Calligraphy by Design: Generating ideas using design principles

In the past, I let my spiritual side lead me and waited for inspiration to strike before I started on a calligraphy project. But that way was hit-and-miss, and led to long stretches of time between projects. Now that I’m putting my design training to use, I’m finding that the ideas come more quickly. In this post, I’m going to show you a process I’ve used recently. Continue reading

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Christian Hymn Calligraphy

As soon as we finished singing this song in church this morning, I was inspired with the design and jotted it down in my notes, then came home and created it. All the designs were hand drawn/written with parallel pens and automatic pen, then scanned into Photoshop and the color added.

From a Christian hymn, Moment by Moment

From a Christian hymn, Moment by Moment

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Favorite Calligraphy Videos

Updated July 2026.

Exemplars (entire alphabet shown)

Steve Husting, “Learn Italic Calligraphy” a-z, 0-9, A-Z

Vivian, Italic calligraphy a-z, A-Z

Sakura of America, Italic calligraphy lowercase a-z

Tim Johnson, Italic Calligraphy With A Rotring Pen a-z, 0-9, A-F

Gestural Italic with Brush Pen uppercase A-Z

Roman Capitals calligraphy uppercase A-Z

Seb Lester, Roman Capitals calligraphy uppercase A-Z

Bill Grant, Roman Capitals (pencil outlines) uppercase A-Z

Foundational calligraphy a-z

Janet Takahashi, Uncial calligraphy (fundamentals before practice)

Janet Takahashi, Uncial calligraphy lowercase a-p

Janet Takahashi, Uncial calligraphy lowercase q-z

Arthur F, Uncial calligraphy lowercase a-z

Tamer Ghoneim Art, Blackletter Gothic calligraphy, lowercase a-z

Calligrascape, Gothic capitals uppercase A-Z

Shane Huss, Fractur Gothic calligraphy lowercase a-z

John Stevens, Brush Fraktur calligraphy uppercase A-Z

Martha Lever, Brush Marker (photos in notebook) a-z, A-Z

Hamid Reza Ebrahimi, Copperplate calligraphy lowercase a-z

Loveleigh Loops, Copperplate calligraphy lowercase a-z

Flourished Hope, Copperplate calligraphy uppercase A-Z

Demonstrations

Writing with different instruments (Japanese language)

Envelope addressing, by Schin

John Stevens Brush Writing

John Stevens Brush Fraktur

Friends, Family, Forever

Mai de la Calligraphie 2013

Calligrapher Debi Zeinert

Professional Wedding Calligraphy

Brushpen – Luca Barcellona

“Victoire” calligraphie

Saleh Al Shukairi

Massimo Polello, 2010

Seb Lester, A-Z

Theosone: custom lettering practice

Heather Victoria Held: “Peace”

“Klandestino”

Album Cover
Continue reading

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Calligraphy Internet Resources (guilds, supplies, images, learning, etc.)

Contents of this Page

Calligraphy Guilds

Learning Calligraphy

Calligraphy Supplies in the U.S.

Calligraphy Books Published

Historical collections

Glossaries of Calligraphy and Lettering Terms

Wikipedia Calligraphy Entries

Misc. Calligraphy Interest

Calligraphy Images (various Internet search results)

Informational Reddit Posts

Calligraphy Guilds

Look for a calligraphy society near you, or just be inspired by their galleries! (correct as of 3/2015)

AK

AL

AR

AZ calligraphicsocietyofarizona.org

CA societyforcalligraphy.com

CA friendsofcalligraphy.org

CO coloradocalligraphers.com

CO http://summitscribes.org/

CT http://www.calligraphyconnecticut.org/

DE

FL http://scribesofcentralflorida.com/

FL http://coastalcalligraphersguild.org/

FL http://southfloridacalligraphyguild.org/

GA

HI

IA

ID

IL chicagocalligraphy.org

IN http://www.calligin.org/

KS

KY

LA http://www.neworleanscalligraphy.org/

MA http://masscribes.org/

MD http://gvcalligraphy.org/

ME

MI http://pendragonscalligraphy.org/

MN http://www.colleaguesofcalligraphy.com/

MO stlcalligraphyguild.org

MT http://www.bigskyscribes.org/

MS

NC http://www.trianglecalligraphersguild.com/

NC http://www.carolinaletteringarts.com/

ND

NE

NH

NJ

NV

NY societyofscribes.org

OH http://www.cincinnaticalligraphy.com/

OK calligraphytulsa.com

OR http://valleycalligraphyguild.com/

OR http://portlandsocietyforcalligraphy.org/

PA https://cgofp.wordpress.com/

PA http://philadelphiacalligraphers.org/

RI

SC

SD

TN

TX ccscribes.com

TX http://www.houstoncalligraphyguild.org/

TX http://www.kaligrafos.com/

UT

VA

VT

WA portlandcalligraphy.org

WA https://www.calligraphersguild.org/ Continue reading

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Calligraphy Books in Steve’s Collection

These books in my collection are listed here in no particular order at this time. I noted several books as RECOMMENDED for their particular excellence.

a

A Passion for the Pen: The Art of Georgina Artigas

Brenda Casey Zoby
64pp 2006
Softcover. Retrospective of one very talented calligrapher. Full color.
Many pointed pen works, and her flat pen work borrows from illuminated mss.
Good for: … Inspiration from one person’s body of work, especially pointed pen enthusiasts and historical-inspired certificate makers … Respect for Georgina’s skill.

The Art and Craft of Hand Lettering

Annie Cicale
192pp 2004
Softcover. Full-color photos. Instructional.
One of the best-designed calligraphy books in my collection. Favorite book. Many project ideas. Works of many artists included.
Good for: … Gaining a solid foundation in basic letterforms … Ideas for applying your work (techniques) … Gallery inspiration … Owning a lovely book. Continue reading

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Video of My Calligraphy Process when Creating John 1:14

I videotaped the creation of a calligraphy piece over the weekend. I used John 1:14 for my inspiration.

calligraphy-john-1-14b from Steve Husting on Vimeo.

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Spiral Calligraphy with The Hobbit

2 Poems in One

2 Poems in One

I put my new spiral guideline sheets into practice with this piece. The red text is from The Hobbit, featuring the poem, “Roads go ever ever on,” and the black text is a poem from the Lord of the Rings, “The Road goes ever on and on.” The complete texts of both are included. I’m thrilled that I got every word of each to fit! Continue reading

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Spiral and Circular Spacing Guides

Spiral & Circular Guides

Guidelines Screenshot

I created a series of circular and spiral guidelines in Adobe Illustrator to help me with my calligraphy work. Click on the link above to download the PDF of several pages of these guides. Continue reading

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The Ten Commandments in Calligraphy

The Ten Commandments in Calligraphy

The Ten Commandments in Calligraphy

I created this after a friend asked for the Ten Commandments for his wall. I was challenged to figure out a way to list them in a visually appealing way. Originally I had listed the commandments in neat blocks, one under the other, in two columns, but it wasn’t visually interesting. Then I had the idea of doing it this way. Continue reading

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Brother’s Wedding Vows

When my younger brother got married earlier this year, I asked him to send me his wedding vows so I can create them as a calligraphy project. He emailed me two vows, one spoken by the bride and the other spoken by the groom. I put them aside, not knowing how I wanted to execute the design yet.

Then in Barbara Close’s Uncial/Gothic workshop, she gave a homework assignment that I thought would be perfect for the vows. The assignment was to cut out around the letters on a page, with some text written underneath. In my case, I used the first word of the vow, Rebecca, and the vows under the name. Here was my assignment: Continue reading

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