Calligraphy is a dynamic art form that can be made with a large variety of materials and tools. Like pencils, highlighters can even be found in your office or your pencil drawer somewhere in your house. Once you have found a couple highlighters, grab them and bring them back here and start following this calligraphy video or written tutorial.
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Highlighter Calligraphy Video Tutorial
If you have the time or learn better I suggest watching the above video to learn how to do calligraphy with a highlighter. If you are more of a self learner, I have written out some general steps you can glance over.
Blackletter Calligraphy
Most highlighters can be great tools for blackletter calligraphy because of the “chisel tip,” which is a flat angled edge that allows a variety of line thicknesses depending on how you use it.
The first thing you need to do is hold your highlighter like you would any other writing utensil. Next, rotate it until the chisel tip is at a 30 degree angle from the horizontal line you wish to write along. Keep this angle at ALL times.
Once you try making some strokes on your paper, you will notice that depending on which direction you go the thickness of your stroke differs. As long as you maintain your angle, a stroke down to the right is thick and up to the left is thin. This is the base concept that which all of blackletter calligraphy is based on. Try it now.
Once you kind of get the feel of what kind of strokes create which shapes you can try learning making your first letters!
The “abcde” is from the “foundational” alphabet from the blackletter family of scripts. It is a great alphabet to start learning calligraphy due to its variety of curves and serifs.
Below is an example of uppercase and lowercase Foundational alphabets to copy.
Foundational Calligraphy Lowercase Alphabet
Foundational Calligraphy Uppercase Alphabet
Blackletter Calligraphy Information for Further Learning
Now that you have tried learning blackletter calligraphy with a highlighter, I think it would be appropriate to let you know of some of the tools and resources to up your calligraphy game.
- Explore all Blackletter Calligraphy Styles
- Best Tool for Blackletter Calligraphy – (Pilot Parallel Review)
- Full List of Blackletter Tools – Paper, Ink and Pens
- Master Blackletter Practice Sheets – 8 Classic Scripts
- Master Calligraffiti Practice Sheets – 3 Modern Scripts
Free Practice Sheets
If you are looking for more practice sheets and alphabets I have 4 free sheets over at this post:
Looking for More?
Check out some very helpful beginner starting posts here:
- Complete Beginners Guide – If you have no idea where to start
- Learn Calligraphy Roadmap – Look at different calligraphy styles to pick from
- Guide to Calligraphy Tools & Scripts – Shows which tool makes which style
- Learn Calligraphy Online Free – Dip your toe in the water that is calligraphy