How to Do Old English Calligraphy

Calligraphy comes from the Greek words "calli," meaning "beautiful," and "graphein," meaning "writing." Old English calligraphy, also called Blackletter, is one of the more difficult styles to learn.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Paper
• Calligraphy pen
• Ink
• Pencil
• Ruler

1. Familiarize yourself with basic pen strokes, remembering to keep the pen tip at a 45-degree angle to the paper. Like other styles of calligraphy, Old English is accomplished by creating a thick and thin quality in the lettering. This is done by using a flat-tipped pen held it a certain way. If you maintain your 45-degree positioning, your downward strokes will be very thick while upward and angled strokes will be very thin.
2. Using a pencil, lightly draw guidelines for maintaining uniformity with the lettering. For most calligraphic styles, only three guide lines are needed to maintain even lettering. One line is needed for the base, one for the lower case letter height and one for the ascenders or upper case letter height. However, for Old English a fourth line near the base line is needed for uniformity of the "feet," which are called "serifs."
3. Search for samples of Old English lettering on signs, Internet, menus and in books to become familiar with the style.
4. Begin with lower case lettering, using abrupt sharp lines with each stroke and keeping all vertical lines perfectly parallel to each other without slanting.
5. Keep the lettering uniform including the base, top and serif for each pen stroke.
6. Draw capital letters keeping letter heights even with each other.
7. Begin writing words intermixing capital letters and small letters.
8. Practice often to attain perfection.

Tips & Warnings

• Broad-tipped polyester fiber chisel point is great for beginners.

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