Cari Buziak - Calligraphy Magic: How to Create Lettering, Knotwork, Coloring and More

A letter has three main parts: the x-height, the ascender, and the descender. The main body of the letter fills the x-height (for example, the lowercase o); the ascender rises up above the x-height (the stem of the d); and the descender falls below the x-height (the stem on the lowercase p).

A typeface (alphabet) used on a computer (as opposed to letters used on a printing press, or hand written).

A font family includes a number of related font faces, such as a bold version, condensed, italic, light, etc.

A more fluid or script style of writing, developed as a faster way to write by monks. Cursive usually has a looser and less formal look. Its useful for projects that need letters that flow and move in the design without looking too formal or stiff.

Capital or uppercase letters in an alphabet. Also great for creating a splash at the beginning of a text with a larger or more detailed letter. Often used for monograms, or a detailed piece in stand-alone uses where there may not be any other text or designs in a project. A highly decorated Majuscule used at the beginning of a word or sentence is called a Display Capital.

Lowercase letters in an alphabet. Some minuscule letters lend an informal look to a piece of text, and can be used in projects where a lighter or more inviting feel is desired.

A style of writing characterized by full, rounded letters. Capitals from our modern Latin alphabet are derived from Uncial style letterforms.

A small stroke at the beginning or end of a main stroke. A serif can be made in many ways and often gives a particular alphabet its characteristic look.

Any graphic within a font. This can be a letter, number, or a symbol such as a dollar sign or punctuation.

Each glyph is encoded with instructions so that the computer knows to type an A when you press the A key on your keyboard. At one time Macs and PCs used different encoding instructions or standards; however the new Unicode Standard is a universal standard that both Macs and PCs will recognize and understand and what well be using in our discussions here.

Spacing rules that you want your font letters to follow so that theyre spaced correctly when you type words and paragraphs.

Hue is pure color. Tint is color plus white. Shade is color plus black.

Colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Complementaries can create strong and bold color pairings.

Three colors, each one-third away from each other on the color wheel. Triads can also create a very bold color combination.

Instead of using the direct complementary color, you use the two colors to either side of the complementary. This combination is more subtle, and good for more reserved pieces.

The application of tissue-thin sheets of metal (gold, silver, copper) to a sticky surface.

To sketch your designs and plan your layout youll need a pencil or two and a good eraser. These actually come in a much wider variety than what weve all used in grade school! Having a few choices in pencil leads and a good eraser to use can mean the difference between fighting your materials while you work, and getting into the groove of your project, so its more than worth the small cost to purchase these.

Pencils come in different hardnesses of lead, from 6B (which draws very soft, smudgy black lines) to 6H (which draws hard, thin, silvery lines). For calligraphy or for sketches that will be colored over, buying a normal HB pencil and a 2B or 2H will suffice.

You can buy your pencils as normal pencils that are sharpened with a pencil sharpener, a holder that can accept leads of any hardness, or a mechanical pencil. I prefer to work with mechanical pencils because they dont have to be sharpened. I buy a few of those brightly colored plastic mechanical pencils in different colors and color-code what pencil holds which hardness of lead.

Vinyl erasers are a standard for sketching. They come in a variety of sizes, however I find the easiest thing to do is buy a big block and then use a utility knife to cut it down to whatever size I need. I also trim off the corners of the rectangular eraser into small wedges that I use to erase in tiny placesvery handy for detail work when drawing embellishments and designs!