Calligraphy and Hand Lettering Books for Beginners

Hi everyone, this is Vivian. In this video I am going to share with you my top six books for lettering and calligraphy. So the first book is the ABC of Custom Lettering by Ivan Castro. I really recommend this book because the author is a solid graphic designer and he has really really good understanding of typography. So he started off the book with some traditional calligraphy style and you can tell by obviously by his work and by his writing that he is really good at calligraphy, the traditional kind of calligraphy and but then he doesn't just stop there. He goes on to use that on knowledge such as the spacing, the letter forms, the different nitty-gritties of the parts of the typeface and then he applies it to a more modern and customized type of lettering. So I like the book also that he has projects that he shows how he starts a project with sketches and then he will critique himself and then improve on the draft and then you will see the final the final outcome of the project and he has several projects like that and I like how he just you know the way he works with how each typeface is interlocking with each other so it's really interesting and really inspiring to see the process of his work. So this is a great book if you want to know both a little bit about calligraphy and then also like custom lettering. And the second book is the big awesome book of hand and chalk lettering by Dina Rodriguez. It's packed with different styles. So it starts with some basic modern way sans serif and she has a lot of styles for slap serif and then the fun one like the circus and Victorian style and modern way script. So I think she has mentioned there is about 15 alphabet style and there's a guide on how to draw each one and also she in the beginning has all these sections of how to decorate your typeface, your lettering. So if you ever got stuck on how to make your lettering pop you can always reference here. Also she has very comprehensive pages for just picking out colors. I find these very helpful. Picking color is always challenging for me so I think by reading this understanding of color choices it's really helpful. And then of course she has some projects that you can follow so when you learn how to, when you learn to write these beautiful lettering you also have a way to showcase it. And for books focused more on calligraphy, the first one I recommend is the Speedball Textbook. It's a small booklet but it gives you a really good broad view of different types of alphabet styles. So if you don't know anything about calligraphy this is a very good handbook just to have. So every page is a different style and not only the style, it tells you the proportions. I think that's very important to know that different typefaces have different proportions. It's because proportion is what makes each style unique. So it covers the traditional like the Roman type style, the Roman font and the foundational and the Carolingian and black letters. And it's also a good book to have so you know the names of these typefaces or these lettering styles. So when you want to look it up, when you want to, when you found one style that you're really interested in, you know what's the call and where to look for more information. So like I said this is a great book for beginners who just want to know like what other styles are out there and how to even call that style. And then of course towards the end of the book there's examples on how to address envelopes or how to write invitations. I find it's like a reference book. It's really good to have. And the next we have this one is a Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy by Eleanor Winters. So this is specifically for copperplate calligraphy. And copperplate is the fancy style with a lot of flourish. So a lot of people are, when they think about calligraphy, this is what they're thinking. And it is a really step-by-step almost like a textbook for mastering, truly mastering this typing, this calligraphy style. So if you are, you know, if you really want to go follow step-by-step, this is a good book. It breaks down all the strokes into like really step-by-step and then the explanation is very detailed. And it groups a letter into a similar form so you can practice them. And then it also shows you the right way and the wrong way to do each letter, such as like how to do H correctly. And it also shows you like the combination, how to do combination of letters. That's usually, so this is very helpful to do different combinations when you put two letters together. And then, of course, we move on to the capital letters. It's a very detailed book about each stroke. And then this one is called the Modern Calligraphy by Molly Suberthorpe. I think her name is just so cool. So this one is for modern calligraphy. You're still using the dip pen, but then you're writing more modern. And the best section of this book is, she has a section that's full of variations for capital letter and some lowercases, many schools. But if you have been writing calligraphy or lettering a while, you would know capital letter is always challenging because we don't normally write it so much, right? If you think about it, most of the words we write are in lowercases. And when you do need to write a capital letter, say in a name or in the beginning of a sentence, you want it to be fancy or different to stand out. And then you realize, oh, I don't really practice that much. I'm in trouble. So this is a really good reference section for finding different styles and variations for your capital letters. And then more than half of the book is on projects. So her projects are more focused on envelope addressing or wedding invitations. So if you are interested in wedding calligraphy, this is a really helpful book. And finally, I have this one. This book is called Calligraphy Made Easy. The book cover is not the best design. It's one of my first books when I started learning calligraphy. And it's a workbook by Margaret Shepard. So it really did make calligraphy easy for me. And how did she do that? It's a workbook. It has pages of the alphabet and then you have space to write. And then she breaks it down and there's a place you can trace and a place that you just copy. And I find it really helpful because you don't have to do a lot of preparation when you want to practice. You pretty much just open the book and then it pairs perfectly with this 2.4 millimeter Pilot Parallel Pen. So the first half of the book is gothic style or black letter. Some people call that. So you can just copy along it. And then on the second half, it's on the italic style. I think these two styles are very basic and fundamental for any beginner. Although italic might look like old-fashioned, practicing italic really will help you even in your scripted writing. So I really I like this book so much. Actually this is my second one. I didn't quite finish but then I already wrote the whole you know I finished the whole workbook. The first workbook. And it just made practicing so easy. And like I said it pairs perfectly with this Pilot Parallel Pen. So you know with a booklet and the pen you can practice anywhere. So these are the books I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to start learning calligraphy and lettering. I have provided the links to purchase these books on Amazon in the description below. I hope this has been helpful and let me know of other books that you recommend. See you next time. Bye!