Chinese Calligraphy Font Generator (Brush & Cursive Script)

Turn any text into a brush-style Chinese calligraphy image for free. Pick from 4 handwritten script fonts, adjust the color, background, and size, then download it as a PNG.

What is a Chinese calligraphy font?

This tool converts any text you type into a brush-style Chinese calligraphy image, using fonts modeled on running and cursive script. Because the fonts are based on real calligraphers' handwriting, the output reproduces the varying stroke weight and texture of an actual brush.

It's a quick way to create a handwritten-looking Chinese character logo for business cards, greeting cards, social media posts, or shop signage. All four fonts are designed primarily around Simplified Chinese, so for the most reliable results, type Simplified Chinese characters (or Japanese kanji that share the same shape).

How to use it

Type your text Enter the characters you want to render. Add a line break for a multi-line layout.
Pick a script style Choose from four styles: Flowing Running Script, Dynamic Cursive, Delicate Running Script, or Bold Brush Style.
Adjust color and size Fine-tune the text color, background (solid or transparent), and font size while watching the live preview.
Save the image Use "Download PNG" or "Copy image" to save or reuse the generated artwork.

Tips for getting more out of it

Short phrases render larger and let the brushwork stand out — 2 to 4 characters, like a name or a motto, usually looks best.
Choose a transparent background and download the PNG so you can layer the calligraphy over other designs, like greeting cards or social posts.
"Bold Brush Style" stays readable even at small sizes thanks to its thick strokes, while "Delicate Running Script" shows off its fine line variation best at larger sizes.
Add line breaks to lay the text out vertically like a hanging scroll — press Enter in the text box to start a new line.
Set the text color to a vermilion red (such as #c0392b) for a look reminiscent of a traditional seal stamp.

Use cases

New Year and seasonal greeting cards

Render a phrase like "Happy New Year" in a brush-style font to use as artwork for a greeting card.

Social media avatars and posts

Turn a name or motto into a calligraphy image for a distinctive social media avatar or post.

Shop and event signage

Use a hand-brushed character logo for a Chinese restaurant, calligraphy class, or event banner.

Gift cards and labels

Render a name or celebratory phrase to add to a gift card or product label.

Glossary

Running Script (行书): A semi-cursive style that loosens up Regular Script, connecting strokes so it can be written faster while staying fairly legible. It's the most common style in everyday calligraphy.
Cursive Script (草书): A further abbreviated style that omits and merges strokes even more than Running Script. Highly artistic but harder to read without training, it's often used for signatures and artists' seals.
Simplified Chinese: The standardized character set with reduced stroke counts officially used in mainland China. These fonts are primarily designed around this character set.
Traditional Chinese: The character set that preserves pre-simplification forms, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Many characters differ in shape from their Simplified counterparts.
Seal / chop (落款): A signature or stamped seal added after finishing a calligraphy or painting work, often in vermilion ink, used as a finishing accent.

Frequently asked questions

The fonts themselves are distributed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL), so you can use them freely, including commercially. That said, you're responsible for the text you type — avoid rendering someone else's trademark or logo text without permission.

All four fonts were primarily designed for Simplified Chinese. Characters unique to Traditional Chinese may not have a matching glyph and will fall back to your browser's default font. For reliable results, type Simplified Chinese characters.

Many Japanese kanji share the same shape as Simplified Chinese characters and will render in the calligraphy font. Hiragana and katakana aren't included in these fonts, so they'll display in a fallback font.

No. Rendering the text and generating the PNG image both happen entirely in your browser. Nothing you type or generate is ever sent to or stored on an external server.

"Flowing Running Script" and "Delicate Running Script" have smooth, connected strokes suited to elegant uses like invitations. "Dynamic Cursive" has the energetic, abbreviated look of cursive script, and "Bold Brush Style" uses thick strokes for a weighty, traditional calligraphy feel.

Side Note — The Five Script Styles of Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy is traditionally said to have five major script styles, each emerging in a different era: Seal Script, the oldest; Clerical Script, developed for practical record-keeping; Regular Script, close to everyday handwriting; Running Script, a faster, semi-cursive form of Regular Script; and Cursive Script, which abbreviates the strokes even further for artistic expression. The four fonts offered here all belong to the Running and Cursive Script families, which is why their strokes flow and connect so fluidly.

Cursive script can look illegible at first glance, but it isn't written arbitrarily — the abbreviations follow conventions long shared among calligraphers. Working within these conventions, historic masters still developed distinctive personal styles, and works like Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" are still studied as models more than a thousand years later.

Recreating calligraphic styles as digital fonts is itself a challenge — it brings the subtle pressure changes and ink bleed of a physical brush into the uniform world of character encoding. Ma Shan Zheng, Liu Jian Mao Cao, Zhi Mang Xing, and Long Cang, the four fonts used here, are all open-source fonts published by Google Fonts based on the actual handwriting of calligraphers, and anyone can use them for free, including for commercial purposes.

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