Top products from r/PenmanshipPorn

Yeah, lots! Some of my old technique books were found in the library of a now-defunct printing school in NYC and thus will be very difficult to find again, but a few good ones that you shouldn't have trouble finding are:

– The Universal Penman is a collection of some of George Bickham's most beautiful calligraphic pieces. It's a lovely book for inspiration and general style (not so much technique but rather seeing how the letters are shaped and spaced, etc.).

– Spencerian Penmanship is a good technique for learning the basics of Spencerian letterforms. I purchased the version without the five extra copy-books on Amazon but I'm not seeing it there right now (just the version with the copy books, which could be useful).

– JA Cavanaugh's Lettering & Alphabets is a good place to learn the basics of a few different lettering styles, particularly loose script lettering for advertising layouts and some Roman + Caslon styles.

– Leslie Cabarga's Logo, Font, & Lettering Bible has some extremely helpful tips for digitizing your lettering work as well as other general design tips. It is, ironically enough, a horrendously designed and dated book but the methods are still instrumental.

– Finally, Colt Bowden's How To Paint Signs and Influence People zine is a really lovely modern take on lettering techniques. Though it is geared for signwriters, the techniques taught for building up letterforms has followed me through to my pen-and-ink work as well. Plus, it's a really fun little series and your money is going to a very talented and passionate dude.

Hope this was helpful!

The two main groups of penmanship styles are Palmer and Spencierian. You can buy workbooks for both off of Amazon. Personally Spencierian is easier for me, but realize both are technically "cursive." Which I rarely use.

The book that I instead learned from was Lettering for Architects & Desginers. I realized that I always wanted my print writing to look like my mother's. She learned how to write in a drafting class. I did some research and that was the book that I found.

The 3 tips that I took to heart from my time learning Spencierian script were:

1. Slow down.: Seriously. If you do nothing else just slowing down will help a lot.
   
2. Think through every stroke. You need to make sure you have enough room to complete every letter and that all of your letters are roughly the same scale.
   
3. Practice everyday. Instead of writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" over and over again I copied famous passages and poems. Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, the lyrics to Aerosmith songs. Pick something that interests you and use that.
   
   Hope this helps.

Glad you like! It's a good pen, although I wrapped mine in masking tape to make the handling better. You don't have to do that. I recommend these books, or this for more in depth and fancier style. Also consider joining us at /r/calligraphy for critique and learning :)

I would recommend not getting a fountain pen, because it would be expensive to get one with the flexible nib necessary to have variable-breadth strokes like in the OP.

Just get a starter set of nibs and a nib holder like this Speedball set for $10, find a tutorial for pointed-pen scripts like Engrosser's or any of the scripts mentioned in this video.

Oh, you'll also need some ink. India ink or walnut ink both work fine.

This is a Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal, and my tracker is by Northbooks.

Picking the right journal is definitely a process of trial and error. There are actually a lot of variables to consider, and I haven't found one single notebook that covers all the things I want.

Some things to consider

• Paper thickness: for the most part, thicker paper = less show-through/ghosting (when you can see writing on the other side of the page) or bleeding (when your ink actually soaks through the paper). If you plan on using markers or anything other than a ball-point pen, I would suggest looking for 90-100 GSM weight paper. Moleskine is usually 70gsm and Leuchtturm is around 80gsm (which is my biggest gripe with this current notebook) and neither of them are great for ink-heavy journaling. I bought a HUSTLE notebook with 120gsm paper that seems really promising though... I'll have to update you once i've tested it out more thoroughly :)
  
  
• Binding: there are hardcover, softcover, ring binding, lay-flat binding, glued, stitched, etc, etc, etc. It's all personal preference so make sure you do your own research
  
  
• Paper color: white, off-white, ivory... Each has their pros/cons depending on what sort of ink you use, or if you'll be using a lot of color

Thank you 🤠 and I bought these exact calligraphy pens it was the best investment I made, I would definitely recommend them

Welcome to the hobby! Some perspective:

1. Newbies focus on the tools ("I need a calligraphy pen!")
   
2. Amateurs focus on the letterforms ("I need to know the proper strokes and construction")
   
3. Intermediates focus on regularity ("My spacing and angles need to be perfect")
   
   …I cannot claim to know what comes next as I'm not sure I have much claim to anything beyond amateur. But here are some especially nice books on the subject I have found helpful:
   
   

• Calligraphy A to Z by Stuart David
  
• The Calligrapher's Bible by David Harris

It's a brush pen!
I bought one recently on Amazon and while it's absurdly fun to write with, I'm not even close to talented enough to be able to handle it like Monday-guy does.

It looks like one of these, and I love these pens!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M71S9DU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm glad I was able to give you some inspiration! Here are the pens I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATBRJRC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I loved this set to learn with, thought you'd appreciate
Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_k4dLAbNN3JY0M

Fountain pen ink is runnier than calligraphy ink. India ink is good for beginners - you really don't need anything fancy. You can try Speedball India Ink. This one from Winsor and Newton is fine too and a bit cheaper.

You can also check JetPens for more options - their prices seem to be cheaper than Amazon.

Oh wow - it's being reprinted!!

http://www.amazon.com/Codex-Seraphinianus-Luigi-Serafini/dp/0847842134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376933495&sr=8-1&keywords=9780847842131

Oh man, the G2 is great, but lately I’ve been addicted the Zebra F-701

Combines the clean lines of a water-based ink with a super-heavy body. And it solves Zebra’s usual problem of their pens being too short. It’s totally supplanted the G2 for me.

#penotaku

Looks to me a lot like the Tombow brush pens I like to use for this style of brush calligraphy.

https://www.amazon.com/Tombow-Fudenosuke-Brush-Pen-Pens/dp/B01M71S9DU

Yes!!!

I find these two books very useful for calligraphy styles:

The Calligrapher's Bible

The World Encyclopedia of Calligraphy

No problem! That's so awesome that you do brush lettering-- I actually have a small calligraphy business and brush lettering is my go-to style, so while I might be a little biased, I'm a total sucker for brush lettering. :) I'm not sure if you've tried using brush markers at all, but I've heard from a few lefty calligraphy buddies that they're really great for brush lettering practice since they dry quickly and you don't have to worry as much about smudging.

Oh, and when you decide to learn pointed pen calligraphy, I can't recommend this book enough! I tried a couple books that I didn't love, then after being told by countless people to try this one, I did and it made everything click.

I got mine from Amazon.

They have it in both simplified and traditional.

I recommend getting character practice paper with it.

Thank you. The first one is with a Sharpie brush pen.

Everything else is Tombow Fudenosuke soft and hard tips

Amazon link

No problem! Also, drop the short vowels. They're good for just starting out, but they aren't used at all in most all Arabic. Also, pick up one of these as soon as possible, they're worth their weight in gold. What program are you using to learn, if you don't mind me asking?

Is it these??
DONG-A My-Gel Metallic Roller Ball Pens, 0.7mm, Assorted Colors, 7 Color Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076NCH4FH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_5UAgAbCESRFQD

This is a calligraphy pen. Here is the pen and here is the nib. ID thread.

> metal zebra pen

This one?

http://www.amazon.com/Zebra-F-701-Stainless-Ballpoint-Retractable/dp/B002L6RB80

> Tombow Dual Brush Pen

Stabilo Markers. Order them last week and have been using them nonstop.

https://www.amazon.com/Stabilo-8830-1-Point-Color-Wallet/dp/B00ATBRJRC/ref=pd_sim_201_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NXC4PMCH8FW0B2RJFEXS

https://www.amazon.com/Engineering-Computation-3-Hole-Punched-35502/dp/B001E6BXM8

WHY AM I ADDICTED TO PAPER?

pilot parallel for anyone wondering

This one

Not sure about that pen, but you can get a very similar stroke from a Tombow dual brush pen.

Not OP and could be wrong but think it's this:

https://www.amazon.com/Calligraphers-Bible-Complete-Alphabets-Draw/dp/0764156152

I am using the following pen in the above video:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B002LJRKN8

This pen was very tricky for me when I was just starting out. However, I still think you will like that pen very much. Lots of obsessive practice!

Edit: Using the Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen in case the link above goes offline