What exactly is a hand lettering practice sheet? How do you use one? Do they actually help you to learn lettering better? If you’ve wondered any of these questions then you are in the right place! I will explain the importance of these practice sheets and give you some helpful lettering tips along the way.

Practice + Consistency = Improvement

I promise to always be completely upfront and honest with you. I won’t give you information or try to sell you on something that I don’t believe in. I won’t tell you that you’re going to become an amazing artist with little effort and no practice – that’s simply not true and you know that. You need to dedicate some time to this craft to learn and to improve.

You Don’t Need a Ton of Time… just 5 minutes

However, the time you dedicate should be FUN and it should be YOUR time. Set aside even just 5 minutes each day. Pick a time that works best for you – whether that is early before the kids wake up, during your lunch break or before bed. You don’t need a lot of time. Just create a plan to schedule in the time (any amount but at least 5 minutes) and be consistent.

Practice sheets are not a MUST. (Did she really just say that in a blog post about practice sheets?! YUP, sure did!)… Again, in all honesty, I did not use practice sheets starting out. Maybe it was that they weren’t as easily available when I was starting out years ago, or that I sometimes take the long route to get places. I tend to like to learn things on my own, lots of research, trial / error and I like to save money if I can. Sound familiar? Are you like this too?

So, then why do you need a lettering practice sheet?

Would you prefer to skip all the busy work… all the google searching and picking apart of content to find what you really need? My hope is to take all the guesswork out of learning lettering and provide you with all the best tools, tips and resources I WISH I had starting out. All the things that will set you on the quick path to learning this art so you can begin the really fun part – discovering YOUR style and exploring your creativity further.

While I may not have used practice sheets in the beginning, this does not mean I did not practice. I just created my own ‘practice sheets’ (meaning MANY sheets of paper, mistakes and eraser marks) and my practice took longer as it was stretched out over years of trying techniques and styles on my own.

To help, I’ve created hand lettering practice sheets for you to use. Find them for FREE here.

Download your free lettering practice sheet(s) to your computer and then print. It’s that simple. You can print them from your home printer, a local print shop or any office depot/staples.

How to use a lettering practice guide

A lettering practice sheet is really more like a guide. They make learning easier and quicker.

Place your lettering “guide” on your clipboard with a piece of tracing paper on top.

Now, you’re ready to begin

Using a pencil or your favorite pen (click here to read about my favorite pens and tools for lettering) begin tracing over the lettering guide.

Tracing is not cheating when you are learning. I’ll repeat that – tracing IS NOT cheating when you are LEARNING. Your hands are building muscle memory when you are tracing. They are learning the movements and rhythm.

Your letters will begin to flow

The more you practice this, the quicker your hands will naturally begin to create lines that are not shaky. You will be able to create beautiful flowing letters and your hands will glide across the page effortlessly.

Practice, practice and more practice

Keep putting in the practice consistently, don’t give up and make it fun! Remember this is YOUR time. Spend it wisely and doing something you love.

Where to go next on your hand lettering journey?

Now that you have your free hand lettering practice sheets and understand the basics of how to use them, head on over to my next blog post. Top Ten Hand-Lettering Supplies For Beginners