Handwriting seems to have lost some of its attraction over the last years. Nobody writes beautiful handwritten letters, and uses digital means of communication with smileys, abbreviations and standard lettering instead. And that’s a pity. Since handwriting is unique, it has a tremendous expressive power a standard lettering isn’t able to achieve.

More than that, handwritten text can be incredibly gorgeous. In fact, there is nothing more valuable than a beautiful handwritten letter sent to your beloved ones. And this post attempts to prove just that.

In the overview below you’ll find excellent examples of beautiful handwriting, creative lettering and professional calligraphy. It’s really amazing to see what one can create out of simple letters drawn with a pencil on a small piece of paper.

For further typographic inspiration you can browse through our previous posts

• Breathtaking Typographic Posters showcases over 50 breathtaking typographic posters designed by artists across the globe. We feature Oriental, Iranian, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese and Russian typographic posters.


• Typography in Motion with excellent examples of typography embedded into movies and videos,


• Hand-Drawing Style in Modern Web Design demonstrates excellent examples of hand-drawing style in modern web design.

Calligraphy

1800s Lettering Sketchbook:Journal 14
Beautiful calligraphy from 1800s.

Experiment with photographic paper_03
Written by Marina Marjina, a type designer and letterer from Russia.

Claredon Press, Flower
A book cover from 1987. Published by Claredon Press.

Cronica de los reyes catolicos, XVI century.
A Spanish manuscript from Berkeley, University of California, The Bancroft Library.

Extra: Natasha Mileshina
Natasha Mileshina’s work. Moscow, Russia.

Daily Type
Calligraphy by Vera Evstafieva.

Pool Word

Tom Gourdie’s gallery
Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Tom Gourdie. Handwriting master’s pieces from 1980s.

French Notarial Handwriting
From Michael Twyman’s 26 November 2007 presentation.

Scripture and Calligraphy
By Denis Brown.

Handwriting, Doodling and Lettering

British Ariways B/W Font
Alex Trochut’s work for British Airways. Sexy, sweet and beautiful lettering!

Panasonic Advertisement
The design by the agency Lowerporta from Chile. An advertisement for Panasonic digital devices.

Art and Life
Joei Lau’s project. Beautiful curves.

all the best
Wishes from Ale Paul.

Estrella Levante Posters
Tasty typography!

Digeridoo Festival

Extraverage x The KDU
Karoly Kiralyfalvi, graphic designer from Budapest, Hungary.

Typography
Jeff Finley’s work.

Split in Two
Created by Pawel Janczarek.

Doodles!
Beautiful doodles from Austin, TX.

Handwriting
By Yury Ostromentsky.

takin’ it
Lettering design by Jon Contino.

“R”
By Zeptonn, an illustrator from the Netherlands.

1961 William Mitchell Pen Catalog

inspiredology.com | inspiredology.com

Zapf Games 2005
By Alexander Utkin.

Daily Type

inspiredology.com

Sostav.ru

Unit.nl

Daily Type

on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

zutto

STEREOTYPE

Typography

Arabic calligraphy

si scott design

Rolling Stones: Rolled Gold +

timeless

on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Marian Bantjes: Yale Alumni Magazine

When Love Dies

Libertyland grand selection

Funeral of the Heart by Leah Hayes - front cover

Experiments with type

Typolight
Type with light.

Feliz Natal | Merry Christmas
By Marina Chaccur. “The 2006 online christmas card started being very real. In the beginning the letters were drawn by hand, then after the final layout was chosen, the white beads were arranged onto a paper with a very pale outline of the lettering. In the end, the paper was photographed, the image was altered in Photoshop, and the beads went back to the package.”

Flickr in Lights 2

Arabic Poesie
Type and light.

Caligrafia na pele
Calligraphy on the body.

Daily Type
Hmmm, tasty!

Stephanie DeArmond - Gallery
Typographic sculptures.

Handwriting Videos

Sources and Resources

• Jalalaspages Calligraphical Album


• The Gallery of Calligraphy
  In Russian.


• DailyType.ru
  The showcase of Russian typographers.


• Handmade Typography Flickr Pool