Formal Italic Calligraphy Illustrator Tutorial

Although Adobe Illustrator comes with a variety of italic calligraphic fonts, drawing your own letters can give any document a unique and personal touch. Formal italic calligraphy is characterized by a wide nib held at a 45-degree angle, which can easily be reproduced by creating a calligraphic brush in Illustrator. Using a mouse to draw your own letters may take some practice. Consider using a tablet if you plan to do a lot of calligraphy or other drawing on your computer.

Instructions

Preparation

1. Launch Illustrator and open a new document by pressing "Ctrl-N" on the keyboard.

2. Locate the Brushes panel by pressing “F5” on the keyboard. Click the “New Brush” button at the bottom of the panel. Select “New Calligraphic Brush” and click “OK.” The Calligraphic Brush Options window opens.

3. Type “Italic Calligraphy” in the Name field. Type “45” in the Angle field, “18” in the Roundness field and “12” in the Diameter field. This brush resembles a calligraphic pen held at a 45-degree angle, with a nib that is 90 pixels wide.

4. Click the “View” menu and select “Show Grid.” Select the “Paintbrush Tool” from the Toolbox.

Drawing Formal Italic Calligraphy

1. Draw letters based on the size of the brush, using the grid to determine width, height and spacing. Letters should be spaced 450 pixels apart, which is five times the width of the nib.

2. Draw uppercase letters seven to eight nib widths high. Draw lowercase letters four nib widths high. Draw ascenders and descenders an additional three and a half nib widths high, such as on the letters g, i, j, k, Q, and y. Note that the lowercase letter f has an ascender and a descender in formal italic calligraphy.

3. Draw all letters at a 10-degree angle, leaning towards the right. Draw the letters all with the same width, except i, j, l, m and w.

4. Draw letters such as o, a, p and q with oval shapes rather than circles.

5. Draw pen strokes from the top to the bottom, and from the left to the right.

References

• Adobe: Creating Calligraphic Brushes in Illustrator
• The Complete Idiot’s Quick Guide: Formal Italic Calligraphy: Writing the Uppercase Alphabet
• The Complete Idiot’s Quick Guide: Formal Italic Calligraphy: Writing the Lowercase Alphabet