Calligraphy basic strokes
Modern calligraphy is built from eight basic strokes: the upstroke, downstroke, overturn, underturn, compound curve, oval, ascending loop and descending loop. Practise them before whole letters, keeping every upstroke thin and every downstroke thick.
- Trace the stroke
- Trace the light stroke
- Write it on your own
Printable practice sheets
Why strokes before letters
Almost every lowercase letter is two or three of these strokes joined together. An a is an oval plus an underturn; an n is a downstroke plus an overturn. Once the strokes are even, the letters follow.
The thick and thin rule
Press on the way down, lighten on the way up. With a brush pen or a pointed pen the pressure changes the width; with an Apple Pencil or other stylus this page reads your pressure the same way.
Slow down. Calligraphy is drawn, not written, and an even speed gives even lines.
The 8 strokes
Upstroke: A thin line from the baseline up to the midline. Light pressure, steady speed.
Downstroke: A thick line from the midline straight down to the baseline. Press firmly the whole way.
Overturn: Thin up and over the top, then press into a thick line down.
Underturn: Thick down, round the bottom, then lighten into a thin line up.
Compound curve: An overturn and an underturn joined: thin up, thick down, thin up again.
Oval: Start at 1 o'clock and go counter-clockwise: thick on the left side going down, thin on the right going up.
Ascending loop: Thin up from the baseline to the top line, loop to the left, then a thick downstroke back to the baseline.
Descending loop: A thick downstroke from the midline to the descender line, loop to the left, then a thin line back up across the stem.