Where I Go for Calligraphy & Lettering Inspiration
This week I’m sharing my Top 5 favorite – and free – places to go on the internet when I’m looking for calligraphy and hand lettering inspiration. Whether stuck in a creative rut or just seeking a fresh perspective, I always turn to vintage lettering exemplars when I want some new ideas.
I think all of us already browse contemporary lettering artists’ work on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. But when looking to expand my typography horizons, I always find that turning to historical exemplars stimulates new and exciting ideas in me. Let me know in the comments if these sites inspire you, too, and if any of them earn a spot in your bookmarks!
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My 5 Favorite Resources for Vintage Calligraphy & Hand Lettering Inspiration:
Archive.org
This is one of the internet’s greatest hidden treasures for artists. The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library that compiles cultural artifacts in digital form. Just like a paper library, their resources are 100% free.
Among the vast collections of scanned documents, you can find hundreds of vintage typography books, sign painting manuals, penmanship guides, letterpress catalogues, and more. You can flip through the pages of each one and save them to your personal archive. I will warn you! Browsing this site can be like falling down a rabbit hole!
One of the best parts for me is that Archive.org doesn’t clean up or crop their scans, meaning that you can see the yellowing pages as they have survived time, creased corners, ink stains, tears, and all.
To get you started, here’s my own collection of favorites:
Flickr Commons
Although Flickr began as a site for sharing personal photo albums, it has become a treasure trove of copyright-free (a.k.a. “creative commons”) images that users scan, upload, and share with the public. This subsection of the site is known as Flickr Commons, and you can search for just about any subject. Vintage typography is no exception. Like an antique store, it can require some searching to find the gems, but when you do, the search is worth it! Check out these search results for vintage typography images.
Public Domain Archive
Speaking of rabbit holes, The Public Domain Review is full of quirky, curious discoveries. This online journal curates works in the public domain, and writes articles to accompany the images. I think their own description says it best:
“With a focus on the surprising, the strange, and the beautiful, we hope to provide an ever-growing cabinet of curiosities for the digital age, a kind of hyperlinked Wunderkammer – an archive of content which truly celebrates the breadth and diversity of our shared cultural commons and the minds that have made it.”
I can spend hours clicking from one article to the next, especially because so many of their posts highlight eccentric old typography. Have a look at their Design & Typography Archive.
Penna Volans
Penna Volans is the blog and archive of Sybille van Zuylen, calligrapher behind Plume & Confetti. Her site is a relatively recent discovery for me, but it has fast become a favorite! Sybille has curated a top-notch link archive of downloadable, historical calligraphy exemplars, and organized them based on era, style, and geography.
She has also gathered exemplars of individual letters from different historical samples, and sells them as downloadable packets for learning. Her catalogue of exemplar sheets is quite impressive!
Masgrimes Archive
Calligrapher David Grimes has created an absolutely fantastic collection of scanned, historical exemplar books, presented in their entirety and available as free, high-resolution downloads. They are – dare I say – absolutely engrossing!
All the booklets are in the public domain, but as David points out so eloquently, it’s important that we “remain respectful of the time and energy spent to produce [the booklets] when utilizing [them] in derivative works.” I would add that we also respect the energy put in by archivists like David, who have preserved these works for us to access so freely!
October Roundup
As it’s the end of October, it’s also time for my monthly round-up, where I recap all the tutorials, freebies, and other resources I released this month.
Video tutorials:
Product release:
Freebies:
Calligraphy Stroke Drill Practice Sheets
In honor of Mastering Modern Calligraphy’s birthday week, I released this printable sample from the book! These calligraphy stroke drill sheets will help you build muscle memory, gain a steadier hand, and warm up your arm for writing.Everlasting Monoline Practice Sheets
This is a fun, monoline alphabet reminiscent of classic cursive. You get a printable PDF (including a blank grid for your own layout practice) and a layered Procreate practice file for practicing your flourishing on the iPad!
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