Happy end of semester, everyone! Congrats to all for making it through the year, and I hope you’re all settling into the summer. This is my last post of the school year, so I thought I’d leave you all with some ways to stay involved in handlettering and art over the summer.
First off, here are some of my favorite lettering accounts on Instagram, if you’re looking for more inspiration, resources, tips, etc.
If you’re looking for something colorful, bold, digital, and maybe politically progressive, I’d recommend @inkusdingus or @glitterandbold. For satisfying process videos and lots of juicy pens, I’d turn to @lettersandlattesllc (who also happens to be a fellow Michigander!), or @the_letter_salon. For bullet journaling inspiration, definitely check out @thegraytergood, and for pen and stationery recs, look no further than @amandarachlee. As for other favorites of mine, @snooze.one is a more experimental, graffiti-inspired typographer, and @keeplivingfaster is definitely the page to visit if you want watercolor lettering and lots of glitter. Finally, if you want a page to get some general inspo and find lots of artists, my favorite account is @goodtype. Enjoying your scrolling!
Now, if you want some website recommendations for some stationery shopping, here my go-to’s for that.
JetPens is a classic for keeping up with new pens as well as finding the classics, plus it has lots of variety and is reasonably priced. Stationery Pal is really fun for specialty or limited edition items, cheap stationery (like, super cheap), and colorful and fun pens, trinkets, etc. Shipping takes a bit, but in my opinion the price makes it worth it. Tokyo Pen Shop is a new one I’ve been perusing, so I can’t speak to how it is to order from them, but they have a lot of fun and unique items. For more stationery rather than pen-centered products, Present and Correct is a really fun one to check out for a very vintage, specialized feel. And, of course, Amazon is always a fast and cheap option. If you want to do some in-person shopping, Michael’s, Blick Art Materials, and even stores like Barnes and Nobles are all good options. For Ann Arbor stores, I’d check out Rock Paper Scissors, Papersource, and Found. There are tons of independent stationery stores everywhere, though, so if you’re traveling somewhere, it’s never a bad idea to look up stationery stores in that area (I’ve found some really good ones that way!). Happy shopping!
I hope that information is helpful and gives you a lot to look into over the summer if you’re interested! Either way, I hope you all have a relaxing few months and do some art if you can or want to 🙂
As I’m sure you’ve all realized by now, the size of my pen collection is a bit absurd, and definitely not the most conducive to college housing. I had to leave a lot behind when I came to school, so whenever I go home, I get really excited to use them all again. I have a lot at home right now, and a little more room than I thought I would for pens, so I thought it would be fun to show you guys how I went through them all and picked what to bring back to Ann Arbor. For the major pen sets, I included their swatches and my opinions on them below. I know the swatches for some of the smaller pens are really tough to see, but I hope you can at least kind of see the colors and the size of the nib. I did also bring home the posca set you can see in the box picture, but I forgot to take pictures of those swatches.
After that came all the random, individual pens. I tested a ton, but here are the ones I brought back. From left to right:
Before we get into my opinions, let’s introduce these guys. The Monami Plus Pen 3000 (I know, a bit of a ridiculous name) is a fine tip pen. It’s also a felt tip, although I would argue it’s closer to a plastic nib (for felt tips, think Papermate flairs–these are a lot sturdier and skinnier). Even though they have a fine tip, they have enough give to them to act as a pseudo-brushpen if you want them to. I use these more often to color in small things or write, though. You can see some different ways to use these in the picture I included. One thing to note about the ink, though, is that it can be a bit splattery. It’s not juicy enough where it will leak or splatter enough to stain things, though, it’s just worth noting because sometimes it can be hard to get clean lines.
The pen body isn’t my favorite–these guys are really tall and thin, and feel kind of cheaply made, which makes sense because they’re known for being super affordable. They’re also known for coming in a huge color selection, including a lot of pastels, fluorescents, and muted colors. The set of twelve I have is mainly just classic bright colors, but I’m obsessed with the case it comes in–it’s super satisfying to unclasp it for some reason, and it’s super convenient to keep in my bag.
