Cursive Italic

The word ‘Cursive’ means flowing scripts, or joined up rhythmic handwriting.  The cursive italic is a variant form of the basic italic style, as with Renaissance Italic.  The cursive italic resembles flowing or joined up handwriting, but instead of using a normal writing pen, the calligraphy pen is used instead.  The reason this style was born is because of the writing speed and efficiency.  The pen does not leave the page; so writing words and letters are quicker and smoother.  Letters are normally joined up together by using thinner diagonal strokes of the pen.

Experimenting With Writing Cursive Italic Calligraphy

Learning to write cursive italic calligraphy is quite easy.  You can write cursive italic calligraphy and experiment with various letter heights, sloping angles and the weight of the letters.  When you practice writing cursive italic calligraphy, this will help you develop a rhythm to your work.  You can start by writing with a normal pen, to form ‘skeleton letters’ before writing with a calligraphy pen.  You can apply long, elegant ascenders and descenders to add extra effects to your work, or writing big, graceful capital letters to really set off your work.

Cursive Italic Calligraphy Styles

You can use cursive italic calligraphy in so many ways, for example labelling jars with home made preserves to give a personal touch, or writing a simple short poem, with faint watercolour washes and tints for a colourful backdrop.

Experimenting With Letter Sizes

Many people write italic cursive styles by writing small letters, ending a sentence with a long elegant stroke, and beginning another sentence with more swirls and writing large graceful capital letters to set off the art work.  However, evenly sized letters and plainer styles can be used for everyday handwriting.

Basic Rules To Writing Cursive Italic

As a rule, you will need to practice holding a calligraphy pen nib at a constant angle of about 40 to 45 degrees to produce pleasing calligraphy work.  This will help your technique.  You can use the picture guide of the cursive italic alphabet, shown below, to copy your work, or you may prefer to print the picture out, and use it as a template to trace the letters to help you practice.

You can use any pen nib width or even use a simple Biro to write the cursive italic style.  You can also experiment with coloured inks, coloured pencils and washes to set off your work.