The Blackletter Alphabet

The Blackletter Alphabet

After finally learning the basic italic letters of Calligraphy, it's time to experiment with more creative writing styles, such as the Blackletter writing.  This writing is different than the Italic style, and personally much easier, since it only is made up of vertical strokes, is more unique, and overall more creative.  

Just as when first starting to write words and sentences, it may be helpful to take the help of the nib width again.  This way, you can give all the attention and focus on actually writing the letters correctly instead of worrying about the length and neatness of the letters.  This style was very easy for me since it only involves vertical strokes, which are not all that hard to do.  The only slight challenge that I faced was not making the letters slightly slanted as done with with the Italic letters.  As Bennett writes, "It is important to make certain these letters don't have any slant" (103).  Making sure that there wasn't any slant was a little challenging for the first couple of tries, but as I got more practice, my letters were coming out without any slant.  I didn't feel the need to use a nib width for this particular style, since it came fairly easy for me once I got the "no slant" rule down.  If you're having trouble with the slanting, Bennett suggests, "You can lightly pencil in the vertical strokes before you make the letters with a pen"(103).  This technique will be very helpful to avoid slanting the letters.  After using this technique for a while, you should gain the confidence to be able to try to write the letters without the technique,  Don't lose hope if you can't get this technique down right away, with practice it will get easier.

The only letters that are not made of vertical strokes are the capital circular letters, which are C,G,O,Q, and T.  For these letters, the strokes are curved instead of vertical.  The curved strokes are pretty straightforward (103) according to Bennet, and they truly are.  However, if you're having any trouble with the strokes, try to visualize where you want the curved strokes to go before trying with the pen.  Also, make the stroke all in one motion and with even pressure.  Curved strokes, for me, became easier after I stared to pay attention to the amount of pressure I was applying to the pen.  The goal is to have an even pressure throughout the entire stroke.

This style is one of my favorite styles because it looks very complicated but is very easy to draw.  What has been your favorite style while a part of this journey?  Do you find the Blackletter style as easy as I did?

Bennett, Jim. Calligraphy for Dummies. For Dummies, 2007. Print.