One of the most common questions I hear from people just beginning brush lettering and modern brush calligraphy is, “What are the best brush pens for beginners?”

Well, to a certain degree, that will depend upon each person, of course. But, some brush pens are just easier to use than others, and I sort of found this out the hard way.

There are varying opinions about this, and everyone is different. I’m in the “start with a smaller brush pen” camp, but some do start with bigger pens. This post is based strictly on my personal opinion!

So, I do have some opinions about brush pens for beginners, based on my own experiences. These pens aren’t just for beginners, though!  They’re some of my favorites in general, too.

I have recommendations for both small and medium to large brush pens below.

Hopefully,  with some of these recommendations, I can save you some of the frustration that I experienced.

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Small Brush Pens for Beginners:

Small pens with firm tips are often favorites for beginners. Not only are small brush pens great to learn with, they are perfect for longer quotes, bullet journals, planners, addressing envelopes, etc.

• Tombow Fudenosuke Hard Tip Pen    (click to shop)

The black Fudenosukes come in both hard and soft tip, and the colors come only in hard tip.  I prefer the hard tip, as it’s easier to control and gives thinner upstrokes than the soft tip.  It almost replicates a dip pen, because of the thin upstrokes,and I really love the look. It comes in many colors, including neon, and is easy to find. Wonderful for smaller lettering.

• Pentel Brush Sign Pen (click to shop)

This Pentel is a similar size to the Tombow Fudenosuke pen, above. It’s a favorite of many and is very smooth and forgiving. I like this pen a lot, and the colors are beautiful and saturated. The Tombow Fudenosuke hard tip gives a little finer upstroke than this one, but their performance is very similar. Be sure you are getting the brush tip, as they also have a bullet tip pen with a similar name.

• Zebra Funwari Brush Pen   (click to shop)

I’ve recently discovered this one, and I love it. It has a super fine, sturdy point, and it, too, is great for small lettering. The tip is very firm and easy to control.  One downside of this one is that it only comes in a few colors.  But it’s a great little brush pen, and I recommend it.

You can see how similar the Tombow Fudenosuke and the Zebra Funwari are in the photo, below. The tips are almost the same size. I love both of them.

Medium to Large Brush Pens for Beginners:

For projects that require larger letters than you can achieve with the small brush pens, the pens, below, would be nice choices.  They’re great for beginners because of their firmer tips, which make them easier to use than some of the other larger pens.

• Kuretake Zig Fudebiyori  (click to shop)

The tip on the Kuretake Zig Fudebiyori is semi-firm, and not too difficult to control.  I would call it a medium to large tip. (Not as large as the tip on the Tombow Dual Brush Pens.)  I really like the gorgeous colors and the quality.

• Kuretake Zig Brushables  (click to shop)

This one is a large brush pen. The tip size is somewhat comparable to the Tombow Dual Brush Pens (which I love), but I find the Brushables to be slightly easier for some beginners because of the slightly firmer tip. (Again, not true for everyone.)

Another nice quality of the Kuretake Zig Brushable is the ink is lightfast and archival. It has brush tips on both ends (different shades of the same color), rather than a fine point bullet tip at the opposite end.

I hope this has given you some direction in your search for your brush pen purchases. They are some of my favorites, both for the beginner and the more experienced alike.

You  will have your own favorites, but these are some that I think most beginners will enjoy and find a little less frustrating than some others.

Have you tried some of these?

Linking to:

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life, Gingersnap Crafts, My Girlish Whims, Wonderful Wednesday at OMHG, Creative Muster at Fluster Buster, Thursday Favorite Things, Artsy Fartsy Mama, French Ethereal, Tuesday Turn About , Funtastic Friday at Building Our Hive, Shabby Art Boutique, Create with Joy, Mostly Blogging, Happiness is Homemade , Sum of Their Stories, Mostly Blogging, Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do, Keeping it Real, Esme Salon, Claire Justine, Zucchini Sisters, Esme Salon, LouLou Girls, Wonderful Wednesday