Alphabet Demo - Broad Edge Pen Calligraphy Tutorial

iNK & NiB
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12 Video Views·Mar 9, 2026
In this video, I'm showing you different ways to construct the Italic letterform, also known as the ductus. You can totally teach yourself this beautiful calligraphy style. Don't forget to check out my videos on how the calligraphy supplies for beginners and how to make your own guide sheet.
Hi everyone, this is Vivian. Welcome back to my channel.
Today we are going to talk more about italic calligraphy.
So if you're interested in learning italic calligraphy, make sure you check
out the playlist. In the playlist, I have videos about
choosing different types of pens, and different types of papers, different
type of ink, and also I show you how to prepare your
nib, how to fix your nib, and also how to make your own guide sheet.
So today I have a guide sheet with me. This one
is similar to the one I showed you in the how to make your own guide sheet
video, and I'm using a Mitchell nib two and a
half. As always, I use the Hingis eternal ink.
So for italic calligraphy, there are different method or different theory.
People construct the letters differently. I don't
think there's a right or wrong, but it's my opinion. I don't think there's a right
or wrong way to construct it. I can see the pros and cons on each.
So today we're going to talk about these different ways to
construct italic calligraphy. So the first way, the way I learned it,
is to really break down every strokes. So for the letter A, I will do
the first stroke like so, and then do a second stroke,
and then do a third stroke. So this is broken down into three strokes.
And the reason why I like this way of constructing is because
it just feels smoother when I draw a line from left to right.
The nib just glides through the writing surface
smoothly, as opposed to pushing it from right to left. That's right this way of
writing. It just feels smoother because all the
stroke is pretty much going from left to right.
But the downside is you are taking more time to construct this letter because
you're doing all these things separately. So the second way to construct it is to
actually write it like how you would normally with a pen,
all with one stroke. So it will be pushing it from right to left,
and then just connect everything into one stroke. So either way you construct
the letter A, and also depend on the type of paper you
use. Sometimes pushing from right to left can be just really scratchy.
If you use a thicker paper, textured paper such as watercolor paper, or you
know any kind of paper that was textured, it's just going
to be a little harder to do this push. But it does save you a little bit more
time and it does feel more natural with your hand,
more like you're writing. And for letter B,
I would normally also break it down into one,
two, and then three. So again why I broke it down is
because gliding the nib from left to right is just a lot more easier than
pushing it from right to left. But if you want to try
all in one stroke, you can definitely do it
all in one stroke like so. So there's really
the end result is pretty much the same. And for letter C,
I do it in two strokes, but then you can,
it's kind of like, it's a little bit like
half of the A, so you can definitely do it in one if you want to.
So as you can see again, the result is pretty same. And then for D,
it would just be like the A I have, but then instead of a longer stem.
So normally I would do one, two, and three.
So if you want to combine this, you can maybe reduce it into
two strokes. So there you have in two strokes.
And for letter E, the way I like to write is actually constructing three
strokes. So there's one, and two, and then three.
If you want to reduce down this number of strokes, you
can do one, two, and then again just push it back to
to the left. And then the letter F, how I normally would have it is actually
in one stroke, and then two, three,
four. So again, this one is optional. You don't need to have that tail, but I'm
used to having the tail. And if you want to reduce it, you can do
this one long stroke all in one. So we'll be
pushing it, dragging it, turning it, and then do this.
So there you can just have in two strokes.
And G, you probably know how I'm going to write it.
So it'll be one, two, three, four.
So I feel like when I break it down, I feel less nervous.
But you can do all of this in maybe two strokes.
So there's one, two. You can probably, oh that's not good,
you can probably just also do this all in one
if you want. And for letter H, I will probably have it in two strokes
normally. I would like actually pause and lift up
my pen, my nib I mean, and then do the second part.
Or you can do it all in one continuous row. That'll work too.
And another way to do H is, I can also add on a little roof on the top.
That's just for stylistic reason. And for the letter I, I don't think you
can reduce this anymore, so either way it's the same.
And for J, depending on how big you want this
this hook, I will have it in three. But you can also have it very like
minimal. And so the same with the reduced stroke, you might just
just push it out a little bit. So I think these two styles are kind of the same.
Another variation would be going a stroke, but then instead of
having this, oh I forgot what's this thing
called, there's a name for this dot. But instead of making it a prominent, you
just do a little, it's all slant line. And for letter K,
so I already do it in two strokes, but you can definitely
even break down this one. A different variation would be
instead of having a loop, you can have this.
Or if you want to combine this loop and the stem all together, you could have
down stroke and then just go straight back up
without even lifting your pen. And then L is just, there's no other way
to reduce the number of strokes. And for M,
I like to break down everything. So to me,
I'm used to writing it all separately. So I have one stroke,
second stroke, and third. Again, one, two, three.
And you can connect them all together, which
I'm a little scared to write. I'm not that very good at connecting all that
together. So you can do it all in one stroke.
And same thing with the N, you could have
take a little pause, a little break, and do your branching. Or you could
connect it all in one, you know, continuous stroke.
So like I said, the end result should look, you know, should look no different.
It's just how you construct them is different.
There are many different rows leads to Rome.
That's why it's so italic. And for O, I think,
I don't think there's another way to write it.
Two stroke is, it's just, you know, it just,
it really does need to have that two separate stroke.
I'm not sure if you can do this in one. It would just,
nah, no, don't do that. And for letter P, so I sometimes
would even separate out the last stroke. So I might have
one and then have the last stroke. But like I kind of did it here, you can
have this down stroke and then have
this on one stroke. And then for Q, you can break it down or you can do it
all in one stroke. And for R, I like to lift my
nips up just to, you know, for a little break before I
do the branch. You can definitely make it into one continuous
movement. And for S, I think S, it has to be
three strokes. I just, I mean, you could probably do this,
but somehow that never turned out right. So I would always break down
this letter into three strokes. And T, there's no, there's no variation
for T. And for letter U,
you can do this in two strokes. That's one, and then do the second
stroke. Or you can do it all continuously.
That's one. And similarly to V, I used to do one in two strokes and
then they're both down strokes. So the first one is
like this, second one goes like this. But you could do it all in one stroke
like how you would normally write V with your
regular pen. You could just have a V that just have a clean stop.
And then for W, same thing. I like to, in this case, I actually do like the
the second stroke be an upstroke and then end up
and then finish it with a V. But you could combine all of it
into one, one W. Or that might also work.
And then for X, there's really no way to it. Well, there, it could be a
difference. I do still like to do my, I don't know, I like my upstroke.
If it's thin, I like to keep it as upstroke. So I don't think there's a
right or wrong, but you know, whichever, either go down, go up, you know, it's up
to you. And then letter Y, there are different
ways to construct Y, but let's do the this way. I will have
almost like writing a U. And then I'll have, so that's one, two,
three strokes. But you could combine it into
one, two, three. Or you can even have,
you can even forget about that little, the end stroke, just do a flat
out, like so. You can also do a Y like this way. So that's another way to
write Y. And then for Z, that's, I don't know if
there's any other way to write Z. Maybe you can get a dot. I think
without dot, yeah. So there you have it, different doctors for
italic calligraphy. So let me know in the comment which way you prefer,
the shortcut way or the break it down way. And I hope you enjoy this video. If
you do, don't forget to give it a thumbs up.
And don't forget to subscribe to this channel if you want to know more about
lettering and calligraphy. I'll see you next time. Bye!
