Bloom: hand lettering with botanical line art - Royal Talens

Creating botanical hand lettering in your sketchbook

Combine hand lettering art with an intricate botanical drawing in this step-by-step guide. We play with different sizes of Pigma Micron to create a beautiful double-page spread artwork in your sketchbook. Let's get started!

What you need View steps

What you need

Sakura Pigma Micron fineliner Black 005 (0.2 mm)
Sakura Pigma Micron fineliner Black 01 (0.25 mm)
Sakura Pigma Micron fineliner Black 08 (0.5 mm)
Graphite pencil (HB)
Eraser
Sakura sketchbook

Tips

To symbolise the process of blooming, I decided to only shade the second half of the drawing, but, of course, it would be beautiful to completely shade the drawing as well!

Read through all the steps before you start to get an idea of the full process.

Step 1

Space and composition

The most import thing when starting with a double page spread in your sketchbook is thinking about space and composition.

Always do this part in pencil so that you can adjust things as much as you like. Start with the lettering, placing it roughly in the centre of the pages and, once itʼs done, fill the negative space left with a rough sketch of where your flowers will be. Remember to draw circles of different sizes to create movement and interest in the composition.

Step 2

Fill in the circles

Fill in the circles with flowers with pencil. Then add the big leaves attached to the flowers. If there’s some more space left, add other botanical elements like branches or different kind of leaves to fill in. Remember to leave some black space, it will help with contrast in the inking stage.

Step 3

Start the inking.

Fill in the letters (using a bigger nib like the 08 to make the process faster) and outline the flowers and leaves with the 01 nib (or the bigger one if you like a bolder effect).

Step 4

Finish your linework.

Complete the inking process and erase all the pencil lines.

Step 5

Add the final details.

With a smaller nib (005) add the shading and details which will bring your drawing to life. To shade the leaves simply fill them with thin lines, curving them to show dimension and movement.

To shade the flowers use quick, jerking motions of the pen, remembering to always point every shading line towards the center of the flower. To get a scratchier look, use the pen at a 45° angle.

Made for Royal Talens by @bicreativelab. Follow along BiCreativeLab as she shows you how to create this stunning artwork.

Creating botanical hand lettering in your sketchbook

What you need

Tips

Step 1

Space and composition

Step 2

Fill in the circles

Step 3

Start the inking.

Step 4

Finish your linework.

Step 5

Add the final details.

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Creating botanical hand lettering in your sketchbook

What you need

Tips

Step 1

Space and composition

Step 2

Fill in the circles

Step 3

Start the inking.

Step 4

Finish your linework.

Step 5

Add the final details.

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