Beautiful Handwriting Styles, Lettering and Calligraphy
Handwriting styles seems to have lost some of its attraction over the last years. Nobody writes beautiful handwritten letters, and uses digital means of communication with smileys, abbreviations and standard lettering instead. And that’s a pity. Since handwriting is unique, it has a tremendous expressive power a standard lettering isn’t able to achieve.
More than that, handwritten text can be incredibly gorgeous. In fact, there is nothing more valuable than a beautiful handwritten letter sent to your beloved ones. And this post attempts to prove just that.
In the overview below you’ll find excellent examples of beautiful handwriting, creative lettering and professional calligraphy. It’s really amazing to see what one can create out of simple letters drawn with a pencil on a small piece of paper.
Further Reading on SmashingMag: #
- Breathtaking Typographic Posters
- The Art Of Hand Lettering
- Brush Lettering: It Only Gets Better After Practice
- Hand-Drawing Style in Web Design
Calligraphy #
1800s Lettering Sketchbook Journal Beautiful calligraphy from 1800s.
![Handwriting Styles - 1800s Lettering Sketchbook](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/14382728-5e36-4fd7-9202-f4b316729889/handwriting-133.jpg)
Experiment with photographic paper Written by Marina Marjina, a type designer and letterer from Russia.
![Handwriting Styles - Experiment with photographic paper](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/686b0390-398a-462b-9c7c-cd965244c9bf/handwriting-134.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Experiment _process2](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/a1cedc26-107b-47ff-9d6f-96a9a37adb7c/handwriting-135.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - IMG_8181](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/d03f717f-c673-4a76-b37b-a1526387e65d/handwriting-144.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - The sketch_fragment](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/68bb1fe3-e605-4db5-a177-cb897155f364/handwriting-145.jpg)
Claredon Press, Flower A book cover from 1987. Published by Claredon Press. Created by Sheila Waters.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Claredon Press, Flower](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/1715918f-fe27-45cf-9b60-b6d30cd9da37/handwriting-18.jpg)
Cronica de los reyes catolicos, XVI century. A Spanish manuscript from Berkeley, University of California, The Bancroft Library.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Cronica de los reyes catolicos, XVI century.](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/c84fb9e3-6f1f-4531-8443-6b8bde67cb88/handwriting-35.jpg)
Extra: Natasha Mileshina Natasha Mileshina’s work. Moscow, Russia.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Extra: Natasha Mileshina](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/825966cf-004d-4642-8945-ed2193805d6a/handwriting-148.jpg)
Daily Type Calligraphy by Vera Evstafieva.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Daily Type](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/85e90ffc-677b-4f84-b5f7-a1547abbc920/handwriting-43.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - IMG_8570](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/3d4d444d-da57-45ce-aa3a-c8ecd36af828/handwriting-89.jpg)
Tom Gourdie’s gallery Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Tom Gourdie. Handwriting master’s pieces from 1980s.
![Lettering and Handwriting -](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/9b4dacf0-16a2-4b18-a664-d95b225c5670/handwriting-00.jpg)
French Notarial Handwriting From Michael Twyman’s 26 November 2007 presentation.
![Lettering and Handwriting - French Notarial Handwriting](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/b6e10ab6-aa94-4e76-bf55-19ce1bc6322c/handwriting-131.jpg)
Scripture and Calligraphy By Denis Brown.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Scripture, Denis Brown](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/3326b0a0-4155-4616-8520-28c54f42d8ff/handwriting-23.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Digeridoo Festival](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/06f941cd-c845-40ac-87c1-4b175746195b/handwriting-137.jpg)
Handwriting Styles, Doodling and Lettering #
British Ariways B/W Font Alex Trochut’s work for British Airways. Sexy, sweet and beautiful lettering!
![Lettering and Handwriting - British Ariways B/W Font](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/99bfe0c1-d200-40b7-b366-3430e7b2b6f8/handwriting-124.jpg)
Panasonic Advertisement The design by the agency Lowerporta from Chile. An advertisement for Panasonic digital devices.
![Lettering and Handwriting](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/37f5926b-0845-4098-9770-76cfb51a5d80/handwriting-03.jpg)
Art and Life Joei Lau’s project. Beautiful curves.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Art and Life](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/58ab4812-0547-4a8f-b970-8303163249c2/handwriting-80.jpg)
all the best Wishes from Ale Paul.
![Lettering and Handwriting - happy holidays and wishes](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/5e80b048-43b3-4595-a51a-7a8655e2dee9/handwriting-109.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - all the best](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/a9f487af-92c3-42f6-b2a8-c0ce9bcaec60/handwriting-112.jpg)
Estrella Levante Posters Tasty typography!
![Lettering and Handwriting - Estrella Levante Posters](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/36c8cd42-6792-4768-9f36-cbaa57ba96b5/handwriting-149.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Estrella Levante Posters](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/6647fa42-3ad6-4bfc-b1ac-3711560f5eed/handwriting-126.jpg)
Extraverage x The KDU Karoly Kiralyfalvi, graphic designer from Budapest, Hungary.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Extraverage x The KDU](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/221aafac-4da4-4f61-b7c1-74ff67f83b75/handwriting-96.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Lettering](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/fa2ec090-2671-4418-8d2b-d7ebb21c8824/handwriting-116.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Aquasky flyer](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/b5b82953-bc58-4213-88dc-7c729462785e/handwriting-97.jpg)
Typography Jeff Finley’s work.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Typography](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/7eb05beb-e1cf-4b54-b0e4-9e5cc1b700e5/handwriting-150.jpg)
Split in Two Created by Pawel Janczarek.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Split in Two](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/27e17525-c8ec-43a0-b879-09bb54e9f70f/handwriting-118.jpg)
Doodles! Beautiful doodles from Austin, TX.
![Lettering and Handwriting - IMG_2809](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/0674423b-3cb3-4ea3-a3fb-a9c2802762cc/handwriting-136.jpg)
Handwriting By Yury Ostromentsky.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Daily Type](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/70842e9e-ba38-4d25-8551-d42b0403d7f2/handwriting-46.jpg)
takin’ it Lettering design by Jon Contino.
![Lettering and Handwriting - taking it](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/ac2cb987-fb64-4f27-9fc5-a8913b4eeae9/handwriting-140.jpg)
“R” By Zeptonn, an illustrator from the Netherlands.
![Lettering and Handwriting - R](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/e868b0a4-1b5e-4d26-8102-2ab4ff4948e5/handwriting-141.jpg)
1961 William Mitchell Pen Catalog
![Lettering and Handwriting - 1961 William Mitchell Pen Catalog](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/5de9971b-53ca-41d8-9db9-e6e0077066cd/handwriting-59.jpg)
inspiredology.com | inspiredology.com
![Lettering and Handwriting - inspiredology.com | inspiredology.com](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/4ff5d69f-df49-4066-9d43-165eb7ad1be3/handwriting-64.jpg)
Zapf Games 2005 By Alexander Utkin.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Zapf Games 2005](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/969053ab-e6eb-4dbc-acd4-ff8f6af79960/handwriting-11.jpg)
Daily Type
![Lettering and Handwriting - Daily Type](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/8fd0f9dc-d173-427c-be00-f73b01f9e984/handwriting-44.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - inspiredology.com](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/0ae5a559-ff96-4380-98d4-570fa8ccf11f/handwriting-62.jpg)
Sostav.ru
![Lettering and Handwriting - Sostav.ru](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/2b654652-2a91-4572-91d5-3a00a9737402/handwriting-52.jpg)
Unit.nl
![Lettering and Handwriting - Unit.nl](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/3e1573bf-e186-46c3-9fb5-e799712e80b9/handwriting-73.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Daily Type](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/ebda6d53-d579-4b11-ad5b-093af5b96e3c/handwriting-50.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting -](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/28ea0eed-f17c-4bae-a949-8d0e355c2a32/handwriting-101.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - zutto](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/ed47c130-e83f-4c9a-806d-00390f0eaa2f/handwriting-82.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - STEREOTYPE](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/6ff44d81-56ff-4be6-9264-71264c08b886/handwriting-104.jpg)
Typography
![Lettering and Handwriting - Typography](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/c6fd568f-ac7f-4f21-a091-e51a12a31ef0/handwriting-127.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Arabic calligraphy | creativebits](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/11d8ed12-4981-46ee-8429-f7d66931e9f6/handwriting-02.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - si scott design](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/825966cf-004d-4642-8945-ed2193805d6a/handwriting-148.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Rolling Stones: Rolled Gold +](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/6e82e128-0859-4af9-9fa5-83b601a26cf6/handwriting-123.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - timeless](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/8787dd3f-59ef-451a-b9ee-cf918fa4fe30/handwriting-113.jpg)
on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
![Lettering and Handwriting -](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/a4f9df8f-baf0-4684-8c8d-7fd891de4fa7/handwriting-106.jpg)
Marian Bantjes: Yale Alumni Magazine
![Lettering and Handwriting - Marian Bantjes: Yale Alumni Magazine](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/aee81047-bf52-4b62-9c8b-1a0051f6f208/handwriting-108.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - When Love Dies](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/dfdded79-e594-45bc-a0a9-4d00fbf1d054/handwriting-100.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Libertyland grand selection](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/f2060b64-e7e9-41c9-bccc-75e867b8cb7e/handwriting-102.jpg)
Funeral of the Heart by Leah Hayes - front cover
![Lettering and Handwriting - Funeral of the Heart by Leah Hayes - front cover](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/c14a722f-5589-4877-ae5d-b35b1158614d/handwriting-138.jpg)
Experiments with type #
Typolight Type with light.
![Lettering and Handwriting - Typolight](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/919ff097-c472-4d5d-a148-348267198a0c/handwriting-117.jpg)
Feliz Natal | Merry Christmas By Marina Chaccur. “The 2006 online christmas card started being very real. In the beginning the letters were drawn by hand, then after the final layout was chosen, the white beads were arranged onto a paper with a very pale outline of the lettering. In the end, the paper was photographed, the image was altered in Photoshop, and the beads went back to the package.”
![Lettering and Handwriting - Feliz Natal | Merry Christmas](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/c8ac4afe-63e0-415b-aede-ffc7943a0373/silb.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Feliz Natal | Merry Christmas](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/175291b7-7451-48aa-9b79-f5becb31a2e5/handwriting-92.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Flickr in Lights 3](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/ffed0beb-c401-48d5-88e0-52f066298d2e/handwriting-75.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Flickr in Lights 2](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/822f4a19-9add-4fac-9bdb-ab305ffd2869/handwriting-74.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Poesie](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/ba22a120-6053-4ef1-8df7-8f9d5eeaf85e/handwriting-71.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - La GrafÃa: Caligrafia na pele](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/99c3b287-38ae-4bc6-9184-b1eeee5d7138/handwriting-55.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Daily Type](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/92543596-0c34-4371-a009-1e106d5602e1/handwriting-42.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Stephanie DeArmond - Gallery](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/b8461288-254c-42d3-9ff5-781652b76fdd/handwriting-37.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Stephanie DeArmond - Gallery](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/5519187d-8216-4e4f-bf37-409ef5efa242/handwriting-38.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Stephanie DeArmond - Gallery](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/755ae182-bec5-454c-b89d-c9d6ae1939cd/handwriting-39.jpg)
![Lettering and Handwriting - Stephanie DeArmond - Gallery](https://archive.smashing.media/assets/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629/0695f502-fe49-4ed4-9e8c-79dadb2a5e7d/handwriting-40.jpg)
— Comments 82
lovely post, esspecially the Arabic calligraphy part. such an unrecognized but just dope style.
Calligraphy is nice to look at, but for any other purpose I always feel it is too hard to distinguish. It is generally too hard to read at a quick glimpse.