How to to create A Gothic Letter!

We asked our Artist of the Month Natascha Safarik to create a new step-by-step gothic calligraphy tutorial for you all and she did not disappoint! She has put together this exciting tutorial which will test your gothic calligraphy skills. She takes a letter and recreates this Gothic Calligraphy step-by-step project for you to try out today!

Follow her steps below and create your very own masterpiece! Choose your colours of choice and you can use this technique for creating any letter, detail or word to your piece of artwork. Natascha chose the letter D to showcase various detail you can add to enhance your calligraphy.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your calligraphy pens and ink ready and lets go!

A list of products you will need:

Step 1

Draw your Letter

Select your ShimmerInk colour (shake well to release the Shimmer particles that may be stuck at the bottom) and take your poster nib and laydown your letter. For more help on Gothic Calligraphy download our free beginner's template HERE

Natascha Step 1

Step 2

Add extra ink

In order to create the blending effect later on, be sure to add some more ink in certain areas to allow you to blend the acrylic ink later on. Dip your nib in the ink bottle and apply pressure in certain areas to relase extra ink onto the paper. It helps if you use a good quality watercolour paper to ensure the ink doesnt run off the page!

natascha step 2

Step 3

Prep to start blending!

Whilst your ShimmerInk is still wet get your Acryclic Ink ready to start the blending process. It important to change to a pointed copperplate nib for this step to allow for fine detailed work.

natascha step 4

Step 4

Start Blending!

It's important to work fast at this stage as you don't want your ShimmerInk to dry. Take your pointed nib and apply pressure to laydown and release the ink in a "blob" style technique. Make sure your add your acrylic ink to the areas where you laid down the extra ShimmerInk and watch your colours blend!

natashcha step 5