Calligraphy Font Maker
Draw a calligraphy alphabet with a broad-edge pen and download it as an OpenType .otf font. This page opens with the Flat nib pen, 100 units wide at 1000 units per em, so at the default metrics the x-height is five nib widths and the cap height seven. Strokes thicken and thin with their direction the way a broad-edge pen does, and the file holds exactly the outlines shown on the canvas.
nothing drawn yet · advance 600
drawn 1 of 95: spacemissing 94: A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9, ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ each shows the .notdef box in the previewspace advance 250, no inknot drawn in this text: T h e q u i c k b r o w n f x j m p s v t l a z y d g .file MyFont-Regular.otf
Nothing drawn yet. Pick a character below, then draw it on the stage, or load the example A.
Pen and guides
This glyph
Font
Characters
1 of 95 ready. A dot marks a drawn character; arrow keys move between them.
Pen draws a stroke as you drag; the size is its width in font units, and steadiness smooths the hand. Points places corners and closes them into a shape: Ink adds, Hole reverses the outline so it opens a counter inside one layer of ink. With the keyboard, Tab to the canvas, move the cursor with the arrow keys (Shift for bigger steps), press Enter to place a point or to start and end a stroke, C to close a shape, Backspace to take a point back and Escape to drop it. Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z undo and redo on the canvas.
Common questions
- Can I change the nib angle or width?
- The width, yes: the Size slider runs from 10 to 300 units at 1000 units per em, and the nib is always a sixth as thick as it is wide. The angle is fixed at 30 degrees, so a stroke along that angle is the thinnest line the nib makes and a stroke across it is the full width. The Round pen gives an even line instead.
- Will the letters join like handwritten calligraphy?
- Only where you draw them to. Each character is its own glyph with its own advance width, and the font has no ligatures or alternate forms, so a letter looks the same whatever comes before or after it. An exit stroke drawn to the edge of the width meets the next letter's entry stroke if that one starts at the origin.
- Is this a calligraphy text generator?
- No. It makes a font file from letters you draw yourself, which you install and then type with in other apps. It does not restyle typed text into ready-made lettering.
- Does this page change the pen on the main Font Maker?
- No. The font you are drawing is the same on both pages, so letters drawn here are there too, but the flat nib is only this page's starting pen. The main page keeps its own pen and size unless you change the pen or size here.
The .otf file holds exactly the outlines, advance widths, font name, units per em and Unicode mapping you set, and every export is read back and compared glyph by glyph. There is no automatic kerning, ligatures or complex-script shaping, and characters you have not drawn are left unmapped, so they show the .notdef box or a substitute font. It draws new letters only and cannot open or convert existing fonts, including licensed commercial ones.