To begin learning to hand letter, you will need:

Pens

The brush pens I most commonly use are Tombow Dual Brush Pens. These are brush tipped markers, and I feel most consistent with my lettering when I use these tools. Marker tips are less flexible than traditional brush tips, which make them easier to control, but it does diminish the range of line width. (A fantastic guide has already been written, so I won’t get too detailed here. You can read it for more information on choosing a brush pen.)

Paper

Brush tips eventually wear out due to their malleable nature: The hairs on bristle tipped brush pens eventually fray and felt marker tips bend, distort, and shear. This fraying and shearing is going to make your lines look crappy after time. The best way to get the longest lifespan out of your pens is to work on the correct surface. Toothy paper can be right for some projects, but brush tips work best on smooth paper. I’m really partial to Rhodia’s Dot Pad. It’s smooth but not overly so, which lets the marker perform but also allows the ink to dry quickly. Also it has a nifty grid of dots to help you layout, but is less obtrusive than a lined grid.