Decorative letters

spicing up your calligraphy project

The letters to the left were written with a calligraphy nib and those on the right were built up by drawing outlines, first in pencil and then in ink - mimicking the shapes made by a calligraphic nib. The advantage here is that you can plan your letters and get them to look just right before painting them.

The letter 'A' (left) was executed in this way, a fine border being applied to the outside edge of the finished letter with a pen after it was painted.

Use this method sparingly as it will look overdone. It is laborious for writing long passages of text.

For the more ambitious among you, you can watch a series of 4 videos showing how to gild a letter using gold leaf.

The example (left) was written with two different size nibs. The large lettering was written first and the work left to dry before lettering the rest. The shadow strokes around the large letters were done with the same size nib I used for the smaller lettering.

There are endless possibilities for decorated letters. Try looking around you for shapes and patterns in everyday life, there is a wealth of inspiration to be had from signs on shop-fronts to books, greetings cards, grafiti, etc. I do not advocate spraying public buildings, but some grafiti artists would make excellent calligraphers.