A cursive capital A is a large closed oval followed by a downstroke that retraces the right side of the oval and exits with an undercurve. A lowercase cursive a works the same way at midline height: a small oval, closed at the top, then a stem back down to the baseline and an exit stroke.
How to write A in cursive, step by step
The steps follow a Zaner-Bloser-style school cursive. In this model the capital A is basically a tall lowercase a, so once you have one, the other comes quickly.
Capital A
Start at the top line, a little right of center.
Make a downcurve to the left, around the bottom at the baseline and back up the right side, forming a tall oval.
Close the oval at the top line, exactly where you started.
Without lifting, pull a slanted stroke down along the right side of the oval to the baseline.
Finish with an undercurve to the right. The capital A can join the next letter.
The oval should lean at the same slant as the downstroke. If the oval stands upright while the stem leans, the A looks like it is coming apart.
Lowercase a
If the a is joined to a previous letter, arrive at the midline with an overcurve. Otherwise start just below the midline.
Make a downcurve to the left, around the bottom and back up to the midline.
Close the oval at the midline.
Retrace straight down the right side of the oval to the baseline.
Exit with an undercurve.
The same oval-then-stem move builds the d, g and q. Practicing a on its own sets up all four letters.
12 ways to write A
A is where calligraphy styles split into two families. The pointed-pen and cursive styles, such as copperplate, Spencerian and most modern scripts, keep the oval-and-stem construction and add shade to the downstroke. Gothic, italic and many brush styles use the pointed, two-legged capital A with a crossbar instead, closer to the printed letter. The flourished A often adds a long entry hairline that loops around the top of the oval.
Because A starts so many names and the alphabet itself, it is the letter most worth having in two or three styles. Compare the copperplate and gothic tiles to see how differently a single letter can be built.
Common mistakes with A
the oval is left open at the top, so the a reads as a u or as ci
the stem starts away from the oval instead of retracing its right side, leaving a gap
the oval stands upright while the stem leans, so the letter looks split in two
An open oval is the A mistake that changes the letter. Close it every time, even when you are writing fast.
Joining A to other letters
Lowercase a is easy to leave and hard to arrive at. The exit is a plain undercurve from the baseline, which flows into "an", "at" and "al" without trouble. The entry is the problem: a join from the previous letter has to travel up and over to the right side of the oval, then start the downcurve backward. Practice the pairs in both directions, with a before and after, so the oval stays round either way. In "ar" and "as", the exit must climb above the midline for the r's shoulder and the s's point.
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
An
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
At
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Ar
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
Al
Hand-lettered exemplar coming soon
As
Practice A
The A sheet starts with a row of slanted ovals, then the capital A, the lowercase a and the joins to trace. Print it at 100% scale on US Letter or A4.
In Zaner-Bloser-style cursive, nearly. The capital is taller, reaching the top line, and its oval is wider, but the strokes are the same. D'Nealian and some older models give the capital a slightly different entry. If you want a capital A that stands out from the lowercase, use one of the calligraphy capitals in the gallery.
How do you write a calligraphy A with a crossbar?
Write the left leg as a thin upstroke and the right leg as a thick downstroke, meeting at a point at the top line. Add the crossbar last, a little below the midline, as a thin stroke. In broad-edge styles such as italic and gothic, hold the pen at a fixed angle and the thick and thin parts appear on their own.
Why does the letter A look the way it does?
A comes from the Phoenician letter aleph, which looked like an ox's head with horns. The Greeks turned it on its side to make alpha, and the Romans set it upright with the point at the top. The rounded cursive a is a much later, faster way of writing the same letter.
How do you keep the oval of an a round?
Practice slanted ovals on their own, in rows, before writing the letter. Draw each one counterclockwise, starting at the top right, and keep them all the same width. Then add the stem to each oval to turn it into an a. Practicing this way separates the two motions, so you can see whether the oval or the stem is going wrong.
A common cause of flat or pointed ovals is starting the downcurve too far to the left. Begin at the right side of where the oval will be, so the curve has room to swing around.
