Learn brush calligraphy at piecescalligraphy.com. This printable is allowed for personal use only.

Brush Calligraphy Guide: Basic Strokes and the Alphabet A reference guide for brush calligraphers

This guide is intended for the beginning brush calligrapher. It is best used with a small tip brush pen, such as a Tombow Fudenosuke soft (or hard) tip, or a Pentel sign pen with a brush tip. Remember:

Thin up, thick down: Upstrokes and horizontal strokes are thin. Downstrokes are thick.

Go slow: Don’t worry about shakiness. In the beginning, focus on creating each stroke and how each letterform is made.

Not all brush pens were created equal: You may need to experiment with different brush pens to find one that feels most comfortable to you.

Once you master these basic strokes and letterforms, you will be able to develop your own unique style.

BASIC STROKES

Entrance/exit

stroke Underturn

stroke Overturn

stroke Compound

curve

waistline

x-height

baseline

Oval

Ascending loop

Descending loop

Comma Dot

waistline

x-height

baseline

Learn more about each basic stroke here: piecescalligraphy.com/basicstrokes

Learn brush calligraphy at piecescalligraphy.com. This printable is allowed for personal use only.

BRUSH CALLIGRAPHY PRACTICE SHEETS

x

x

x

x

x Learn more about each basic stroke here: piecescalligraphy.com/basicstrokes

Learn brush calligraphy at piecescalligraphy.com. This printable is allowed for personal use only.

BRUSH CALLIGRAPHY ALPHABET GUIDE Remember: Each letter is built of single strokes. Focus on writing one stroke at a time.

Letter Example

entr

ance/e

xit

str

oke

undert

urn

str

oke

overt

urn

str

oke

com

pound c

urv

e

oval

ascender

loop

descender

str

oke

com

ma

dot

oth

er

a

● ● ●

b

● ● ● ●

c

● ●

d

● ●

●

e

● ●

f

● ● ●

g

● ● ●

h

● ● ●

Learn brush calligraphy at piecescalligraphy.com. This printable is allowed for personal use only.

Letter Example

entr

ance/e

xit

str

oke

undert

urn

str

oke

overt

urn

str

oke

com

pound c

urv

e

oval

ascender

loop

descender

str

oke

com

ma

dot

oth

er

i

● ●

●

j

●

●

●

k

● ● ●

l

● ●

●

m

● ●

n

● ●

o

● ●

p

●

●

q

● ● ●

Learn brush calligraphy at piecescalligraphy.com. This printable is allowed for personal use only.

Letter Example

entr

ance/e

xit

str

oke

undert

urn

str

oke

overt

urn

str

oke

com

pound c

urv

e

oval

ascender

loop

descender

str

oke

com

ma

dot

oth

er

r

●

●

s

●

●

t

● ● ●

u

● ●

v

● ●

w

● ●

●

x

●

●

y

● ●

●

z

●