Beginner Calligraphy Gift Ideas

Are you looking for gift ideas for a friend starting to learn lettering and brush calligraphy? Today I’m sharing some of my favorite beginner supply sets to build gift bundles for a variety of budgets.

I absolutely believe in investing in experiences as much as possible, and learning the skill and art of brush calligraphy is definitely an experience. Especially during these Quarantine times, it’s a great hobby that pulls me out of my mind and into my hands and helps me relax. I hope these ideas help make someone’s birthday, celebration, holiday brighter!

Please note some of these are affiliate links; if you. happen to make a purchase through it, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you! This goes back to support my work. Thank you!

Beginner Calligraphy Gift Ideas: $20 budget

If you’re looking to just get a few quality items, I suggest a combination of some solid basics:

• Le Pen Flex – a great small pen with a rich color payout, flexible dynamic tip
• Tracing Paper (or other smooth paper) – the smoother the paper, the longer the brush tips can last
• Tombow Fudenosuke – these are sturdy beginner small brush pens, in a soft-tip and hard-tip to give you some choice in which pen you’ll enjoy more.

Download the card to attach to your gift explaining some of the items here!

Beginner Calligraphy Gift Ideas: $35 budget

Fill out the gift basket with a few more brush calligraphy tools –

• Worksheets – add my worksheets with specific instructions to help them learn calligraphy right away, with tips I’ve learned from teaching hundreds of students to troubleshoot common beginner hiccups.
• Tombow Dual Brush Pens (a set of 6 is about $14 on Amazon, but you can select a few single markers on JetPens). These are pretty good large brush pens for practicing and learning. They can also be used for easy watercolor
• Le Pen Flex – these are some of my favorite small brush pens with vibrant colors, smaller easy-to-maneuver brush tips, great for any level

Beginner Calligraphy Gift Ideas: $50 budget

• Zig Brushables – I love these large brush pens – you get 2 colors with 2 brushes, the ink is waterproof, fade proof, and archival.
• Le Plume II – These are an underrated brush pen that has a little more versatility with widths, a big brush on one end and then a fine liner pen on the other end. This is different from a Tombow Dual Brush’s bullet tip.
• Le Pen Flex – a great small pen with a rich color payout, flexible dynamic tip
• OR Pentel Sign Brush Pens – these are great small brush pens that can be found even at a local Target. These are a great beginner favorite.
• Tracing Paper – the smoother the paper, the longer the brush tips can last, plus you can layer them on top of worksheets or grid lines to make worksheets last longer
• Intro to Modern Brush Calligraphy Online Course – I’ve taught over 2000 students modern calligraphy and would love to share this course with you. I break down the strokes and letters and make it easy to learn the shapes. For the gift-giving season, take $10 off this calligraphy course with the code “LEARN”.

Choosing Brush Pens

As you choose the best beginner brush pens, make sure they’re a synthetic or rubberized tip. Brush pens that have bristles like a paintbrush are difficult to learn with at first since they are so flexible and sensitive to pressure. There are many brush pens out there now, and it’s tempting to purchase them. These cheaper brush pens have softer tips that don’t spring back as easily, lose their shape faster, and fray much easier. They may be fine for a bit, but you’ll burn through them quite quickly. The pens I suggested are the pens that I use regularly and are sturdy.

If you want to know about some other brush pens, take a look at my previous pen reviews (like this one)

There are so many ways we can help beginner calligraphers dive into this beautiful hobby. I hope this helps you come up with some fun gifts for the people in your life! Have any questions? Leave them below!