Calligraphy and Lettering Styles: A Visual Guide

There are four families of calligraphy, defined by the tool (pointed pen, broad-edge, brush and monoline), and about a dozen common styles within them. Copperplate, Spencerian and modern calligraphy are pointed-pen styles; gothic and italic are broad-edge; brush lettering uses a brush pen; faux calligraphy works with any pen.

All the styles compared

The table covers the styles that have their own page on this site. Slant is measured from the horizontal, so 90° is upright. The ratio is ascender height to x-height to descender depth.

Difficulty is relative. A score of 1 means you can get a good result in an afternoon. A score of 5 means months of regular practice before the letters look consistent.

The difficulty scores reflect how long it typically takes to write a consistent lowercase alphabet in each style, not how hard any single letter is.

How the four families differ

The tool decides where the thick and thin parts of a letter go. That single fact separates the families.

• Pointed pen: the nib has two tines that spread apart under pressure. Press on a downstroke and the line swells; ease off on the upstroke and it becomes a hairline. Contrast comes from pressure.
• Broad-edge: the nib is cut flat, like a chisel, and held at a constant angle to the baseline. A stroke moving along the edge is thin, a stroke moving across it is thick. Contrast comes from direction, not pressure.
• Brush: a flexible brush tip behaves like a pointed pen, with pressure controlling the width, but the mark is softer and wider.
• Monoline: the line is the same width all the way through. Any contrast has to be added by hand afterward.

Pointed-pen styles

Pointed-pen styles are the scripts most people picture when they hear "calligraphy": slanted, joined letters with thick shaded downstrokes and fine hairlines. They are written with a flexible metal nib in a straight or oblique holder, dipped in ink.

1. Copperplate

The formal English roundhand of the 18th and 19th centuries, named after the engraved copper plates used to print writing manuals. It has a steep 55° slant, a 3:2:3 proportion, strict ovals and shades that swell and taper smoothly. It is the standard model for wedding envelopes and formal invitations.

Tool: oblique holder and a flexible pointed nib. Learn copperplate calligraphy.

2. Spencerian

An American script developed by Platt Rogers Spencer in the 1840s and taught in US schools and business colleges until the early 20th century. Compared with copperplate it is lighter and more delicate: small lowercase letters, tall loops and shading on only some strokes. The Coca-Cola logo is a well-known example of a Spencerian-style script.

Tool: oblique holder and a fine, very flexible nib. Learn Spencerian script.

3. Modern calligraphy

A relaxed take on pointed-pen script that grew popular through wedding stationery and social media. It keeps the thick-thin contrast but drops the strict rules. Slant, letter width and proportions are up to you, and flourishes are common.

Tool: pointed nib or brush pen. Learn modern calligraphy.

4. Bouncy lettering

A variation of modern calligraphy where letters deliberately rise above and dip below the baseline. The bounce gives a playful, hand-made look. It works with a nib or a brush pen and is easiest to learn after a steady, on-the-baseline modern script, because you need to control the bounce rather than let it happen by accident.

Broad-edge styles

Broad-edge styles are older than the pointed-pen scripts. They come from medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, written with a quill or reed cut flat at the tip. Today you can use a metal broad-edge nib, a cartridge pen such as the Pilot Parallel, or a chisel-tip marker.

5. Gothic textura

The tall, dense blackletter of late medieval Europe, used for the type of the Gutenberg Bible. Lowercase letters are built from straight vertical strokes with diamond-shaped feet and heads, packed so tightly that a page looks woven, which is where the name "textura" comes from. The pen is held at about 30° to 40°.

Tool: broad-edge nib or chisel marker. Learn gothic blackletter.

6. Fraktur

A later German blackletter from the 16th century. It mixes broken, angular strokes with curved ones, and its capitals are large and elaborate. Fraktur stayed in common use in Germany into the 20th century. It is covered on the gothic blackletter page.

7. Italic

The chancery hand of the Italian Renaissance: narrow, slightly slanted letters with springy arches that branch out of the stem. Italic is readable, fast once learned, and a good first broad-edge style. It is also the model for many modern handwriting programs.

Tool: broad-edge nib or chisel marker. Learn italic calligraphy.

8. Uncial

A rounded, upright script from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, written in capitals only. Insular forms of uncial and half-uncial appear in Irish and British manuscripts, and that look is why uncial is often called "Celtic" lettering. The pen angle is flat, close to horizontal, which gives thick verticals and thin horizontals.

9. Foundational hand

An upright, round broad-edge hand developed by Edward Johnston in the early 20th century from a 10th-century English manuscript. Every letter is based on the circle of the o. It is often the first broad-edge hand taught in calligraphy courses, because it teaches pen angle and spacing without the complexity of gothic or italic.

Brush styles

Brush styles use a brush pen or a paintbrush. The letterforms usually follow modern calligraphy, but the tip is softer and wider than a nib, and there is no ink to dip.

10. Brush lettering

Script lettering written with a brush pen: pressure on the downstrokes, light on the upstrokes. Small-tip pens give a neat, fine result that suits beginners. Large-tip pens give bold, high-contrast letters for signs, cards and posters.

Tool: brush pen. Learn brush lettering.

11. Brush script

A faster, more casual brush style, often painted with a round brush or a large brush pen. Strokes are looser and edges are rougher, and the letters often lean further forward. It is common in signage, packaging and logos.

Monoline and faux styles

Monoline styles use a pen that makes one line width. They are the easiest place to start because you can use any pen you already own.

12. Faux calligraphy

Write a word in cursive with a regular pen, then add a second line beside each downstroke and fill the gap. The result imitates the contrast of a pointed pen, and it teaches you where the thick strokes go.

Tool: any pen. Learn faux calligraphy.

13. Monoline script

Joined script written with an even line and no contrast at all. It is clean and modern, and it relies on good letter shapes and consistent spacing because there is no shading to hide uneven strokes.

14. Print lettering

Unjoined, often all-caps letters written with a fineliner or marker. It is the everyday style of bullet journals, planners and labels. Small details, such as tall or short crossbars and rounded or square corners, give it character.

Lettering that isn't calligraphy

Calligraphy is written: each part of a letter is one stroke of the pen. Hand lettering is drawn: you sketch the outline of each letter, then refine and fill it. Both produce decorative words, but the skills are different. Hand lettering has its own page.

Drawn lettering styles you will see often:

• Block letters: thick, even sans-serif letters drawn as outlines and filled in.
• Serif lettering: drawn letters with small feet at the ends of strokes, based on printed type.
• Chicano lettering: an ornate blackletter-influenced style from Mexican-American communities in Los Angeles, used in tattoos, murals and signs.
• Graffiti lettering: stylized, interlocking letters painted with spray cans, from tags to large pieces.

Which style should you learn first?

Pick by what you want to make.

• Cards, journals and gifts: start with brush lettering using a small brush pen, or modern calligraphy with the same pen. You can write a card on your first day.
• Wedding envelopes and invitations: start with modern calligraphy with a pointed nib, then move to copperplate for a formal look.
• History, manuscripts or bold display letters: start with italic or gothic blackletter using a broad-edge pen or a Pilot Parallel.
• No supplies yet: start with faux calligraphy using any pen.

The calligraphy for beginners guide walks through the first week in any of these styles. To see a whole alphabet in each style, go to the calligraphy alphabet.

What is the most beautiful calligraphy style?

That is a matter of taste, but copperplate and Spencerian are the styles most often called the most elegant, because of their fine hairlines and smooth, swelling shades. Gothic blackletter is the most dramatic. Modern calligraphy is the most popular today because it is personal and relaxed.

What is the easiest calligraphy style?

Faux calligraphy is the easiest, because it needs no special pen. Of the true calligraphy styles, modern calligraphy or brush lettering with a small, firm brush pen is the easiest to learn.

Is cursive a calligraphy style?

Not on its own. Cursive is everyday joined handwriting written with an ordinary pen. Several calligraphy styles are cursive, meaning their letters join, such as copperplate, Spencerian and modern calligraphy. What makes them calligraphy is the slow, controlled writing and the thick-thin contrast. See the cursive calligraphy alphabet for those scripts side by side.