Our own drawing, from the Alphabet Atlas letter set.
Old English letter L (and l)
The Old English letter L (blackletter) is written with a broad pen held at about forty-five degrees, so every stroke is thick where it goes down and thin where it goes across.
L and l in 4 colours
About the old english letter L
Blackletter L and l sit at position 12 of 26 in the alphabet. The lowercase l is made of the same short, straight, thick strokes (called minims) that give blackletter its dense, woven look. It has an ascender that reaches above the other letters.
The capital L is far more ornate than the lowercase and is built from several thick strokes with hairline flourishes. Capitals are meant for the start of a name or sentence, not for whole words; a word set in blackletter capitals is very hard to read.
The same shapes appear on diplomas, newspaper mastheads, tattoos and beer labels. For lettering in that style, copy the shape in the specimen above, then try the cursive converter on this site for Unicode text you can paste into a bio.
How to draw it, step by step
- Hold a broad-edge pen or marker at about forty-five degrees and keep that angle for the whole letter.
- Rule four guide lines: the baseline, the top of the lowercase letters and the ascender and descender lines. Stems should be about as tall as five nib widths.
- Draw the thick vertical strokes first, then add the hairline joins and the small diamond serifs at the top and bottom of each stem.
- Check the spacing: the white space between two stems should look about as wide as the stems themselves.
The thin letter underneath
Blackletter capitals and lowercase are drawn from a pen angle, not a skeleton, but this is the order a plain letter is built in:
- Start on the top line at the left side. Curve straight down, ending on the baseline at the right side.
Tips for Old English letters
- Keep the pen angle constant; turning the pen as you write ruins the thick-thin contrast.
- Space letters tightly and evenly; blackletter looks like woven cloth when the stems are regular.
- Practise the lowercase before the capitals; the capitals are decorative and easier once the rhythm is there.
Words that start with L
More about this letter
See the same letter in other styles: cursive l, cursive capital L, print l. Or use the old english generator for a whole word.
Questions about the old english letter L
How do you draw an old english letter L?
The Old English letter L (blackletter) is written with a broad pen held at about forty-five degrees, so every stroke is thick where it goes down and thin where it goes across.
Is the old english letter L free to use?
Yes. The l on this page was drawn for Alphabet Atlas, so you can print it and use it for school projects, posters, cards and notes. Please do not resell the artwork as a font.
How do I make a whole word in Old English letters?
Open the old english generator, type your text, choose colours and download a PNG with a transparent background.