Is the term “easy calligraphy” an oxymoron? We don’t think so! But we know that it feels that way when you’re a beginner.
To the untrained eye, it might seem like there’s no such thing as easy calligraphy. Let us assure you: calligraphy isn’t a talent that only manifests after endless practice.
Practice is an important piece of every calligraphy hobby, passion, or business, but you don’t need to wait until you’ve logged countless hours to start enjoying the art of calligraphy.
You can start today, and we’re going to show you exactly how!
Even if you’re brand new, we’re going to teach you the first calligraphy steps you can take on your calligraphy journey. With just a few simple tricks you can turn your normal handwriting into something truly beautiful and elegant ✨
Even if you’re brand new, we’re going to teach you the first calligraphy steps you can take on your calligraphy journey. With just a few simple tricks you can turn your normal handwriting into something beautiful using normal supplies that you already have at home.
You can jumpstart right now with our free calligraphy alphabet worksheet 💕
Let’s set ourselves up for success by taking a closer look at the end goal of doing real calligraphy.
Calligraphy is the art of writing beautifully. Technically speaking, the big difference between calligraphy and other types of penmanship is that A) the writing utensil leaves the page more often as you write. B) words have thin and thick parts. And C) letters are assembled using strokes.
Looking at this example of hello in calligraphy, can you see how each letter consists of strokes rather than one continuous movement?
If you think of cursive writing, you’ll see the contrast between those approaches. In cursive, an entire word is written without your pen leaving the page and letters are all the same width (AKA monoline).
Learn more about the difference between calligraphy and cursive.
In today’s post, we’re focusing on hand lettering as a beginner-friendly form of calligraphy. Hand lettering is the practice of drawing letters instead of writing them. So instead of creating thick and thin lines as you write (calligraphy), you draw thick lines on your letters after you write them (hand lettering).
Despite the fact that this style by definition isn’t technically calligraphy, it’s still a very important stage of learning. We’ll talk more about to go from “fake” calligraphy to real calligraphy further below!
Through proper technique, a calligrapher is able to write beautifully, elegantly and seemingly effortlessly. The special tools they use (like fancy dip pens, nibs and brush pens) lets them make both thick lines and thin lines which means they don’t need to go back to illustrate, color in, or otherwise embellish their writing.
A seasoned calligrapher has a full set of specialized tools, including various pens, inks and brushes at their disposal. Beginners, thankfully, need much less fuss to start practicing. All you need today is two things:
If you have a printer nearby, we encourage you to pause for a minute and print out some of our free practice sheets to offer maximum consistency. They’re available in our free Faux Real Calligraphy course.
Prefer to watch instead of read? We also have a video tutorial on YouTube explaining easy calligraphy!
In real calligraphy, one fundamental principle is that you apply more pressure to create thick lines every time the pen moves in a downward direction. Likesie, you write thin lines when the pen moves up or sideways. It’s this difference between thin and thick strokes that gives calligraphy its signature look.
The type of easy calligraphy that we’re going to do together today involves writing letters, then going back to enhance them. This is called faux calligraphy, and it’s the easiest way to learn letterforms, and it allows you to start today with household supplies.
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Faux calligraphy is the perfect introduction to calligraphy because it builds on skills you already have, teaches skills you’ll need later, and uses tools that are already at your fingertips.
With your supplies ready, it’s time to get writing. Here’s an easy calligraphy prompt for you to start with:
When you write your words, always look for where to add those thicker lines. In practice, this looks like identifying the downstrokes in each letter, outlining the downstroke, and filling it in:
The hardest parts of a letter are the points where you have to transition from thick to thin lines. You can see this here in the u-shape:
At the bottom of the letter j, there is one such area that requires a bit of extra attention.
Want to take an entire free faux calligraphy course for beginners? We’d love to see you in there!
While you know how to write your letters in cursive, the letters of the calligraphy alphabet are less obvious. Knowing where to add the thicker strokes depends on understanding the individual strokes that make up each letter.
Don’t be afraid to repeat writing your letters. If you don’t write cursive very often, it may take your muscles a couple of tries to get your hand muscles going. Need help? We break down all lowercase letters down into their individual strokes in our guide on the brush calligraphy alphabet.
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Pay attention that you don’t make the downstrokes too thick. The goal of your calligraphy is for the letters to look elegant and smooth, as opposed to thick and chunky.
Does your j have clean, thin upstrokes and a thick, tapered downstroke? Practice a couple times, and make your letter bigger on the page if you find your lines getting too close to each other.
At the bottom of the downward loop, make sure the thick part doesn’t extend beyond the lowest point. This is called overshading, and is avoided by tapering your shading off by the time the direction of the stroke reaches its peak, not a hair further.
For beginners, it’s important to familiarize yourself with every letter in the lowercase alphabet. One of the best ways to do so is to practice easy calligraphy words.
Follow along with us as we write the alphabet to help reiterate this new process for writing letters:
You’ll find that some letters are easier than others. Generally, letters with fewer strokes are easier since there is less room for mistakes. Likewise, it’s best to avoid overly long quotes and words, for now.
Let’s get back to our practice sheets and pick a simple word to practice like “hello.” You can follow along with our steps below:
Follow the same steps:
After a while, you’ll get to the point where you no longer have to look up the individual strokes. This is an excellent sign that you’re ready to move on to the real stuff. If you’re interested in learning calligraphy, you’ll eventually learn to create thicker downstrokes all in one go while you write.
You may also like: 60 Calligraphy Alphabet Examples
One of the major benefits of starting with faux calligraphy is that you get a very clear idea of what the end result should look like. This clarity can help with knowing what and how to practice.
Scroll for some practice inspiration!
When you’re ready to push your calligraphy skills beyond hand lettering, you should start by choosing an intentional tool.
Upgrading your writing tool is the first step for anyone interested in making the transition from faux calligraphy to the real deal. Don’t worry: it’s not expensive and you may already have a perfect tool in your home!
A simple Crayola marker is effective for writing calligraphy.
With a pressure-sensitive marker like this, you’ll feel how much control it takes to get a consistent strokes. Start with simple upstrokes and downstrokes, then transitioning between the two (this worksheet is perfect for practicing).
Does it feel a little tricky?? This takes practice in the beginning!
Writing this way gives you good insight into the challenge of calligraphy, developing the control needed to do it well. It won’t take you long to start building muscle memory, which is a huge part of learning calligraphy as a beginner.
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If you want to take the hobby a step further, your next step is to get your first real calligraphy tool. An extremely popular and versatile calligraphy tool is the brush pen. A brush pen is a marker with a flexible tip that’s made specifically for writing (versus illustrating, like many other markers).
It combines the flexibility of a paint brush with the ease of use of a pen. No need to constantly dip it in ink! Brush pens come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and you should be able to pick one up for a couple of dollars. We highly recommend the Pentel Brush Pen for beginners because of its control.
If you’d like to try a variety of brush pens at once, we’ve collaborated with Marker Supply to offer our own favorite pens at a discounted price. Check out the Loveleigh Loops Brush Pen Collection here.
Once you’ve written a few words, trying to remember every upstroke and every downstroke, you’ll notice that even a simple word poses a challenge in the beginner!
This is why calligraphers break down each letter into separate strokes so they can practice each of these basic strokes individually. You get the best results by building up muscle memory through repetition.
Never forget that success is nothing but lots of small things done well. This old adage is true for many things, including calligraphy!
When you break down lowercase letters into their basic strokes, you can work on perfecting each individual element. With some practice, you’ll discover how quickly you improve.
Instead of squandering time by practicing too much at once and then walking away without making real progress, work on consistency and perfecting little details. Although they might be boring, having strong fundamentals will get you further in the long run.
The fundamentals are the way to learn ANY calligraphy style, from faux calligraphy to complex styles like flourishing.
You may also like: Free + Paid Calligraphy Course List
Calligraphy has its roots in ancient scripts, but it’s still alive and evolving today. Both traditional and modern calligraphy remain popular partictices, with endless styles to try. Explore new styles is a part of the fun of this artform.
Have a scroll through the examples below for inspiration! We teach all of these styles inside our membership Calligraphy Together 💕
You may also like: How To Do Calligraphy With A Normal Pen
Congratulations are in order! You have a new hobby at your fingertips. And with structured learning materials, any style you see online can be learned.
How did your first exercises go? Is your hand warmed up?
Here at Loveleigh Loops, we love making lettering easy, accessible and exciting to learn. We have endless tutorials on the Loveleigh Loops blog and YouTube channel. We hope that you’ll use our resources to never feel stuck again.
Learning the fundamentals alone can leave you wondering what’s next for your calligraphy journey. Consider joining our Calligraphy Together community so you can dive into ALL of our printable workbooks, training calls and live challenges. We would love to see you in there 💕
Happy lettering!
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