How it works
How to draw fancy letters: copy a good alphabet slowly and put the thick strokes in the right places. The page opens on capital A to Z in Dancing Script, the easiest of six. Next font works up to blackletter.
Read the full guide
Thick going down, thin going up
A pointed nib spreads under pressure, but only on a stroke pulled down the page, so the four scripts have thick downstrokes and hairline upstrokes. With an ordinary pen, draw the letter as one line, add a second line beside every downstroke, close the ends and fill. The Hollow look draws each thick stroke as an open outline, where the second line goes.
Six sets of fancy letters to draw, easiest first
Dancing Script bounces and leans about 20 degrees, so a wobble passes for style. Princess Sofia stands nearly upright. Great Vibes leans like Dancing Script and loops its capitals. Pinyon Script, a round hand leaning about 35 degrees, is the hardest. Cinzel Decorative is swashed Roman capitals, no small letters. UnifrakturMaguntia is blackletter, for a broad-edged pen.
Tips
- The Practice page rules no slant lines, so pencil some in at the font's lean first.
- The trace rows are dashed outlines, so a thick stroke shows as two lines: trace both and fill between.
- Blackletter i, n, m and u are built from one short upright stroke, the minim: type minimum in UnifrakturMaguntia.
Questions and answers
Do I need a calligraphy pen?
No. A nib makes the thick strokes for you, by pressure on a pointed one or by direction with a broad one. With a pencil or ballpoint you outline each thick stroke and fill it. Slower, and the same from across a room.
Does it show each letter stroke by stroke?
No. Nothing here numbers the strokes of a letter, and How to draw it is the four-step bubble letter method, which is not how a script is written. What helps: the Letter grid to copy, Hollow for the thick strokes, the Practice page to trace.
How do I letter a card or an envelope from this?
Type the words, up to 40 characters. Under More options, set Kind of sheet to Every font to compare all six on one page. Banner pages prints them page-wide and the Practice page small on ruled lines. Either traces through thin paper on a window.
How tall should the small letters be?
About half the capital height in the four scripts: the dashed guideline on the Practice page marks it. In the blackletter, small letters reach nearly three quarters of the way up.