Welcome to the Letter by Starlight Blog!

Hello!

I'm Melissa, the lettering artist behind @LetterByStarlight. I'm a wife, mom of two, coffee addict and hand lettering artist. I first picked up a brush pen in 2017 and haven't looked back!

I specialize in colorful modern hand lettering, botanical illustration and watercolor. I love to create pieces that combine all three! My work has been featured by some of the top lettering brands including Tombow, Rhodia and Crayola.

My goal is to share some fun tutorials with tricks and techniques to help you on your lettering journey. I hope this blog inspires you to create your own beautiful works of art!

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How to Blend with a Tombow Dual Brush Pens - Water Brush Technique

This is one of my favorite techniques for blending Tombow Dual Brush Pens. Using a water brush gives a nice smooth transition between the two colors. Materials Needed: Tombow Dual Brush Pen in Light Gray (I used # N95) Tombow Dual Brush Pens in Two Complimentary Colors (I used Red #856 and Yellow #933) Water Brush (Or fine tip paint brush dipped in water) Mix Media Paper Optional: White Gel Pen (I used Uniball Signo), Black Fine Liner Pen (I used Micron Pigma #003) Step One: Write out your word with the Tombow light gray marker. This will be the guideline that you will blend on top of. When using a light gray pen, you don't need to worry about it interfering with the colors you put on top or showing through on your final piece. Step Two: Add your two colors over the gray, alternating red and yellow. Leave a little space in between colors. This will give the ink a place to blend with the second color. Step Three: With your water brush, lightly "pull" th

Tombow Color Blending Inspiration

Tombow makes so many beautiful colors in their Dual Brush Pens - the blending combinations are endless! Here are 12 of my favorite color combinations to blend (with their color codes so you know exactly what I used). Enjoy! #1 Yellow (055) & Red (656) #2 Light Blue (451) & Dark Blue (555) #3 Purple (636) & Blue (476) #4 Light Purple (620) & Dark Purple (665) #5 Purple (636) & Green (245) #6 Yellow (055) & Pink (755) #7 Light Pink (761) & Dark Pink (803) #8 Yellow (055) & Orange (925) #9 Lime Green (173) & Dark Green (245) #10 Pink (743) & Turquoise (452) #11 Light Turquoise (403) & Dark Turquoise (379) #12 Pink (755) & Purple (665)

8 Ways to Add Shading to your Hand Lettering

Need some letter shading inspiration? Here are 8 of my favorite ways to add shading to my hand lettering. Shading is a great way to add character and dimension to your letters. I’ve often been asked “how do you know where to add the shading?” I drew a little diagram that helps explain it below: You want to imagine a light source. The light can be on the left or the right – but whichever side it’s on, you want to add the shading to the opposite side. So for this example, the sun is on the left so the shading is all on the right side of the letter. I’ve also added white highlights to the left side of the letter, because this is the side that the sun is shining on. I hope this helps! If you have any questions please comment below.

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