Calligraphy and Lettering: Where to Start and How They Differ

Calligraphy Versus Lettering

The difference is in the action itself. Calligraphy is writing. Lettering is drawing. In the first case a letter is born in one stroke and cannot be redone. In the second you build it, erase it, and correct it as many times as you need.

Writing Letters and Drawing Letters

A calligrapher moves the pen along a learned path, with a steady slant and a steady rhythm. A lettering artist sketches the skeleton of the words in pencil first, then builds up the thickness, then inks the outline. The tools follow from that: a pointed or broad pen, versus an ordinary pencil and an eraser.

Which Is Easier to Start With

Lettering comes easier for beginners, because you are allowed to make mistakes and redo them. Calligraphy needs a trained hand, so the first weeks go to the same exercises over and over. A sensible path is to start with lettering, and add calligraphy basics as line training.

Calligraphy Basics

Beautiful writing rests on three things: the same slant, the same height, and the same rhythm. The shape of any single letter comes second.

Guidelines and Slant

Rule four lines: the ascender line, the x-height line, the baseline, and the descender line. The height of a lowercase letter is usually five nib-widths. Draw slant lines across the whole sheet at 55 degrees, and stay on them for every stroke.

Pressure: Thick and Thin Lines

There is one rule: pressure on the downstroke, none on the upstroke. A thick line happens on the way down. A hairline happens on the way up. Don't press the whole time. The contrast between thick and thin is what makes it look like calligraphy.

Ovals and Joins

Half of the lowercase letters are built on one slanted oval. Practice it a hundred times in a row, keeping your attention on the slant angle. Make the joins between letters the same length. Even spacing is what makes a line look neat.

Lettering Basics

Lettering is a drawing in which the letters play the part of objects. The order of work is the same as in any drawing: from the whole to the parts.

The Letter Skeleton and Its Weight

The order for building a piece of lettering:

1. Write the word in a thin single stroke. That is the skeleton.
2. Check the spacing and the length of the line, and correct the skeleton.
3. Build the thickness out evenly on both sides of the line.
4. Even out the thickness of every vertical stroke so they match.
5. Round or sharpen the corners so the lettering has one character.
6. Trace a clean outline and remove the pencil layer.

Rhythm and the Space Between Letters

The eye reads the area of the gap between letters, not the distance from edge to edge. That is why the space between L and A is smaller than the space between two vertical letters such as H and I. A way to check: squint and look at the lettering as an alternation of black and white shapes. They should be roughly equal.

Composing a Lettering Piece

A line of several words is already a composition with its own main character. Words that are all the same size read like a dull list.

A Hierarchy of Words

Pick one main word in the phrase and make it two or three times larger than the rest. Shrink small words such as and, on, and for, and tuck them into the open spaces. Three levels are usually enough: the main word, the supporting words, and the small stuff. The general principles are covered in the article on composition.

Fitting the Words into a Shape

Draw the outline of a shape, a circle, a triangle, or a diamond, and lay the lines inside it, changing their length to match the width of the shape. The lettering becomes one solid patch instead of a stack of lines. Useful limits:

• no more than three lettering styles in one piece;
• margins around the lettering at least as tall as a capital letter;
• flourishes only where there is empty space, not on top of the letters;
• one slant axis for the whole composition;
• if the lettering does not read from a distance, simplify it.

Letters in an Online Editor

Digitally you can do what paper will not allow: revise the skeleton endlessly, change the thickness, and check symmetry in a second.

A Guidelines Layer

Make a separate layer with a grid of baselines and slant lines, and drop its opacity to 20%. Keep the skeleton of the lettering on a second layer and the clean outline on a third. Then you can redo the letter shapes without touching the layout. How that kind of work is set up is covered in the guide on layers.

A Pressure-Sensitive Brush

Take a brush whose width depends on pen pressure, and set the minimum size to about 15% of the maximum. That gives you the difference between a hairline and a thick stroke. Set stabilization to a medium level. The details are in the breakdown on line stabilization and pressure.

Flip the Canvas to Check

Flip the canvas horizontally with one button. A slant that looked even will turn out to be wandering, and the gaps will turn out uneven. The same trick helps with a clean outline. Approaches to a careful line are collected in the article on line art and minimalism.

Time to draw, not just read

Theory fades in a couple of days if you never use it. Open the editor and spend 15 minutes on what you just read. That is enough for the skill to stick.

Topics in this guide

• calligraphy for beginners
• lettering
• how to draw letters
• pressure in calligraphy
• drawing letters

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