How to Improve Calligraphy Designs

Once you know the basic tools and mechanics of calligraphy writing, there are a few easy things you can do to improve the design of your calligraphy. Keep a reliable pen and plenty of ink on hand as you practice, as well as any other tools (like sharpening blocks if you're using a metal nib pen) and try a few simple ideas for improving your writing design.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Calligraphy pen
• Ink (either cartridges or a bottle depending on the type of pen)
• Graph paper

1. Learn about different types of alphabets to broaden your calligraphy style. Italic and unical are among the most common types of calligraphy used with the Roman alphabet.

2. Practice writing both the full alphabet in a given style (both uppercase and lowercase letters) and short sayings or phrases. The full alphabet gives you equal practice with every letter, but a saying or phrase helps you learn to space your letters and words in calligraphy.

3. Use graph paper to assist with proportions. Many alphabet styles specify the number of nib lengths in each letter's height and width, and nib lengths are easier to measure on graph paper, especially graph paper with squares the same width as the nib of your pen.

4. Calculate the space between your letters and between separate words as you write to give even spacing. This is also much easier to do on graph paper.

5. Calculate the length of ascenders and descenders (the lines going up out of a "d" or "b" for example, or down off of a "q" or "y"). Keep the ascenders and descenders even with one another by counting out graph squares or nib lengths to make them uniform.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that in calligraphy, developing a uniform style is key. You can personalize your style and even combine alphabets, but to really make your calligraphy look professional it has to be uniform. Think of a computer font--some fonts look creative and funky, but they're still consistent in design from letter to letter.