All About

LETTERING
Do you know that the word “text” is one of the letter
styles in drafting?

When Johannes Gutenburg printing press opened in

1450, his famous 42-line bible was printed in texture
black letter. That is the reason why some old books
are called black letter or in the Old English, TEXT.
Lettering has always been considered equal in
importance to drawing done in drafting. Before you
can illustrate your higher forms of drawing, you
must first learn how to do simple but legible
lettering.
 Technical Terms
-

2 kinds of letters in the alphabet

a. Uppercase or capital letters
b. Lowercase or small letters

3 groups of lowercase letters

a. Ascenders – are lowercase letters whose parts reach
the capline
b. Normal – are lowercase letters whose parts are
confined between the waistline and the baseline
c. Descenders – are lowercase letters whose stem
touches the dropline
 Elements of Guidelines
Guidelines are thin lines which serve as guide to ensure uniform
height and width of letters. Guidelines are important in lettering.

CAPLINE – the uppermost thin line

BASELINE – the line where all
where uppercase and ascender
letters rest except descenders like
letters must reach. Examples are
g.
letters D, f and t.

WAISTLINE – the line between the

capline and baseline. This is the DROPLINE – the line below the
height of the lowercase letters base where all lowercase
belonging to the normal and descender letters must stop.
ascender group like r,a,i, and n.
Evolution of
Letters
The table depicts
the development
of letters from its
earliest form to
the present-day
alphabet.
 Order of Strokes
Basic strokes forming each letter clearly.
Alibata
Activity 1
1. In ½ CW, write your name in Alibata. Remember
that names with letters C,V,J,Z, and X should be
written as is.

Assignment
1. Project No. 1-Download and secure a copy of
Lettering Exercises 1-8.
2. Project No. 2 (to be posted)