The Only 3 Supplies You Need to Start Doing Calligraphy

The great thing about calligraphy is that you only need a few supplies to get started.

You can even start with just a pencil or marker you have around your house!

The basic supplies should only cost you around $20. Then you can decide if you want to spend more on worksheets or a good video course.

What are the essential supplies to start calligraphy?

Here are the only three supplies you actually need to start doing calligraphy:

1. Brush pen, marker, or pencil: it just needs to be a writing tool that you can press harder on to get thicker lines.
2. Paper: This can be plain notebook paper or marker paper from the art store.
3. Calligraphy worksheets: while you can learn without worksheets, it’ll be much easier to learn by tracing over examples. At the least you’ll want some guidelines to use.

I’m going to go over each of these supplies in more detail so you know which ones to get.

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1. A brush pen

There is one particular pen that I recommend to anyone getting started with calligraphy.

It’s the Tombow Fudenosuke hard tip brush pen.

They are small, easy-to-find pens that are perfect for beginners and advanced calligraphers (I use them all the time myself!)

If you’re unfamiliar with brush pens, they are pens with flexible brush tips.

Here are a few options for buying these pens on Amazon:

• Tombow Fudenosuke 2-pack with hard and soft tip pen (black)
• Tombow Fudenosuke 10-pack with only hard tip pens (different colors)

“Hard tip” just means a firmer brush tip.

If you purchase the 2-pack, the pen with the navy blue colored barrel is the hard tipped one.

That’s the one I recommend starting with!

For all my brush pen recommendations, check out these posts:

Best Brush Pens for Calligraphy Beginners (easiest to use)

Best Medium-Sized Brush Pens for Calligraphy

Dip pens vs brush pens

You may have heard of using both “dip pens” and “brush pens” for calligraphy.

So which one should you use?

Personally, I think brush pens are way easier to start with.

A brush pen is just a marker with a brush tip, so there’s no dipping, running out of ink, cleanup, or mess involved.

If you use a dip pen, there will be more of a learning curve as you learn how to prep, assemble, use, and clean the pen.

Of course, it’s totally up to you which pen you want to learn with.

If you’re interested in doing calligraphy with a dip pen, also called “pointed pen,” check out this Intro to Pointed Pen Calligraphy.

Other writing tools

Don’t want to buy any new pens for calligraphy?

You can start by using a pencil or a basic Crayola markers you already have around your home.

With both of these, you can press harder on them to get a thicker line, just as you would with any calligraphy pen.

2. Paper

Next you just need some paper to write on.

Since you’re using a nice new brush pen, it’s best not to use it on cheap printer or notebook paper if possible, since brush pens fray.

I recommend using either one of these papers:

• Canson XL marker paper
• Smooth tracing paper

Here’s the thing, though: those are great for putting on top of worksheets, but what if you want some lined paper to keep your writing neat?

If you need lined/grid paper to practice on, Rhodia paper pads are a great option!

Related read: Best Paper for Brush Pens

3. Calligraphy worksheets

The third thing you need to start doing calligraphy is worksheets.

Of course, this is where everything comes together so you actually know how to do calligraphy!

If you need some free worksheets to get started, I made some that you can grab below ⬇️

These worksheets give you a great foundation for starting calligraphy. You’ll learn how to use a brush pen and start practicing the basic strokes.

Beyond that, though, I recommend my calligraphy workbook for beginners.

It’s a printable workbook that’s available as an instant download, and is full of traceable examples and easy-to-follow instructions.

Once you’ve gotten your three calligraphy supplies, follow the steps in this guide to actually start doing calligraphy!

Calligraphy starter kits

If you don’t want to have to shop around for each individual item yourself, a calligraphy starter kit might be a good option.

It’s also a great gift idea.

Here are a few calligraphy kits that I’d recommend:

• Modern Calligraphy Kit on Etsy
• Brush Lettering Bundle
• Modern Calligraphy Set for Beginners (this one’s more for hand-drawn lettering)

Usually, though, it’s more cost-effective to buy your own supplies and create your own kit.

And since now you know you only need three things, that makes it pretty simple!

Digital calligraphy supplies

What about doing calligraphy digitally on an iPad?

In that case, here are the supplies you’ll need.

• An iPad
• Apple Pencil (make sure it’s compatible with the iPad you have)
• Procreate app
• Calligraphy Procreate brushes (I love this set)

With an iPad, Apple Pencil, and Procreate, you can create amazing digital calligraphy.

The great thing is, the Procreate app is a very affordable, one-time purchase!

Watch a YouTube tutorial like this one to get you started with doing calligraphy on an iPad.

Although you might think you have to order a bunch of supplies or get a fancy kit, it’s actually not necessary and might make calligraphy feel overwhelming.

Start with the very basics to see if you like it and you can add more supplies later!

Whether you do calligraphy digitally or with pen and paper, I hope this post has made it simple for you to find the supplies you need as a beginner.

When you’re ready, learn how to do calligraphy step by step in this beginners’ guide.