Is Calligraphy A Font?

Under: Frequently Asked Questions/By: Ximena

You are probably on this lettering tutorial wondering, is calligraphy a font. This question has always been a big question to people who don’t know the meaning of calligraphy or just lettering newbies.

Of course, you just came here for a simple explanation so if you’re in a hurry here you go.

Calligraphy is not considered or a font. The thing is there are fonts very similar to the way calligraphy looks but the meaning of calligraphy is not a font.

So that was the simplest way to put it but if you are a little bit confused this is the article for you. Who knows you might just learn a thing or two.

Here is a simple little summary of what we are going to be learning today:

The Meaning Of Calligraphy
The Difference Between Calligraphy and Script Fonts
Fonts that emulate Calligraphy
How You Could Create Calligraphy

The Meaning Of Calligraphy

So what exactly calligraphy since it is not a font. Well here is the simplest way that I could put the meaning of calligraphy.

Traditional calligraphy is a specific way and format of writing beautifully. While modern calligraphy is a way of drawing/illustrating letters.

Let us get in more depth on what exactly these two things are

TRADITIONAL CALLIGRAPHY

Traditional calligraphy you could say is more “strict” or gives you less freedom on how you want to write the letters.

But traditional calligraphy is more known as a form of writing than drawing or creating.

This type of calligraphy only allows you to use certain materials for it to be considered calligraphy.

Now let us move onto modern calligraphy.

MODERN CALLIGRAPHY

This type of calligraphy is actually something that I specialize in.

One of the biggest differences is you have more freedom on all of the different lettering illustrations that you could do.

Did you just notice that I said illustrating?

Well, another difference is modern calligraphy is considered drawing not actual way of writing.

Also in modern calligraphy, you could actually do calligraphy with any type of writing utensil. For example pencils, pens, brush pens, and almost everything that you can think of.

But anyway modern calligraphy is a form of drawing not writing.

The Difference Between Calligraphy and Script Fonts

So now we are just going to be talking about the actual difference between calligraphy and fonts that look very similar to calligraphy (script fonts).

First, we need to talk about what are script fonts?

Script fonts are something that mimics cursive handwriting or could mimic calligraphy.

So the very first that I am going to be talking about is a very big difference between calligraphy/modern calligraphy and cursive.

You should check out my detailed article all about it here.

Since cursive is not calligraphy you could already tell that there is some difference between the two.

Another thing that we are going to have to take into consideration is it says mimic calligraphy. So we are talking more of an illusion of actual traditional calligraphy.

The thing is calligraphy can take many different forms and there are many different ways of doing it. From creating your own style or following it very traditionally and on point.

So the way calligraphy is done can vary from person to person.

While in a script font every single H is the same.

In calligraphy or modern calligraphy it varies from different calligraphers.

Script Fonts That Emulate Calligraphy

Right now I am just going to be listing out different script fonts that look very natural or similar to actually art of calligraphy.

So let’s get started.

ALEX BRUSH

This font you could say is more cursive than actual calligraphy. There is no distinction between line variations like you would see for lettering.

Like for example, you can’t quite see a difference between the line thickness of the upstrokes and downstrokes.

But if you are just looking for a simple font that mimics the way of handwriting or you could say cursive. This would be great.

On to the next one…

RETROW MENTHO

With Retrow Mentho not all letters are exactly connected but then again if you are going for modern calligraphy this would be great.

At the same time it has a traditional feel and has a different format than cursive but a different format of traditional calligraphy as well.

SERENDIPITY

This script font is very different than you could say traditional or modern calligraphy. Again more close to being considered cursive than calligraphy.

Here you could tell that there is almost no difference in line weight between the upstrokes and the downstrokes. This you could say is more to the hand lettering side of things.

Hand lettering is just a form of modern calligraphy where you could use almost every type of medium to do modern calligraphy but with different styles of lettering.

This you could say is going more of the artsy side.

BEAUTY MOTHERS

This font is more brush lettering and there is a clear difference between line weight.

Brush lettering is just a form of modern calligraphy that you specifically just use a felt tip brush pen to create your drawings.

Again very flowy but not traditional style.

How You Could Create Your Own Calligraphy

It is totally possible for you to be able to create your own style of lettering if wanted.

So when starting ou any type of calligraphy just choose the type of medium that you are going to want to learn with.

Here is a list of links to all of my articles that I have done with the different mediums that you could use for doing modern calligraphy.

As a beginner, if you have a really low budget I of course consider starting out with a pencil, regular pen, or of course Crayola markers.

If you are a beginner but with a little bit of a higher budget you could go with brush lettering (very similar to Crayola marker lettering).

Right now I am just going to be going over some of the basics for any form of calligraphy.

HOW TO HOLD THE UTENSIL

This is of course going to vary from different mediums so I recommend checking out my sources above.

Right now I am just going to be talking about brush lettering.

You should always be holding your brush pen at a 45-degree angle. Never should the pen be too upright like you would hold a normal pen or pencil.

It should also never be too much at an angle.

Let me show you what I mean.

BASIC STROKES

After learning how to hold your utensil you are going to have to learn how to do the basic strokes of lettering.

There are 8 types of different strokes that apply to almost every type of calligraphy:

Upstroke
Downstroke
Compound Curve
Ascending Loop
Descending Loop
Overturn
Under turn
Oval

Let me just give a few picture guides. If you want to check out my awesome free lettering practice sheets and guide that I created to help out beginners like you.

Final Thoughts

You have all just learned if calligraphy is a font. You have also learned how to make your own lettering and everything about the differences between script fonts and calligraphy.

Is Calligraphy A Font?