When Is World Calligraphy Day + How Can You Celebrate?
There's never been a better moment to pause and appreciate the art of writing beautifully than World Calligraphy Day!
Every year on the second Wednesday in August, World Calligraphy Day celebrates the impact that calligraphy still has on society.
Not to be confused with National Handwriting Day, which is on January 23rd.
As calligraphy and lettering teachers, we're thrilled to help you honor this national day and celebrate in your own way, whether you're a brand-new calligrapher or a seasoned letterer. Grab your pens and let's dive in!
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Table of Contents
When is World Calligraphy Day 2023?
World Calligraphy Day is celebrated every year on the second Wednesday of August. The exact dates for the upcoming years are:
August 9th, 2023
August 14th, 2024
August 13th, 2025
August 12th, 2026
August 11th, 2027
History of World Calligraphy Day
This holiday was created by the Manuscript Pen Company, and in years past, they've hosted workshops at the Pen Museum in Birmingham, England and shared robust celebratory content on their social media accounts.
You can watch a recap of the celebration hosted by Manuscript Pen Company at the Pen Museum from 2018 (their most recent recap):
What exactly is calligraphy?
Calligraphy is simply the art of writing beautifully. The act of practicing beautiful writing and turning it into an art form can be found in essentially every culture, dating as far back as the written language. Calligraphy takes normal handwriting and turns it into a form of visual art.
Photograph of Islamic calligraphy inside the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, which was built between 1238 and 1358
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You can find examples of different styles throughout history, even in the oldest forms of writing. From religious texts to certificates to letters, the art of beautiful writing has been valued for millennia.
Written form may be less valued now with our access to technology that can produce perfect handwriting for us (we're looking at you, computers!), but calligraphy still continues to be all around us.
Advanced technology didn't render the art of lettering obsolete; this practice evolved with it, from a feature quill to a pointed pen to a brush pen to the Apple Pencil.
Even though these compositions were designed on an iPad, they’re still connected to this ancient practice
There are still examples of lettering all around you, from pillows to religious texts to special documents. The next time you visit your doctor, look at the writing on the diploma that they have hanging on their wall. Or on your next birthday, see if there's any special form of writing on your birthday card.
Despite its traditional roots, calligraphy continues to be a vibrant form of visual art that's popularized on Instagram and Pinterest.
By the way... we'd love to connect with you on social! We share daily tips and tutorials:
We want to be your calligraphy teachers!
Do you need special calligraphy products to practice?
No, you don't need any special calligraphy products to celebrate World Calligraphy Day.
New calligraphers can use normal household writing utensils to practice the fundamentals, while seasoned calligraphers will choose a specific writing instrument to help them achieve a different style:
Pencil and ballpoint pen = faux calligraphy, AKA hand lettering
Brush pen and Crayola Marker = modern calligraphy
Pointed pen and broad-edge pen = traditional calligraphy
Apple Pencil = digital lettering
You don't need to find an art retailer specializing in inks and nibs; you can create beautiful lettering projects with just the supplies you have at home! Here are 10 ways to celebrate this lovely holiday.
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Some of our favorite calligraphy supplies
10 Ways To Celebrate World Calligraphy Day
The goal of these prompts is to have fun and return to the art of penmanship. Don't worry about making the world’s best composition or having the perfect written form.
Are you looking to celebrate World Calligraphy Day with kids? Each of these projects can be adapted for children in different age groups. If you'd like more resources, we have an entire calligraphy books article with specific recommendations for kids, or read our specific kids calligraphy tutorial.
1. Try Faux Calligraphy (Hand Lettering)
Hand lettering isn't exactly the same as calligraphy, but it's a close relative, and it's a great way to explore the lettering world.
Faux calligraphy alphabet
Instead of creating words stroke by stroke (these are called the basic strokes), hand lettering involves drawing in the shades after you write the bones of the letters.
This can be done with any utensil and paper, even a pencil and a post-it note!
See how in our step-by-step tutorial:
Learn more by joining our free faux calligraphy course or reading our faux calligraphy guide.
2. Attend Art Classes Celebrating Lettering
Everyone, from complete beginners to advanced calligraphers, can benefit from taking a class! Use this opportunity to learn lettering from scratch or to try a different style than you're used to.
Art classes don't have to be in real life!
We have lots of free classes available instantly online:
Faux Real Calligraphy: hand lettering
Simple to Spectacular: fundamentals of flourishing
iPad Calligraphy Basics: digital lettering
Not sure where to start? Try a video series on YouTube! Here's one of our most popular tutorials:
3. Refine An Existing Composition
Are you a seasoned letterer with compositions already lying around? Refine one of your creations!
Watch this composition develop before your eyes using the exact techniques that we teach:
The evolution of a calligraphy composition
It’s easy for design to feel like an impossibly slow-developing skill, but there are tangible steps that you can take to develop, analyze and improve your lettering.
Learning the principles and invisible infrastructure behind balanced, pleasing compositions will change your approach to a blank page radically.
Let us help you work through elements such as line, proportion, shape, style and more in our free layout and composition workshop:
Get a written tutorial in our layout and composition guide.
4. Emboss Your Lettering
Embossing is an artist effect where you elevate specific parts of your page.
Basic embossing requires some supplies:
A heat tool
Get the exact steps to emboss your lettering in our embossing video:
Read a written tutorial in our embossing guide.
5. Create A Watercolor Lettering Backdrop
Did you know that a marker with water-based ink can create watercolor backgrounds?!
The basic supplies for this process include:
A small plastic bag
Thick paper (cardstock or watercolor paper)
Water-based markers (Crayola, Tombow, Artist's Loft, etc.)
A spray bottle
Watercolor backgrounds are organic, lively and really brighten up the page. They make the perfect backdrops for your next project.
See the exact steps to create beautiful watercolor backgrounds here:
For a written tutorial, visit our watercolor backgrounds blog post.
6. Try Ribbon Lettering
Ribbon lettering is a fun effect that adds dimension and a level of style to your lettering.
If you have them on hand, use a brush pen and a fine-line pen.
If you don't have those specific tools, try to find a marker (Crayola works!) and a ballpoint pen.
Here's our ribbon lettering video tutorial:
Or click to read our ribbon lettering written tutorial.
7. Flourish A Word Or Phrase
Flourishes are the playful, delicate extensions of your strokes that are most commonly used in traditional calligraphy.
While flourishes may look organic and free-flowing, there's exactly a very precise way in which to flourish your composition. Try applying flourishes to one of your words in one of these 5 places:
For a written tutorial, read our flourishing beginner's guide.
8. Write With A New Brush In Procreate
If you have an iPad, Apple Pencil and the Procreate App, this idea is for you! Experimenting with different Procreate brushes is a fantastic way to enhance your digital lettering.
Different brush styles completely change the way your digital lettering looks. You can use any brush to exercise your lettering skills, and we even have a free Procreate brush for you:
Our brush is specifically designed for calligraphy and changes color as you write based on pressure, which helps you develop control (plus it's mesmerizing!).
New to Procreate? We also have a free iPad lettering course that can teach you all of the ins and outs of the software, even if you're brand new.
Free iPad calligraphy course
Or get started with our Procreate lettering guide.
9. Add Bounce To Your Letters
Bouncing is a fun and playful technique that can enhance your lettering no matter what tool you're using.
To bounce letters, you need to understand which part of your letters to extend and how far to stretch them.
Learn here in our bounce lettering tutorial:
You can also read the steps in our bounce lettering guide.
10. Embellish Your Composition With Gold Foil
This activity requires the most supplies, but creates really dazzling compositions. Here's what you need:
Paper (cardstock or copy paper work well)
Here are the steps to add gold foil to your lettering projects:
You can also read the steps in our gold foil tutorial.
Final Thoughts
How will you celebrate World Calligraphy Day?! We'd love to hear. Share on social media using the tag #LoveleighLetters so we can see your projects, and use the tag #WorldCalligraphyDay to share with the Manuscript Pen Company and other calligraphy enthusiasts.
This list is just the tip of the iceberg. From deciding what to letter to trying brush pen blending to designing your own greeting cards, we have COUNTLESS fun ways to help you develop your skills.
Use our online resources to learn calligraphy and lettering, no matter what skill level you're at (complete beginners welcome, and kids too!).
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