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Preview on US Letter in the Travel style. The PDF uses exactly the same drawing.

Creative & Travel

Printable Lettering Practice Sheets

Guide sheets for brush lettering, modern calligraphy and cursive: rows of ascender, x-height, baseline and descender lines with the x-height band shaded, crossed by slant lines at the angle you choose.

Customize This Template Download a free PDF

What you can customize

  • Letter height
  • Ascender height (× x-height)
  • Slant angle (°)
  • Slant line spacing

Works well in

All page sizes, from Passport to A4

Try it in another style

Start from a preset

  • Brush pen lettering, 8 mm, US Letter For large brush pens, with slant lines at 55°. Open in the maker →
  • Small brush pen practice, 5 mm More rows for small brush and fine-tip pens. Open in the maker →
  • Copperplate calligraphy guide, 55° Small x-height with tall ascenders, for pointed pen. Open in the maker →
  • Upright lettering without slant lines, A4 Large guide rows for print-style hand lettering. Open in the maker →

How the guide lines work

Each row has four lines:

  • ascender line for the tops of letters like b, d and h;
  • x-height line and baseline, with the band between them shaded, for the body of lowercase letters;
  • descender line for the tails of g, p and y.

Ascender height sets the space above and below the x-height band as a multiple of it, from 0.6 to 1.6. The slant lines cross every row so you can keep downstrokes parallel.

Printing it

  1. Choose a preset and Download PDF → Reading order.
  2. Print at 100% (Actual size) so the x-height is exactly what you set.
  3. Laminate a sheet or put it in a sheet protector to practise with a brush pen and wipe it clean.

Free sample PDFs

Print at 100% (actual size). Made with the same engine as the maker, so the spacing is exact.

  • Lettering Practice Sheet, US Letter (1 page) PDF ↓
  • Lettering Practice Sheet, A4 (1 page) PDF ↓

Frequently asked questions

What x-height should I use for my brush pen?

As a rule of thumb, larger brush pens suit 7–10 mm and small brush pens 4–6 mm. Set Letter height from 4 to 15 mm and try a test row before printing a stack.

What slant angle is common?

Modern brush lettering and Copperplate are often practised at about 55° from the horizontal; set Slant angle between 45° and 75°. A higher number means a more upright letter.

Can I remove the slant lines?

Yes. Set Slant line spacing to 0 for horizontal guide lines only.

Do brush pens fray on printer paper?

Rough copy paper can wear brush tips. Print on smooth paper, such as 32 lb laser paper, or slip a printed sheet under tracing or marker paper and practise on top.

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