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:: C A L L I G R A P H Y

One of the many great tools available in Inkscape is the Calligraphy

tool. This tutorial will help you become acquainted with how that tool
works, as well as demonstrate some basic techniques of the art of
Calligraphy.
Use Ctrl+arrows, mouse wheel, or middle button drag to scroll the
page down. For basics of object creation, selection, and transformation,
see the Basic tutorial in Help > Tutorials.

History and Styles

Going by the dictionary definition, calligraphy means “beautiful writing” or “fair or
elegant penmanship”. Essentially, calligraphy is the art of making beautiful or elegant
handwriting. It may sound intimidating, but with a little practice, anyone can master the
basics of this art.

The earliest forms of calligraphy date back to cave-man paintings. Up until roughly 1440
AD, before the printing press was around, calligraphy was the way books and other
publications were made. A scribe had to handwrite every individual copy of every book
or publication. The handwriting was done with a quill and ink onto materials such as
parchment or vellum. The lettering styles used throughout the ages include Rustic,
Carolingian, Blackletter, etc. Perhaps the most common place where the average person
will run across calligraphy today is on wedding invitations.

There are three main styles of calligraphy:

Western or Roman
Arabic

Chinese or Oriental

This tutorial focuses mainly on Western calligraphy, as the other two styles tend to use a
brush (instead of a pen with nib), which is not how our Calligraphy tool currently
functions.

One great advantage that we have over the scribes of the past is the Undo command: If
you make a mistake, the entire page is not ruined. Inkscape's Calligraphy tool also
enables some techniques which would not be possible with a traditional pen-and-ink.

Hardware
You will get the best results if you use a tablet and pen (e.g. Wacom). Thanks to the
flexibility of our tool, even those with only a mouse can do some fairly intricate
calligraphy, though there will be some difficulty producing fast sweeping strokes.

Inkscape is able to utilize pressure sensitivity and tilt sensitivity of a tablet pen that
supports these features. The sensitivity functions are disabled by default because they
require configuration. Also, keep in mind that calligraphy with a quill or pen with nib are
also not very sensitive to pressure, unlike a brush.

If you have a tablet and would like to utilize the sensitivity features, you will need to
configure your device. This configuration will only need to be performed once and the
settings are saved. To enable this support you must have the tablet plugged in prior to
starting Inkscape and then proceed to open the Input Devices... dialog through the Edit
menu. With this dialog open you can choose the preferred device and settings for your
tablet pen. Lastly, after choosing those settings, switch to the Calligraphy tool and toggle
the toolbar buttons for pressure and tilt. From now on, Inkscape will remember those
settings on startup.

The Inkscape calligraphy pen can be sensitive to the velocity of the stroke (see
“Thinning” below), so if you are using a mouse, you'll probably want to zero this
parameter.

Calligraphy Tool Options

Switch to the Calligraphy tool by pressing Ctrl+F6, pressing the C key, or by clicking
on its toolbar button. On the top toolbar, you will notice there are 8 options: Width &
Thinning; Angle & Fixation; Caps; Tremor, Wiggle & Mass. There are also two buttons
to toggle tablet Pressure and Tilt sensitivity on and off (for drawing tablets).

Width & Thinning

This pair of options control the width of your pen. The width can vary from 1 to 100 and
(by default) is measured in units relative to the size of your editing window, but
independent of zoom. This makes sense, because the natural “unit of measure” in
calligraphy is the range of your hand's movement, and it is therefore convenient to have
the width of your pen nib in constant ratio to the size of your “drawing board” and not in
some real units which would make it depend on zoom. This behavior is optional though,
so it can be changed for those who would prefer absolute units regardless of zoom. To
switch to this mode, use the checkbox on the tool's Preferences page (you can open it by
double-clicking the tool button).

Since pen width is changed often, you can adjust it without going to the toolbar, using
the left and right arrow keys or with a tablet that supports the pressure sensitivity
function. The best thing about these keys is that they work while you are drawing, so you
can change the width of your pen gradually in the middle of the stroke:

width=1, growing.... reaching 47, decreasing... back to 0

Pen width may also depend on the velocity, as controlled by the thinning parameter. This
parameter can take values from -100 to 100; zero means the width is independent of
velocity, positive values make faster strokes thinner, negative values make faster strokes
broader. The default of 10 means moderate thinning of fast strokes. Here are a few
examples, all drawn with width=20 and angle=90:

thinning = 0 (uniform width) thinning = -20

thinning = 10
thinning = -60

thinning = 40

For fun, set Width and Thinning both to 100 (maximum) and draw with jerky
movements to get strangely naturalistic, neuron-like shapes:

Angle & Fixation

After width, angle is the most important calligraphy parameter. It is the angle of your pen
in degrees, changing from 0 (horizontal) to 90 (vertical counterclockwise) or to -90
(vertical clockwise). Note that if you turn tilt sensitivity on for a tablet, the angle
parameter is greyed out and the angle is determined by the tilt of the pen.

angle = 90 deg

angle = 30 (default)

angle = 0

angle = -90 deg

Each traditional calligraphy style has its own prevalent pen angle. For example, the
Uncial hand uses the angle of 25 degrees. More complex hands and more experienced
calligraphers will often vary the angle while drawing, and Inkscape makes this possible
by pressing up and down arrow keys or with a tablet that supports the tilt sensitivity
feature. For beginning calligraphy lessons, however, keeping the angle constant will work
best. Here are examples of strokes drawn at different angles (fixation = 100):

angle = 30 angle = 60 angle = 90 angle = 0

angle = 15

angle = -45

As you can see, the stroke is at its thinnest when it is drawn parallel to its angle, and at its
broadest when drawn perpendicular. Positive angles are the most natural and traditional
for right-handed calligraphy.

The level of contrast between the thinnest and the thickest is controlled by the fixation
parameter. The value of 100 means that the angle is always constant, as set in the Angle
field. Decreasing fixation lets the pen turn a little against the direction of the stroke. With
fixation=0, pen rotates freely to be always perpendicular to the stroke, and Angle has no
effect anymore:

angle = 30 angle = 30 angle = 30

fixation = 100 fixation = 80 fixation = 0

Typographically speaking, maximum fixation and therefore maximum stroke width

contrast (above left) are the features of antique serif typefaces, such as Times or Bodoni
(because these typefaces were historically an imitation of fixed-pen calligraphy). Zero
fixation and zero width contrast (above right), on the other hand, suggest modern sans
serif typefaces such as Helvetica.

Tremor
Tremor is intended to give a more natural look to the calligraphy strokes. Tremor is
adjustable in the Controls bar with values ranging from 0 to 100. It will affect your
strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This
significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

tremor = 0

tremor = 10 tremor = 20
slow slow
medium medium
fast fast

tremor = 30 tremor = 40
slow slow
medium medium
fast fast

tremor = 50 tremor = 60
slow slow
medium medium
fast fast

tremor = 70 tremor = 80
slow slow
medium medium
fast fast

tremor = 90 tremor = 100

slow slow
medium medium
fast fast

Wiggle & Mass

Unlike width and angle, these two last parameters define how the tool “feels” rather than
affect its visual output. So there won't be any illustrations in this section; instead just try
them yourself to get a better idea.

Wiggle is the resistance of the paper to the movement of the pen. The default is at
minimum (0), and increasing this parameter makes paper “slippery”: if the mass is big,
the pen tends to run away on sharp turns; if the mass is zero, high wiggle makes the pen
to wiggle wildly.

In physics, mass is what causes inertia; the higher the mass of the Inkscape calligraphy
tool, the more it lags behind your mouse pointer and the more it smoothes out sharp turns
and quick jerks in your stroke. By default this value is quite small (2) so that the tool is
fast and responsive, but you can increase mass to get slower and smoother pen.

Calligraphy examples
Now that you know the basic capabilities of the tool, you can try to produce some real
calligraphy. If you are new to this art, get yourself a good calligraphy book and study it
with Inkscape. This section will show you just a few simple examples.

First of all, to do letters, you need to create a pair of rulers to guide you. If you're going to
write in a slanted or cursive hand, add some slanted guides across the two rulers as well,
for example:

Then zoom in so that the height between the rulers corresponds to your most natural hand
movement range, adjust width and angle, and off you go!

Probably the first thing you would do as a beginner calligrapher is practice the basic
elements of letters — vertical and horizontal stems, round strokes, slanted stems. Here
are some letter elements for the Uncial hand:

Several useful tips:

If your hand is comfortable on the tablet, don't move it. Instead, scroll the
canvas (Ctrl+arrow keys) with your left hand after finishing each letter.

If your last stroke is bad, just undo it (Ctrl+Z). However, if its shape is good
but the position or size are slightly off, it's better to switch to Selector
temporarily (Space) and nudge/scale/rotate it as needed (using mouse or keys),
then press Space again to return to Calligraphy tool.

Having done a word, switch to Selector again to adjust stem uniformity and
letterspacing. Don't overdo this, however; good calligraphy must retain
somewhat irregular handwritten look. Resist the temptation to copy over letters
and letter elements; each stroke must be original.

And here are some complete lettering examples:

Uncial hand

Carolingian hand

Gothic hand

Bâtarde hand

Flourished Italic hand

Conclusion
Calligraphy is not only fun; it's a deeply spiritual art that may transform your outlook on
everything you do and see. Inkscape's calligraphy tool can only serve as a modest
introduction. And yet it is very nice to play with and may be useful in real design. Enjoy!