craft retailers and from her own online store. The Art of Watercolor Lettering is a follow-up to Klapstein’s 2017 book, The Art of Brush Lettering, also published by Quarry Books, an imprint of the Quarto Publishing Group.

The Art of Watercolor Lettering would make a fun gift for the calligrapher on your gift list who wants to learn to incorporate the use of watercolor into their craft, or for a watercolorist who is interested in experimenting with lettering. But since the book is written for beginners, it would also be a great gift for anyone who is ready to undertake an enjoyable and rewarding new artform!

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Giveaway: One lucky winner is going to win a copy of The Art of Watercolor Lettering, thanks to Quarry Books.

Giveaway Details: This giveaway is open to residents of the US ONLY age 18 and over. Please read our Terms of Service & Disclaimer Policy before entering. This giveaway will close on December 25th, 2019 at 11:59 pm EST time. No purchase necessary to enter or win.

Disclaimer: A. Bailey received a complimentary product for review purposes & feature on The Classy Chics blog. No monetary compensation was received. A. Bailey’s thoughts, opinions and words are 100% her own. Your thoughts may differ. Please read the blog’s terms of service policy before entering any giveaways. The Classy Chics are NOT responsible for prize fulfillment or shipping of any items won from this blog. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, we may or may not make a small commission which helps to support this website. Thank you!!!