How to Write Blackletter by Hand: Pen, Angle, Nib Widths and Practice

The right tool

Gothic script is a style that needs a broad-edged pen, one with a flat, chisel-shaped tip. Felt-tip and ballpoint pens can write letters, but they do not produce angled lines, which are what give blackletter its shape. A flat-tipped calligraphy marker, a dip pen with a broad nib or a parallel-style pen all work. A wider nib is easier for a first attempt because your mistakes are bigger and easier to see.

Use smooth paper that does not feather, and put a guide sheet with ruled lines underneath.

Pen angle

With a broad pen, the angle between the edge and the writing line decides which strokes come out thick and which come out thin. Blackletter is usually written with the pen held at a steady angle, without turning it as you go. The angle commonly used is moderate, and teachers and books differ about the exact number, so follow the one in your worksheet.

What matters most is consistency. Draw a row of vertical strokes and check that they all have the same width and the same angled ends. If they differ, your angle is drifting.

Measuring in nib widths

Letter height is commonly measured in nib widths, so the proportions stay the same whatever size your pen is. Make a small ladder first by stacking short strokes, each placed so the nib touches the previous one, to see how many it takes to fill the x-height, which is the height of a lowercase letter without ascenders. Guides differ on the exact count for Textura, so use the number in your reference. The more nib widths you stack, the taller and narrower the letters look.

Mark the lines of your guide sheet at that height, then add the ascenders and descenders above and below, with a few nib widths as a starting point.

• Make a ladder of nib-width strokes to set the x-height.
• Draw the ascender and descender lines from the same ladder.
• Keep the space between vertical strokes close to the width of the strokes.

The basic strokes

Textura is built from a few simple shapes. The main ones are the straight vertical stroke, a short cut at the top and bottom, and curves that are drawn as angled straight pieces rather than as one round line. Letters such as i, m, n and u are rows of those verticals, and the way each one starts and ends is what gives the text its woven look.

Practice the verticals with their tops and feet until they look uniform. After that, move to n, m and u, then to rounded letters like o and e, and only then to capitals.

Practice tips

Short, regular sessions help more than one long one. Write a single letter in a row, then pairs, then simple words. Look at your page from a distance: if the texture looks even, the spacing is working.

Compare your work with an example. The big preview on this site draws a real blackletter font, and you can print it or download the PNG to use as a model or to trace. Treat it as a guide for letter shapes, not as a copy of any particular manuscript.