Certain specialty paper with high ink absorption and constant texture enables cleaner lines, although parchment or vellum is often used, as a knife can be used to erase imperfections and a light-box is not needed to allow lines to pass through it. Writing ink is usually water-based and is much less viscous than the oil-based inks used in printing. There are some styles of calligraphy, such as Gothic script, that require a stub nib pen. However, works have also been created with felt-tip and ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. For some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens-steel brushes-can be used. Calligraphy pens write with nibs that may be flat, round, or pointed. The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush. It is also used for props and moving images for film and television, and also for testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works. Ĭalligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding invitations and event invitations, font design and typography, original hand-lettered logo design, religious art, announcements, graphic design and commissioned calligraphic art, cut stone inscriptions, and memorial documents. Classical calligraphy differs from type design and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both. Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable.

: 17 A contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as 'the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner'.

It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Calligraphy (from Greek: καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing.

Letter m in calligraphy