type designers usually start with drawing letters by hand, in fact. this is how it's taught to MA students at the university of reading and at the royal academy in the hague, NL (i.e. the most respected programs that churn out designers to places like monotype). even (especially?) in preliminary sketching phases done with pencil, the drawing method used is specifically meant to best mimic the stroke made with traditional tools.
when it comes to more ornate lettering -- like a script -- hand tools are even more common to start with. it's a bit less common for someone to finish a script before digitizing it and making it suitable for the screen (usually you do a few key letters by hand and can figure out the rest on a computer from there), but it does still happen more than you seem to think.