CreateSpace Classics Lettering and Modern Calligraphy: A Beginner's Guide: Learn Hand Lettering and Brush Lettering

I am very much enjoying this bright and pretty beginner's calligraphy book. There are five alphabets included: brush lettering, hand lettering, sans serif, serif, and "fun" sans-serif. There are five pages at the beginning to give some essential background information including terminology, techniques, tools and tips. This is very easy reading... nothing complicated. You learn what ascenders and upstrokes are, as well as the difference between serif and sans serif in case you don't know already. After the five introductory pages, the book gets into the lettering, with each section having a page showing all the lowercase (or uppercase) letters, right before the pages where you actually get to practice. The practice illustrations have an arrow so you know right where to start, in creating and duplicating the letter. I had a bit of trouble getting started, while learning to do the upstrokes thin and the downstrokes thick. However - I bought a tablet with lined calligraphy paper: Mont Marte Calligraphy Workbook 50 Sheets. So I did a lot of my first lettering attempts there and kept this lettering book for when I truly started to get the feel for what calligraphy should look like. It also helped that I got the right pen to begin with. I recommend Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen 2 Pens Set which gives a clean line that encourages me to continue on towards the goal of perfection. Oh, I'm not at that goal yet, but I'm trying, and enjoying daily practice sessions. I tried several other brush style pens but none worked as well as the Tombow calligraphy brush pens. There are 64 lettering practice pages. Next there's a section about the connections between letters with a a page of explanation, and eight practice pages for the pretty brush script connections. Finally, there are three pages of explanation for project design considerations, and 15 project pages where you can copy a pretty project created by the book's author. These have cute (but short) sayings to copy, such as "dream big" and "home sweet home." Speaking of the book's author, I wonder who that is. It would be nice to have a name, photo, and bio of the book's creator. Seems strange to have a book and not know anything about the writer and calligrapher, as it has only the name of the publisher on it. I'd just like to know more. Nice start for calligraphy, though. I know there are may other calligraphy techniques and alphabets, but this gives a good start for someone who has never done it before.

I purchased this as a birthday present along with this awesome set: Daveliou Calligraphy Pen Set for my 14 year old cousin. She's new to Calligraphy but has been wanting to practice for a long time. This book looked like it would be right up her alley. I had some Calligraphy books in the past when I was a teen and into my artsy phase and I must say that this one is really modern and cool/hip/rad/mad fun/dope/da bomb - or whatever term kids are using these days. There are several different styles you can choose to practice from and it's really easy to learn. My cousin was able to pick it up pretty much immediately and I was super impressed. I can say from real-live experience that this is definitely excellent for a beginner. Made my cousin look like she is a complete natural and I watched her Callighrapyhing (yes I just made that up) away. Perhaps she has some natural artistic talent - I think it runs in our family so I'm going to say she does - but I'm pretty positive this book helped draw it out in her and will definitely be useful in helping her to hone her skills. She loves it and is going to have a lot of fun using it to practice. I can't wait to see what she produces! I'll update with some pics when she gets a break from all her homework and is able to send me some.

This lettering and modern calligraphy beginner book is a great starting point for learning basic techniques and improving handwriting style. The instructions are clear and beginner-friendly, and the practice pages help build confidence step by step. It’s well structured and easy to follow. Overall, it’s a solid learning resource that makes calligraphy approachable and enjoyable for beginners.

I got this book to help my little brother in elementary school start learning cursive, and it was great! The instructions are easy to follow, and the activities are engaging, making it a fun way for him to practice. He was (somewhat) willing and eager to learn. The perfect choice for beginners and really helps build confidence in writing. Highly recommend for any parent or sibling wanting to introduce cursive writing!

I have been doing calligraphy for many years and I was looking at this for hopefully some new ideas. I should have realized that "A Beginner's Guide" should have clued me into know this wasn't what I was looking for. It did have a font that I use in my cookie decorating so I started practicing with it. The book has some very basic information but doesn't go into any kind of detail about what to look for or where to purchased supplies, so that was a let down. Learning calligraphy or any type of lettering can be done but it takes lots of practice and this book has lots of empty pages for practicing which of course is important, but I can copy pages for that. Overall, I felt it was a sub standard book even for a beginner and I would have liked to see more variety and information. It is lacking diagrams or photos to show how to hold the pens/nibs and could have been a much better book if it had better information in it. I wouldn't recommend to someone who wanted to learn calligraphy.

I chose this book because it says "A Beginner's Guide", and it is perfectly that! I do love all things font related and I've always wanted to try hand lettering. I wanted a basic foundation with lots of visuals, built-in structure, and repetition in order to get the feel for how letters are created. It is just what I was looking for. It is a well designed workbook with a beautiful feel and cover. It shows the basics of 5 different alphabets, plain and fun ones, to get you started and on your way to developing your own style. The last section includes ways to bring creativity and composition into your work. It doesn't promise you will become a hand lettering expert overnight, but it is sure to motivate you! I sometimes use tracing paper over the pages for even more practice space! I absolutely recommend this book to beginners. It will be a great addition to your collection. The price is right too! I'm very happy with this purchase!

Great and easy to follow intro to calligraphy. Some of the styles are a little advanced while others are easy to pick up. I've been working my way through it slowly and you can move at your own speed. I really like how they show every single letter so you can really copy it to get the style you're looking for.

I'm a total noob to hand lettering but have really come to like the this form of artwork. As a pro photographer my only recourse for lettering has been fonts, which looks like... fonts. There are VERY few I've found that look like hand lettering and modern calligraphy but you still have the problem where a lowercase "a" looks exactly the same through the phrase. Ugh. So I bought a couple books to give this a try and they ended up being a showcase for the author's style, but no real instruction! I need to know where to start the line and how the curve should go and how much pressure or whatever, whether I'm using ink & paper or ProCreate and the Apple Pencil. I was starting to think a book like that didn't exist, but I'm glad I was wrong: this book is perfect for a beginner starting right from the very first ink dot or iPad pixel. The book is driven for paper and ink which I love (I just bought a sketch pad and some Tombow brush pens) but I ultimately will end up in ProCreate. Nonetheless, this guide by Paper Peony Press is the first book that makes me feel like I can DO this. If there's ever an expanded edition I'd love to see a hardcover spiral bound version that lays flatter, but I'll probably just scan the practice pages into ProCreate and work like that until I get the hang of it. Or use up a lot of Strathmore sketch books, lol. Anyway, super happy with this guide.

Lovely. Reminds me of my schooldays

Viene con indicaciones y espacios para practicar, hojas y pasta de buena calidad

Un libro estupendo para iniciarse en el lettering. Buenos consejos y un montón de letras y hojas para practicar. Me ha gustado mucho el detalle de que en el libro aparezca una dirección de mail para que te manden nuevas muestras cada cierto tiempo. Las únicas pegas son que el papel no es demasiado grueso y dependiendo del rotulador puede traspasar y que está en inglés (para quien no sepa el idioma). Ha siso una buena compra.

Easy to read and digest. A must have for those who wants to learn calligraphy at the comfort of your home!

For under $10 this is a fabulous book for the beginner. Just a few pages of stuff you need to know and then it's all fun with practicing your lettering. All you need is your writing utensil and you're ready to go! Loads of pages to practice and so easy to understand.