Copperplate calligraphy
Practice Copperplate
Worksheet and print settings
Print at 100% (Actual size).
Copperplate alphabet
Each Copperplate letter in the chart opens its lesson, where the pointed-pen form sits beside three even-weight styles and Spencerian.
Print the Copperplate alphabet
Print the Copperplate sheet larger than your writing size to trace it with a pointed nib; the SVG scales without blurring the thin strokes.
What makes Copperplate distinct
- Pressure on the pen shows as thick downstrokes and hairline upstrokes.
- The letters lean strongly to the right.
- Small letters have tall stems and long descenders, and capitals are looped and graceful.
A short history of Copperplate
Copperplate is English roundhand from the 1700s. It is written with a pointed pen, which makes thick and thin strokes.
The name comes from the copper plates engraved to print 18th-century copybooks, such as George Bickham’s The Universal Penman (1733–1741). It is written today with a flexible pointed nib, often in an oblique holder.
How to practice Copperplate
- Trace. Trace the basic strokes first: the hairline upstroke, the shaded downstroke and the ovals of a, d and g.
- Copy. Copy at a steep, consistent slant; an oblique holder helps right-handed writers keep the nib in line with it.
- Write words. Write words with tall stems and descenders, such as flight and gallop, pressing only on the way down.
The thick and thin strokes come from pen pressure: press on the downstroke and ease off on the upstroke.
Open a letter
Pick a letter to see its strokes in order, its joins and a common mistake, with the Copperplate form beside it.
Other cursive styles
Spencerian script
An ornate business script from the mid-1800s, written with shaded strokes.
Zaner-Bloser
The Columbus, Ohio method of Charles Zaner and Elmer Bloser, widely used in US schools.
Palmer Method
Austin Norman Palmer’s plain business writing, taught in US schools.
