How it works
This calligraphy fonts generator sets a line in one of 5 pen scripts, from round hand to chancery italic. Type yours in Your text. It is type, not handwriting: every e comes out identical, which no calligrapher can promise.
Read the full guide
Five scripts, two kinds of pen
Pinyon Script is a round hand with the steepest slant and the thinnest hairlines. Great Vibes has the widest looped capitals. Tangerine follows chancery italics: unjoined letters, ascenders taller than the capitals, and a 3, 5, 7 and 9 that hang below the line. Italianno is the narrowest, so long lines come out tallest. Alex Brush is a brush script with the largest lowercase.
Swash, frame and file
Decoration has an Underline swash, a double Frame, hearts and sparkles. Under More options, Background set to Transparent with Decoration on None cuts the file to the lettering, to lay over your own invitation. Arch and Smile, also there, turn each letter on its own, so keep Bend low or the joins kink.
Tips
- Type in sentence case. A word in all capitals sets as a row of colliding loops. Tangerine copes best.
- Pen weight thickens the hairlines by the amount on Strength of the look. Past the middle, Pinyon Script's e closes.
- All five have é, ñ and ü; none has ł, š or ğ. Check names before printing forty place cards.
Questions and answers
Can I copy and paste the calligraphy as text?
Not as text: a font cannot travel with pasted letters. Copy picture shows once you type, and pastes the drawing into a document or a chat. For a bio or a message, the cursive text generator makes Unicode script characters that paste as text.
What is the difference between round hand and italic?
The pen. Chancery italic, from Renaissance Italy, uses a broad nib at one angle: direction makes a stroke thick or thin. Round hand, from 1600s England, grew into copperplate, where pressing a pointed nib thickens the downstroke. Tangerine follows the first, Pinyon Script the second.
Which calligraphy font is easiest to read?
Alex Brush: its lowercase is the largest of the five, about a quarter taller than Pinyon Script's at one size. Tangerine's is the smallest, and its description says it suits titles at large sizes.