Lettering and

Calligraphy
Outline
✗ Definition
✗ Lettering
✗ Calligraphy
✗ Kinds, styles of lettering
✗ Parts and elements of letters
✗ Stability of letters
✗ Lettering tools

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? Lettering vs.
Calligraphy
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Definition
What is Lettering?
Lettering has many things in common
with calligraphy, but ultimately it
distinguishes itself as a form of
illustration.

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 These styles emerged with modern
marketing, appearing on billboard text,
and painted advertising on the sides of
walls.

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Lettering has fewer rules than
calligraphy for how artists use
particular scripts or styles.

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Nonetheless, most hand-lettering artists
prefer to keep their designs readable
and balanced.

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 Lettering artists also commonly use
rulers to keep their lines straight, or to
create accurate grids, mirroring, and
perspectives.

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1.1 Most Popular
Lettering Styles
- Faux
- Graphic Design
- Chalk Lettering
 Faux Calligraphy
creating a calligraphy-like style with a normal pen or art tool.

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 Faux Calligraphy
To begin with faux calligraphy, first, write the word, the go
back over the letters to thicken the downstrokes.

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 Faux Calligraphy
Faux calligraphy is very flexible, as it allows artists to correct
the shape of the letters and flourishes.

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Graphic Design
many designs and designers begin lettering on paper before
they take it to the digital screen.

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 Chalk Lettering
Chalk Lettering is a fun and popular trend among hand-
letterers.

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 Chalk Lettering
It uses a chalkboard for experimentation with composition and
different lettering styles.

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 Chalk Lettering
the use of chalk allows artists to get really nice contrasts and
shading that other media have a difficult time accomplishing.

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2
Calligraphy
Familiar?
Calligraphy
Ancient art form
it has long been used for
decorating or writing
religious texts, poetry, and
other important documents
from many cultures all
across the globe.

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Calligraphy
Ancient art form
This includes, but isn't
limited to, Arabic, Chinese,
Indian, and Western styles of
calligraphy.

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Traditional Western
calligraphy typically uses
the Latin alphabet.

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Traditional Western
Over time, these base
hands have been tweaked
and restyled into
numerous styles and
modern calligraphic
scripts.

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Calligraphy
practiced with oblique or straight dip pens, and suitable nib
attachments, ink for dip pens, such as India ink, brushes
and brush pens, or parallel pens.

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Calligraphy
Most calligraphy is learned by the rote practice of different styles
and hands. It relies on disciplined practice and muscle memory.

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Calligraphy
calligraphy generally requires simple, smooth lines practiced in
learned fluid strokes.

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2.1 Most Popular
Calligraphy Styles
Traditional Scribal
Hands typically
emphasize thick or broad
downstrokes thin,
sometimes wispy,
upstrokes.

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Traditional Scribal
Hands Traditional
Western calligraphy,
particularly the elegantly
scrolling copperplate
calligraphy, is almost
always practiced using a
dip pen.

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Modern Calligraphy
Modern calligraphy has
become a blanket term for
any kind of calligraphy
that isn't considered one
of the traditional
calligraphic hand.

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Modern Calligraphy
Modern calligraphy
allows for
experimentation, allowing
calligraphers to diverge
from traditional
calligraphy rules, by
mixing and matchings
letter and flourish styles.

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Brush Lettering
Brush pens have been on
the rise for their
accessibility.

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Brush Lettering
Brush calligraphy is a
form of modern
calligraphy, except that,
rather than using a
flexible nib, brush pens
use flexible brush or
marker tips.

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Brush Lettering
these brush pens have
been more traditionally
used for Chinese and
Japanese calligraphy
styles.

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3 Kinds and Styles of
Lettering
 Traditional Calligraphy

Rules govern the shape and execution of these letters, similarly to

a font.
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 Gothic Lettering

One traditional form of calligraphic lettering is Gothic, sometimes

called “black letter.”
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 Gothic Lettering

This script style was used extensively throughout medieval

Europe and was created by making heavy downstrokes with the
brush.
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 Gothic Lettering

Nowadays, you’ll often see black letter or gothic lettering in

tattoos or signage.

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 Modern calligraphy

Modern calligraphy is any form of calligraphy that’s untraditional

in its looser, more organic form.

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 Modern calligraphy

Script, cursive, and brush lettering are all viewed as modern

calligraphy, contributing to its recent rise in popularity.

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 Modern calligraphy

While traditionally done with ink or brush pens on paper, new

apps like Adobe Fresco are bringing calligraphy into the digital
world.
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 Serif lettering

Serifs are the small lines or marks added to the ends of letters in
certain typography styles.

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 Serif lettering

These tapers are sometimes called “tails” or “feet” and can lend a
more formal look to your lettering.

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 Serif lettering

Serif letters can also take on an ornate, stylistic look when

flourishes are added for decorative purposes.

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 Sans serif lettering

Any lettering without serifs is categorized as being in the sans

serif style.

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 Sans serif lettering

Styles like monoline (where lines are all the same weight) and
block letters (where the letters never connect or touch) fall into
this category.
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 New lettering styles

New lettering trends are always emerging and changing.

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 New lettering styles

Consider different styles like graffiti lettering or Bauhaus fonts

that developed from cultural trends and took on a life of their
own.
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 New lettering styles

Current events impact design, so always keep an eye out for new
fonts and lettering styles that arise with the times to stay on trend.

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4 Parts and Elements
of Letters
 Characters

The basic typographic element is called a character, which is any

individual letter, numeral, or punctuation mark.

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 Characters

The capital letters are called caps, or uppercase (u.c.) characters.

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 Characters

Small letters are called lowercase (l.c.) characters. Numbers are

called numerals or figures.

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 Characters

Modern, or lining numerals are cap height.

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 Characters

Old style numerals have ascenders and descenders.

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Special Character
A. Pi characters

Math signs

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Special Character
A. Pi characters

Punctuation marks

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Special Character
A. Pi characters

Accented characters

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 Parts of a Letter

Letters have basic component parts.

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 Parts of a Letter

The easiest way to differentiate characteristics of type designs is by

comparing the structure of these components.
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 Parts of a Letter
Leg

A portion of a letter that extends downwards, attached at one end

and free at the other.

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 Parts of a Letter
Leg

A lower (horizontal or diagonal) stroke that is attached on one end

and free on the other.

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 Parts of a Letter
ARM

A straight or curved portion of a letter that extends upwards or

outwards, attached at one end and free at the other.

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 Parts of a Letter
ARM

An upper (horizontal or diagonal) stroke that is attached on one

end and free on the other.

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 Parts of a Letter
EAR

The small stroke that extends outwards from a lowercase g in

some typeface styles.

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 Parts of a Letter
SHOULDER

The stroke that curves downwards and to the right of the

lowercase h, m and n.

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 Parts of a Letter
SPINE

The spine is the main curved stroke inside the upper and lower
case S.

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 Parts of a Letter
TAIL

The decorative curved descender of a capital Q, R and K. The

descenders of the lower case g, j, p, q, and y are also sometimes
called tails.
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4.1 Other Kinds of
Internal Letter
Parts
 A. X-height

The x-height isn’t exactly a part but rather a measurement.

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 A. X-height

It measures the height of all lowercase letters that are part of the same
typeface.
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 A. X-height

X-heights vary among typefaces in the same point size and strongly
effect readability and gray value of text blocks.
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 A. X-height

Avan Garde Melior Goudy Oldstyle

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 B. Cap Height

The cap height is a measurement of all capital letters in the same

typeface.
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 B. Cap Height

The most accurate measurement is found in flat bottomed characters

like the letter E.
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 C. Ascenders

An ascender is a vertical stroke that extends upwards over the x-

height.
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 D. Descenders

A descender is a vertical stroke that extends downwards below the x-

height.
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 E. Stem

The stem is the main vertical stroke in upright characters.

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 E. Stem

When a letter has no verticals like a capital A or V, the first diagonal

stroke is considered the stem.
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 F. Stroke

A stroke is the main vertical diagonal line in a letter.

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 G. Bar

A bar is a horizontal stroke in letters like A, H, e and f.

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 H. Serif

A serif is a short line at the beginning and the end of strokes.

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 H. Serif

Serifs are what make a typeface a serif or a sans serif.

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 H. Serif

Serifs can have different shapes: hairline, square/slab, wedge.

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 I. Terminal

When a letter doesn’t have a serif, the end of the stroke is called a
terminal.
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 J. Bowl

A bowl is a stroke that creates an enclosed curved space, as in the

letters d, b, o, D and B.
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 K. Counter

The counter is the enclosed space in letters like o, b, d, and a.

Counters are also created by bowls.
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 L. Link

A link is a stroke connecting the bowl and loop of a two-story

lowercase g.
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 M. Swash

A swash is a fancy or decorative replacement to a terminal or serif in

any capital letter used at the beginning of a sentence.
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 M. Swash

Swashes are also used at the end of letters to decorate the

composition.
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 N. Spur

A spur is a small projection that veers off the main stroke on many
capital G’s.
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 O. Tracking

Tracking is the proportional space between all the letters in a body of

text.
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 P. Leading

Leading is the space between baselines.

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 Q. Stress

Oblique, or angled Semi-oblique Vertical

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R. Bracket
Brackets serifs with cupped bases.

Bracketed serifs with flat bases.

Unbracketed serifs.

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 S.Contrast

Minimum contrast Extreme contrast

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 S.Contrast

The amount of variation in between thick and thin strokes.

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5
Stability of letters
 General Proportions

Letters vary in their proportion of width to height.

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 General Proportions

Not only are the widths of the different letters in the same alphabet
very unequal, but different alphabets vary in their "measure," some
being tall and narrow, others short and wide.

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 General Proportions

There is a certain proportion or appearance as in the ordinary printed or

drawn letters which may be called normal or standard.

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 General Proportions

A letter corning to a sharp point at the guideline will appear smaller than its
companions. The point may either be extended over the line or cut off
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6
Lettering Tools
Common Used Tools
✗ Pencil/Lead Holder
✗ Erasers
✗ Good Quality paper
✗ Ruler
✗ Compass
✗ Ink Pen

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Done
Any questions?

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Next!
✗ TASK A –
Lettering/Calligraphy

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