Greetings Copic readers! In our previous blog, we continued our introduction of writing with the new acrea marker by practicing our cursive letterforms. Today, we’re going to put our handwriting skills to the test by using both manuscript and cursive to write pangrams. We’ll first be drafting each phrase with a pencil, then go over our work with one of each of the acrea 6pc Deep set colors. And with that, let’s get started by taking a look below! 

If you’ve been following along with our previous two blogs, the above templates will look very familiar... except there are no letter guides! We’ll be putting our handwriting skills to the test to draft 3 simple phrases that capture all of the letters of the alphabet (also called pangrams).

The 3 phrases we’ll be using are: 

1. “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” (a classic)

2.  “When zombies arrive, quickly fax Judge Pat.” 

3. “Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes.” 

Now let’s grab a pencil, eraser, and the acrea 6pc Deep set to get started!

We’ll begin preparing our phrases by swatching the acrea set colors. This is a great way to know if your ink flow is smooth and what each color looks like. We’ll be using one color per phrase, using three colors for manuscript and three colors for cursive. It doesn’t matter which colors you use for each phrase, just that you use one of each color to see which one(s) you prefer!

Next, use a pencil to lightly write each phrase on the lines provided. This is a great way to see how each sentence will fit on the seven lines of the template. This will also provide you a light guide when adding acrea on top. Pencil marks you can erase, but paint marker ink you cannot! For reference, the artist used a 2H pencil.

Now that each phrase has been sketched, it’s time to add acrea! The artist begins by using red bean to trace over the first pangram, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Notice how the artist writes slow and steady, picking up their hand after each letter has been formed, being sure not to smudge the ink while it's drying. This is especially important to pay attention to if you’re left-handed! 

The next color the artist uses is dark rose. While it may not be seen in this video, the artist has a scrap sheet of paper nearby to scribble and test the marker on to ensure a smooth application on the template. Again, take your time tracing your pencil work!

The final color used for the manuscript pangrams is mustard yellow. This beautiful, dark yellow stands out on both white and black paper and can be used alone or on top of other acrea colors as a highlight. 

Now that the manuscript template has been outlined with acrea, it’s time to use the remaining three colors to trace over the cursive pangrams! 

Following the same steps as the manuscript pangrams, the artist begins with peacock green, writing lightly on the paper so that the nib glides across. Don’t worry about covering each letter with exact precision, once the acrea ink has dried, you can use an eraser to get rid of any pencil marks that remain visible. 

The next color the artist uses is pansy. The artist decided to trace over the “W” twice, making this first letter thicker than the rest of the phrase. For consistency, it would be helpful to trace over the entire sentence again so that every letter was thicker, but if you want to make only one letter stand out, this is a great way to do that! 

The final color used is indigo blue. Again, there are a few letters in this sentence that are thicker than others, and that’s okay. It’s difficult to accomplish “perfect” handwriting when you don’t practice it that often, and that’s why these blank templates are such a great tool! 

While writing pangrams is a great way to guarantee that you’ll practice each letter, it can also be helpful to write words or sentences that you like or use frequently - like your name (a legible signature) :) , the name of your pet, a favorite book or movie quote, etc. The important thing is that you’re excited and want to improve your handwriting skills! Maybe you have a goal in mind:  a journal you want to keep, or you want to become a hand-lettering artist. No matter what your goal is, it’s important to love what you do and have great tools to help you accomplish those goals!

And with that, we wrap up today’s blog! To give this lesson a try yourself, download either the blank templates from the beginning of the blog or the templates outlined in pencil here from our line art gallery. Print them on sheets of smooth cardstock suitable for paint markers. We recommend either Neenah Bright White Premium Cardstock 65 lb. paper or Neenah Exact Premium Cardstock 110 lb. paper. Then, after you’ve printed the templates, grab your Copic acrea marker set, swatch your colors, and begin practicing your handwriting!

Until next time, don’t forget to follow us across our social media channels @copic_official_us, and sign up for exclusive discounts and prizes by joining the Copic Club! One last thing - use #copicwithus or tag us @copic_official_us for a chance to have your drawings or workspace featured on our Copic US social media channels.

Thank you so much for reading and enjoying Copic markers as much as we do! 😀