How Do Calligraphers Write In A Straight Line Tutorial For Beginners

A lot of people getting started into modern calligraphy and hand lettering usually wonder how do calligraphers write or draw their letters straight? 

Mastering calligraphy takes a lot of practice and learning how to write in a straight line is the same thing. Hand lettering artists and calligraphers develop their skills to be able to format their different letters, which includes writing in a straight line.

But how in the world did they learn to do this and how do they do it. So in this tutorial, I am going to be telling you this and also giving you ideas so that you can do this too, in your own hand lettering.

Here is a quick and short answer (if you are in a hurry):

Calligraphers usually write in a straight line by simply creating grid guidelines or using graph paper. Some calligraphers also use different tools like a laser level or a rolling ruler.

This was just a simple answer to this question, don’t worry, for the rest of the articles I am going to be going over different ways to implement this into your lettering.

This is a summary of the tutorial/article:

• Creating Simple Guidelines with Ruler
• Using A Rolling Ruler
• Using A Laser Level
• Drawing On Tracing Paper
• Drawing On Graph Paper
• Using A Tablet/Lightbox
• Final Thoughts

Creating Simple Guidelines With Ruler

One of the simplest things that you can do to keep your calligraphy in a straight line is to create your regular guidelines.

Guidelines don’t only help you with keeping your hand lettering in a straight line it also helps you keep all of your words and letters in the same angle or consistent.

When starting to learn lettering one of the first things that you will learn is creating your own outlines and guidelines in calligraphy. 

Here is a quick guide to drawing out your outlines for lettering.

First, you are going to draw out three lines. How far apart you put the lines depends on the script or style of lettering that you are going to do. To just start out you can just create equally lined spaces.

Now here is a picture showing you all of the different parts of creating your guidelines.

Using A Rolling Ruler

If you want something that is simpler to create your guidelines some calligraphers like to use a rolling ruler.

A rolling ruler is usually used for architectural drawings but can also be awesome for drawing your guidelines for calligraphy. These outlines then help you by drawing your calligraphy in a straight line.

A rolling ruler can not only be used for drawing straight lines but also for circles and a lot of different shapes.

I myself have not exactly ever used a rolling ruler before so I find an awesome article that is a helpful guide to helping you get started.

Using A Laser Level

A laser level is just a small tool that shoots or projects a red laser. This is great if you don’t want to write on the paper at all with your pencil for final projects. Instead, you can just use a laser level.

This gives you a hassle-free way to do calligraphy since you are not wasting time drawing outlines and you don’t get the pencil and eraser smudges.

Essentially you project out your red laser and start using that as your baseline for then drawing out calligraphy in a straight line. Of course, a lot of more “experienced” calligraphers like to do this since you are not using other lines for guidelines.

But some people actually have multiple laser levels that they like to use, but one is just fine at times.

Drawing On Graph Paper

If you don’t want to waste your time drawing out guidelines or need help drawing them you can use graph paper. Graph paper has been used in a variety of different ways, architectural drawings, math, and so much more. 

Graph paper can also be great guidelines that you can use for doing calligraphy. For example, two squares can be the height of every section. This also might mean that you don’t have to draw out your guidelines when doing calligraphy.

Of course, this is something that you would only use for practice, and not exactly for final projects.

Drawing out your letters on graph paper can also help with keeping your letters consistent in modern calligraphy. An example of this is when you are drawing your letter A you know that it is going to take up 6 squares. So that means when you draw it again you have those 6 squares to use as guidelines.

Then you can start to slowly stop using graph paper and still keep your letters consistent.

Drawing On Tracing Paper

Tracing paper is most commonly used for brush lettering and not exactly for pointed pen calligraphy. Using tracing paper can also help with keeping letters consistent and drawing the letters in a straight line, with only having to draw out your guidelines once.

What I mean by this is on a separate sheet of paper you can draw out your guidelines. Then put the tracing paper on top of that and start practicing. This is very convenient because you don’t always have to take out your ruler when you are starting to practice.

Tracing paper (like graph paper) is again mostly used for practicing, since it is not the best for final projects.

Using A Tablet Or Lightbox

Another thing that you can do, which is very similar to tracing paper, is using a tablet or a lightbox.

A lightbox is something like a tablet that it is on and shining light, but it is blank and only shoots out white light. This means that you can put regular paper over it with your guidelines and then another sheet of paper over that to start drawing out your lettering.

This is again very similar to the tracing paper because you only have to create your guidelines once and can use them over and over again. You don’t have to bring out your ruler or your pencil.

The only thing is these can be quite expensive. So another thing you can do is just use a tablet. You can take a picture of your guidelines or calligraphy guidelines that you can find online and put your paper over that and start writing.

This is great for all final projects because you don’t have to use a specific type of paper and neither do you have to pencil smudges.

Final Thoughts

Now I have given you 6 different ways that you can use to draw your letters in a straight line for calligraphy. Some of these ideas you can use for practicing calligraphy or big projects, even both. 

Feel free to comment with any more of your questions or ideas.