Application Guide
13
∫ LAUREN ∫
I am excited to share 5 ways that you can #tombowlikealefty … yes, I’m talking in hashtags.
The teacher inside of me just had to use an acronym with the word “LEFTY” to illustrate these 5 things that lefties can do to
feel comfortable with the brush pen, and lettering in general, and let their strengths and uniqueness shine through.
“L” IS FOR LEARN THE BASICS
The rst step to feel condent as a lefty letterer is
understanding how you grip the pen and write.
There are two dierent kinds of lefty grips. Left-handed
letterers are either underwriters, who write with their
wrist straight, or overwriters, who curl their wrist.
There is no right or wrong grip for calligraphy, however,
its important for you to understand what kind of lefty
you are so that you can have the best results with your
pen.
I am an underwriter for pointed pen and a slight
overwriter with the brush pen. My wrist stays mostly
straight but curls a little as I apply pressure to write my
down strokes.
One weakness of overwriting is that your hand can go
through what you are writing, smearing and smudging
your creations.
To x this, turn your paper to the right about 45
degrees and only curl your wrist enough to apply
the pressure needed for thin upstrokes and thick
downstrokes, comparable to a those of a right-handed
letterer. This denitely takes practice, but seems to
help!
TOMBOW LIKE A LEFTY
Dear Lefty Friends, the rst time that I ever picked up a brush pen, my left hand and brain
had no idea what they were doing. I was totally discouraged and wanted to put it down and
never come back… but I didn’t! After lots of practicing and trial and error, I was able to see
that lefties can denitely “Tombow” like our righty counterparts! The key is to stick with it and
understand how to use being a lefty as a strength, rather than a weakness.