Downloadable Practice Sheets
Brush Letter Practice Guide
Free and paid brush lettering practice sheets and notepads
Digital Bodleian
High resolution scans of old manuscripts from around the world
Logo Calligraphy Downloadable Copperplate Sheets — Highly recommended
Calligrafile contributor Younghae Chung’s high quality Copperplate practice tools are a favorite among many calligraphers, not just beginners.
Mélanie Bériault Boutique
Feuilles de pratique avec instructions en français
Molly’s Lettering Toolkit — Highly recommended
Calligrafile founder Molly Suber Thorpe’s free archive of downloadable calligraphy practice sheets for print and Procreate
Postman's Knock — Highly recommended
A blog maintained by Lindsey Bugbee with, among other things, a variety of calligraphy practice sheets
Exemplar Books & Pads
Find more pads in our Supplies gallery, and more books in our Books & Magazines gallery.
Logo Calligraphy Copperplate Practice Pads & Workbook — Highly recommended
Calligrafile contributor Younghae Chung’s high quality Copperplate practice tools are a favorite among many calligraphers, not just beginners.
Paper & Ink Arts Guide Sheets — Highly recommended
Various pads made by prominent calligraphers
Speedball Textbook
A very important classic with alphabets and examples by leading calligraphers.
Spencerian Letters Practice Pads
A great set by Michael Sull
Spencerian Cross Drill Practice Pad
Exercises for precision and warmups by Michael Sull
Written Word Calligraphy Practice Pads
Lowercase and uppercase practice pads in a modern script type; spiral bound; printed on high-quality practice paper with vellum sheets for additional practice
The Zanerian Manual of Alphabets and Engrossing
This classic by E.A. Lupfer provides some of the best Copperplate instruction available. Other engrossing alphabets are shown, as well as many examples of engrossed pieces. Generously digitized and made available by David Grimes.
Downloadable Guideline Paper
Block Layer
A highly customizable grid generator for calligraphy as well as various shapes like arcs, swirls, and stars
Circular Line Guides
Free downloads by Steve Husting
Ductus — Highly recommended
A fabulous, customizable generator maintained by Josselin Cuette
Graph Paper Generator
Free tool for creating custom gridded paper; downloadable in PDF format
Half A Px
Free guide sheets for various styles
IAMPETH Lettering Guide Sheets — Highly recommended
Free downloads provided by IAMPETH
Scribblers Guide Paper Generator
Enter ascender, body, and descender heights, then download the generated template
Learn lettering structure and create your own compositions with the popular Letter Builder stamps. Compatible with Procreate, Photoshop, and Illustrator!
Create your own calligraphy guide and practice sheets on the iPad with the Calligraphy Composition Maker for Procreate. From traditional to modern, the possibilities are endless!
Historical & Retro Exemplars
Archive.org — Highly recommended
An incredible website cataloging scans of vintage books and leaflets, including a huge number of calligraphy and type specimens; just search for "calligraphy" and "hand lettering"
The Book of Kells
High resolution scans of every page
IAMPETH — Highly recommended
This collection contains dozens of digitized, rare books on calligraphy, penmanship, and flourishing
IAMPETH on Archive.org — Highly recommended
This is such a brilliant, extensive archive of vintage calligraphy books that it deserves its own entry.
Manuscriptorium
Free digital library of old manuscripts
Masgrimes Archive
Download high-resolution scans of some of calligraphy’s most important historical exemplar books; compiled and run by calligrapher David Grimes
The Penman's Repository
High resolution scans of this 18th-century book on Copperplate, Old English, flourishes, and German text.
Penna Volans — Highly recommended
A beautiful, well-organized archive of copybooks online, as well as catalogues of individual letters.
Speedball Letter Specimen Book — Highly recommended
Free online! All the amazing pages of this historic book scanned and available to view in high resolution
Tubbs Wood Type — Highly recommended
A 176-page exemplar book of wood type from the 1880s; so inspiring!
A Tutor to Penmanship
High resolution scans of this 17th-century book on script and flourishes
Typographie rétro — Highly recommended
A Flickr account of scanned retro type specimens, posters, ads, and books
Vintage Lettering Scans on Flickr
Inspiring vintage type compiled by Flickr user Patricia M.
Keep Exploring…
