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How To Create Beautiful Hand Lettering With a $1 Carpenter's Pencil

Creative Market Last updated: April 5, 2024 · 1 min read

Creative Market shop owner Ian Barnard (Vintage Design Co.) is one of my favorite hand lettering artists. His website is overflowing with beautiful examples of lettering work. Recently though, he posted a quick video tip to Twitter that was simply too good not to share.
Most people wouldn’t look at a carpenter’s pencil and see it as a tool for creating beautiful works of art, but in the right hands, it can do exactly that! See how in the quick video below.

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15 Comments
  • How could you spell his name wrong??? :O 11 years ago
  • I'm a huge fan of @Ian Barnard 's work - thanks for sharing! :) 11 years ago
  • Wow! How inspiring. 11 years ago
  • Thanks for blogging about me. Like to think outside the box when it comes to lettering. Especially showing how you can use anything to write with and doesn't have to be an expensive craft to learn. 11 years ago
  • @Beth Rufener Thanks Beth, love your work too! 11 years ago
  • Nice! 11 years ago
  • Great! 11 years ago
  • @Ian Barnard can't forget your Instagram broccoli lettering... and THEN! just saw your chilli pepper post and, well, you're a genius. 11 years ago
  • Carps are also great for sketching. Bring an X-Acto blade to sharpen it. 11 years ago
  • This was standard practice in foundation-level lettering in college. Are design students not still taught this way? That would be a shame; it's an excellent way to get intimate with letter shapes. 11 years ago
  • Okay, where's dad's tool bag?! 11 years ago
  • G Wink is correct. Also, it was known as a lettering or calligraphy pencil back then. 11 years ago
  • Like! 11 years ago