What if we could produce Chinese calligraphy, with a click of a mouse? Online Chinese calligraphy generators are important digital tools for both the enjoyment and practice of this time honored tradition. We’ve narrowed down the best chinese calligraphy font generators for everyone from beginners to experienced calligraphers.
One of the best ways for a calligrapher to learn is by copying calligraphy fonts from renowned calligraphers. Both beginning and advanced calligraphers use well known calligraphy works as templates, finding styles to adopt or learn from. A few calligraphy generators function as archives for the work of famous calligraphers, with the added benefit of being a working template.
A few of the best sites are entirely in Chinese but are easily searchable calligraphy models or templates, even for those with little Chinese literacy.
Chinese Sites
Most of the Chinese sites can distinguish between both traditional and simplified Chinese.
Supfree Converter
Our favorite dictionary-type calligraphy site, Supfree provides a convenient access to major calligraphy conversions. Characters can only be input one at a time, however the site generates model calligraphy in each major font style.
Loading times are fairly long but separate images from different schools of calligraphy are loaded and can be saved down as image files clear of watermarks.
Cidianwang
Also one of our most frequently used resources, Cidianwang allows input of multiple characters at once, though the output shows the calligraphy generated for each character on separate lines.
Akuziti Converter
An easy to use copy/paste solution, Akuziti has a visually simple interface useful for non Chinese speakers. Single, multiple characters or even a paragraph can be converted using the input box. Choose one of the fonts (either in the dropdown menu or by clicking on the samples at the bottom), then size, color, and toggle the box for a transparent png file.
Shufazidian
Shufazidian is a Chinese calligraphy generator where characters are taken from original text. Characters have to be entered one at a time, and the image includes the background of the source. The dynasty and name of the text sources are included. Unfortunately a watermark is on all images, though sometimes faint.
Our favorite function of this site is actually the seal script generator (篆刻), where a string of text can be converted into one seal image. Just enter your desired text into the 2nd input box here:
English Sites
All of the English sites contain additional fonts that are not standard traditional calligraphy fonts. Rather many of them are simply stylized fonts.
Chinese-Tools
The tool allows quick conversion of simplified Chinese to traditional Chinese fonts and vice versa. There are other fonts available in additional to calligraphy. The site does not automatically detect whether the input is in simplified or traditional Chinese, but it will convert the characters based on the input group chosen. (There is a key defining the appropriate group)
Menu options provide a choice of size, orientation (vertical versus horizontal), and direction (right to left or vice versa). It’s possible to upload several characters or a block of text at once and receive the corresponding image. Results are available in an image file for download.
ChineseTools.eu
For simplified characters only, the site is a speedy font generator rather than pure Chinese calligraphy generator. It converts simplified characters into traditional Chinese but has difficulty accepting traditional Chinese characters as input (some characters don’t show up). It is capable of converting characters simultaneously. However, the longer the phrase or sentence, the output does not wrap and viewing them requires scrolling continuously to the right.
Free Chinese Fonts
This site offers several fonts for download sourced from the around the web. Both traditional and simplified fonts are available. On the calligraphy pages, our favorite styles are the 黃自元楷體 and 海藏楷體.
Conclusion
Whether you need a handy resource for looking up calligraphy styles or just want instant calligraphy gratification, look no further than these sites!
Do you have any other favorite calligraphy generators?