If you want to learn calligraphy, but do not know where to start, then this article is for you. It will tell you what accessories you need, how to hold the pen correctly, some tricks, and how to practice. Trust me, you will quickly become a pro!
Everyone can learn calligraphy. Even if you think your handwriting is disgusting, there is someone who wants you to sign wedding invitations with a fountain pen. People especially like modern calligraphy because it blatantly ignores traditional rules and emphasizes individuality.
First of all, you need to learn artificial calligraphy.
Fake Calligraphy is a great cursive that you can use to learn how to use a fountain pen. Although, to be honest, it is technically not “fake”. It's still calligraphy, it just doesn't need a fountain pen. It doesn't matter if you are an experienced calligrapher or just starting out, fake calligraphy is a very important technique with which you will learn how to write on any surface.
This type of calligraphy is more time consuming than fountain pen calligraphy. However, if you have to write a simple phrase, then this technique will seem fun to you and you will love the excellent result that you can achieve with it.
So, first write your phrase in plain italics. Don't worry if you don't write in the way shown in the sample below - just write as good as you can. This technique works with almost all connected letters.
Then you need to draw lines to indicate the bumps. They appear when your hand moves downward to create part of the letter. For example, in the letter “a,” the first curve on the left is a thickening, then you drag your pen to the right and down again to indicate the right leg of the letter “a,” and another thickening appears there.
When you have defined all the bumps, just fill in the empty spaces.
Fake calligraphy is a fun and easy way to understand calligraphy. By the way, people often cannot distinguish fake calligraphy from real one.
Now that you have practiced your fake calligraphy, you can move on and purchase a straight pen holder.
For beginners, it is better to use a plastic or cork holder, it will be more cost-effective.
Then you will need feathers.
These are the three nibs that are best for beginners:
- feather Brause Steno
- feather Brause Rose
- pen Brause Extra Fine 66
Once you've purchased a pen, you'll want to insert it into the holder.
You will need to carefully make a wedge, as shown in the photo above, which will be located between the outer metal circle and the petals on the inside. It seems to you that the feather should be in the middle, but it is not.
Always hold the middle of the nib and avoid the teeth, because they are sharp and can hurt you ... just as you can bend them if you inadvertently squeeze them harder than you need to.
Then select the paper.
You can use sketch paper or any paper that is suitable for calligraphy because of its ink absorption quality. If the paper absorbs too much, then you will end up with an ink web around the letters.
You will also need ink.
For beginners, Speedball India Inks or Sumi Inks are best. Many people try Higgins, but they give that awful cobweb effect mentioned above.
The last thing you need to do is prepare water for rinsing the pen.... You must clean it every couple of minutes.
You are now ready to learn how to hold the pen! For modern calligraphy, you can hold the nib just like a normal pen. Only the fountain pen needs to be held tighter. Hold it with your thumb and forefinger, use your middle finger for support and a tighter grip, and use your ring and pinky fingers for support.
You are now ready to write! Dip your nib into the ink up to the middle of the hole (the hole is that hole in the middle of your nib).
The most important difference between fountain pens and regular pens is that the nib should slide over the paper and should not be pressed down like you would with a regular pen. Otherwise, the nib will catch on the paper and you will end up with ink splashes. Watch this short video to show you how to hold a fountain pen and handle ink.
As a beginner, you may find yourself in a situation where ink will refuse to transfer from pen to paper. There is a simple trick to persuade him to do this: just “kiss” the tip of your feather to the water and try again. The ink should now behave just fine!
If the ink is old and clogging up the nib, let it sit in the water for a few seconds, then wipe it off with a soft cloth that leaves no thread behind.
With this article we are opening a series of articles about calligraphy! We will be publishing various techniques and tutorials soon, so stay tuned and become a true professional in the art of calligraphy.
Calligrapher- an artist who knows the art of beautiful writing. The profession is suitable for those who are interested in drawing (see choosing a profession by interest in school subjects).
Features of the profession
Calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing, a form of fine art.
If a specialist not only owns calligraphic handwriting, but also the art of a draftsman, illustrator, can develop a font himself, he is called an artist-calligrapher, a type artist. Calligraphy is usually used as one of the design tools by graphic artists and graphic designers.
Before the spread of printing, the art of calligraphy was of particular importance in both European and Eastern culture. Book scribes strived to make the letters not only readable, but also beautiful. We developed and mastered fonts, verified to the smallest detail. The expressiveness of the letters gave the texts additional aesthetic value. And even compensated for the lack of illustrations.
For example, in Islamic countries, where the image of a person was prohibited, on the basis of calligraphy, the richest ornamental compositions were created, including plant, geometric and even pictorial elements.
When printing houses appeared, calligraphy remained in demand for rewriting and drawing up documents, as well as as a decorative technique.
Over time, documents began to be printed on a typewriter, and then on a computer. In everyday life, it is not the beauty of handwriting that is important, but the ability to write quickly and legibly. Calligraphy has lost its practical significance and finally passed into the category of decorative art.
Calligraphy is still owned by engravers, graphic designers, illustrators, etc.
In its pure form, calligraphy is used less and less, it is being replaced by operational computer printing with the ability to choose any font you like. True, these fonts are developed, again, by calligraphers.
Calligraphers also draw up lists, guest cards for gala receptions and press conferences, draw up invitations, congratulatory addresses, etc.
The calligrapher's lettering is always unique because exists in a single copy. Therefore, when you receive a wedding invitation by mail, skillfully written by hand, you immediately understand that the celebration is planned to be unforgettable.
So there are still many connoisseurs of this art.
For all the rarity of the profession, many people, and not necessarily artists, strive to master calligraphy. Why? Apparently, because calligraphy is one of the forms of meditation, self-contemplation.
There are various calligraphy techniques, art styles and fonts.
For example, Chinese calligraphy involves the use of a brush. And in European calligraphy, ink is applied with a pen.
When writing letters, everything is important: the tilt of the pen, and the pressure, and the correct position of the body.
A beginner calligrapher learns these subtleties, masters the strokes, elements, the simplest letters, the laws of proportions of fonts and pages, then proceeds to the study of drop caps, monograms, fonts of various styles.
Workplace
Calligraphers can work in design studios, work independently selling their work, collaborate with publishing houses, government protocol services, etc.
Important qualities
The profession of a calligrapher assumes artistic taste, the ability to draw, an eye, developed fine motor skills, a tendency to painstaking work, accuracy.
Knowledge and skills
A calligrapher must be fluent in the chosen writing technique, the principles of graphic and font composition.
Calligrapher training
The art of calligraphy can be studied in paid calligraphy courses. There are calligraphy courses in various directions in Moscow: from European to Chinese, Japanese, etc.
Ballpoint pen calligraphy is not considered an art, but mastering the basics allows you to develop beautiful, neat handwriting. You can learn how to write in calligraphic handwriting on your own. To do this, it is enough to regularly perform the necessary exercises and follow certain rules.
Calligraphy art
Experienced calligraphers do not recognize a ballpoint pen as being suitable for this art form. Nonetheless, ballpoint pen calligraphy has recently been widely used. This technique is often used to create invitation cards, postcards, notebooks or photo albums. Such activities will also help you learn how to write in beautiful, calligraphic handwriting.
It happens that a person does not like the way he writes, or the parents are unhappy with their child's handwriting. It's easy to fix it yourself. The process will not require much time, and the result will be noticeable after just a few days of training.
Such "fake calligraphy" allows you to correct handwriting deficiencies at any age, and in addition, it provides an opportunity to master the basic skills for further practicing this ancient art.
How to learn to write beautifully?
Changing your handwriting requires patience and perseverance. The point is not that it will take a lot of time, but that the exercises themselves require painstaking, monotonous work, leisurely, which not everyone is capable of. First of all, you need to determine how free the hand movements are when writing. To do this, you need to look at the following features:
- the presence of letter decorations (all kinds of curls, underlines, and the like);
- spacing between letters and lines;
- slate strokes.
If the hand is too tense while writing, the letters will be of different sizes, angular, the distance between them will also be uneven, and the hand will get tired quickly enough. For handwritten text to look beautiful and graceful, the letters must be even, rounded, smooth, and the spacing must be the same. To do this, you need to try to work not only with the hand and fingers, but also with the whole hand, including the shoulder.
Hand gymnastics is the first and very important stage. Memorable from childhood "we wrote, we wrote, our fingers are tired" will allow you to stretch your fingers. Do not forget about the entire hand, wrist, shoulder.
After the hands are "on alert", you can proceed directly to the exercises.
- For beginners, regular school recipes work well. The letters presented there should not be simply copied mechanically. They are broken down into separate components in order to make it easier to understand which of the elements cause the greatest difficulties for writing, and to pay special attention to them.
- You need to write out the letters smoothly, without rushing, achieving the most accurate reproduction. Without going to words, and even more so - whole sentences, you must first learn how to write the alphabet beautifully, pay attention to capital letters.
- As soon as the reproduction of letters at a low speed begins to work out, you need to increase the writing rate - this will allow you to achieve automatism in the movements. A person engaged in writing does not think about how he writes and what actions he performs. In order for the new handwriting to "take root", the acquired skills must be honed to the same level.
- Performing the exercises, you need to monitor the size of the letters (it should be the same), their slope, the endings of words (which strive to "move" up or down), the distance between words, as well as punctuation marks. They will also need to learn how to display them in a new way.
- During workouts, you can use a regular ballpoint pen, gel or fountain pen, you can take a simple pencil - whoever likes what. The tools are selected independently based on personal preference.
Fundamental rules
To make your handwriting beautiful, you need to follow certain rules:
- correct fit: the back is straight, the arms (except for the elbows) are on the table, the head is slightly tilted forward, so that there is at least 30 cm between the eyes and the paper;
- the handle should be held with three fingers no closer (and no further) than one and a half centimeters from the rod;
- regular exercise: 10-30 minutes every day;
- repeat the exercises slowly, without haste.
Compliance with these simple requirements will allow you to develop an elegant calligraphic handwriting at any age.
Despite the total computerization, the demand for calligraphic, hand-made lettering is not decreasing, but on the contrary growing. Maybe the fact is that the Russian language "lives" only in handwritten texts that convey its soul? Perhaps. One way or another, the art of calligraphy not only does not give up its positions, but also conquers more and more fans who are ready to learn to write anew, just to master this ancient technique.
For basic calligraphy exercises, see the following video.
Dotorg studio knows how to inspire their type friend. Experimentally or beautifully - the third is not given, and it is not necessary. This time in the references - Doyald Young. Somewhere inside, fanfare sounded: let's make beauty!
Left to right: two references - works by Emmele Laura and Doyald Young (1926-2011); another work of your favorite designer and himself.
Sketching tools
Sometimes I start with pencil sketches of the skeleton, sometimes I immediately work with real tools. There is a third approach, when labor instruments are imitated with simpler tools (pencil, liner). I don't really like him: knowing the behavior of a pen or brush by heart, it can be convincingly reproduced, but interesting accidents and finds will pass by.
I needed a strong contrast, and I took the brushpen.
Non-trivial Cyrillic
The eternal problem of any inscription in Russian: how to keep the rhythm and not get a fence. Many designers find the Cyrillic alphabet unbearable - indeed, there are not so many outlined letters in it, and especially the upper ones. In order for the eye to have something to catch on, I try to make outlines for all the letters that allow it: well, at the end of a word, sometimes I take it outside the main lines d. Where there is a choice: d, p - I take it up.
Rendering
I tweak the scanned and aligned sketches a little more, enlarge and print large. I translate it onto thin paper and begin to draw everything in detail with a pencil. I work on individual fragments again on tracing paper.
With a pencil and any other living instrument in my hand, I feel like a painter throwing paint onto a canvas. But emotions are the enemy of all clean copies :) Therefore, I finish with the paper, when about the inscription, sometimes dirty and blurry, you can say: “I like it!”. In the vector, I will change a lot, compare options. There my inner perfectionist will take its toll.
Ready fonts from doubts
I love drawing letters from scratch, but sometimes the ready-made fonts help me work out some details. This time I began to doubt how to increase the thickness in d, at what height to finish the first stroke in the letter z. I found the Cyrillic version of a beautiful font - Roundhand, looked at how these letters look there, and got a lot of valuable advice. Thank you, Paratype!
Orthodox vectoring
I take a pen and draw curves. Points at extreme points: west, north, east, south. The mustache lies horizontally, or vertically, or parallel to the guides. And now I move, move, move. I reflect vertically, I reflect horizontally. Black on white, white on black. I move, I move, I move.
At the first sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder, I remember James Victor and his Feck Perfuction: https://youtu.be/SVw5e6EYFUg
The final
I type, smell, look from afar.
I look at the printout with a fresh eye and take notes. I go back to the file, fix some details. More rounder here, sharper there ... where are you, James ?!
I'm handing over the final version. Today I will not dream of dots jumping in half-pixel increments. Unless, of course, you urgently need some beautiful or experimental lettering! ;)
Calligraphy - the art of writing beautifully - has existed since time immemorial, almost as long as writing itself existed. By the nineteenth century, there were many schools of beautiful writing in the world. With the advent of printing presses and ballpoint pens, calligraphy almost became a waste of time. But, oddly enough, today it not only has not lost its importance, but has also become a very popular area of activity.
This hobby not only develops fine motor skills of hands and an aesthetic sense, but also allows you to earn money. Therefore, if you know how to write in an unusual and graceful handwriting, you can turn your skill into a source of constant profit. Even if your handwriting is poor, calligraphy can be learned pretty quickly - patience and daily practice will allow you to improve your handwriting in record time. For this, many manuals have been developed, video tutorials and exercise complexes have been created. Some people learn calligraphy by copying the fonts they like. This is also an effective way to master the basics of this art in the shortest possible time.
How to apply your skill to write beautifully?
It's actually very simple. There are many uses of calligraphy in the modern world. The easiest and most obvious way to capitalize on this: by learning yourself, you can teach others - handwriting correction courses will be in demand if you organize their promotion wisely.
Writing invitations and greeting cards for weddings, anniversaries and other occasions with creative calligraphic lettering will help make them unique. Filling out all kinds of official and unofficial documents in elegant handwriting is another opportunity to earn money.
In addition, calligraphy can be used to decorate the menu of a restaurant or cafe, packaging for handmade goods, business cards and posters. Some printing houses still employ people who, if necessary, design certain products with calligraphic inscriptions.
If you have basic programming and design skills, you can easily use your talent to create unique designer fonts. Subsequently, they can be used in the design of websites and landing pages. Handwritten brand logos are as valuable today as exclusive fonts.
The production of gravestones, memorial plates and tablets, artistic sculptural compositions is also not complete without calligraphy. You can also show your skill as a calligrapher on television. Calligraphic elements are also used to decorate the interior and exterior of buildings using graffiti. Beautiful lettering can be the basis for a stylish tattoo or body art.
Wherever you start, it will not be superfluous to compile a portfolio of your work and place it online, including on social networks, and send it to wedding consultants, offices and other interested organizations in your city.
What you need to work with calligraphy
First of all, to start a calligraphy business, you need some working tools. Alas, a really high quality tool is not so easy to find nowadays. In addition, the cost of a quality calligraphic pen can be very high. But tools for a beginner calligrapher can still be obtained easier and cheaper.
Some craftsmen even manage to make simple writing instruments with their own hands from ordinary tin. You can experiment yourself and cut your first feather from a soda can. In calligrapher circles, a self-made pen of this kind has received the slang name "colapen" (from the English cola pen). Writing such a tool is not much worse than the factory counterparts, but it looks funny and unusual.
The most widespread, financially affordable and relatively high-quality feather brands on the domestic market are Zvezdochka and Leonardt. Old feathers inherited from grandfathers and grandmothers are also quite suitable.
Writing pens can be roughly divided into two categories:
- pointed - usually used for writing texts "with pressure", allow you to create inscriptions with a smoothly varying line width;
- wide-end - used for fonts with strict wide lines, can have a blank holder.
If you don't have a canister, you can easily build it yourself - from the same can of cola. There are also special feathers for left-handers - they are beveled from right to left, while regular feathers are from left to right.
Modern nibs have built-in ink cartridges - usually replaceable. Since it can be expensive to purchase cartridges for some imported models on a regular basis, experienced calligraphers recommend refilling them with ink yourself. This can be done with a syringe. Those nibs that do not have cartridges are refueled directly in the process of work - experienced calligraphers do not dip them into the inkwell, but apply ink with a special brush, which makes it possible to dispense it more efficiently.
The nib should naturally fit into the holder.
Holders are subdivided into
- straight;
- inclined.
The latter are designed to work with pointed nibs. They provide a correct slope for writing and a smoother line edge.
Calligraphy brushes are also worth mentioning. They can be used with ink or paints of various colors and are analogous to feathers. Like a pen, a brush can be pointed or broad-nibbled, but, unlike it, provides much more flexibility and softness of lines. The brush has traditionally been used as a calligraphy tool in China and Japan. To this day, Chinese brushes are considered the best.
A few words should also be said about paper and ink. The texture of the paper is just as important to creating a graceful lettering as a quality tool. For exercise and work, plain paper used in offices is fine. The main thing is that the paper is not too grainy or too thin. As for mascara, the market offers many foreign and domestic brands, of which Gamma and KOH-I-NOOR are suitable for beginners. If the ink or paint you are using is too thick, thin it with water.
Modern trends in calligraphy
Today, calligraphy, as already mentioned, is used in various fields of activity and has managed to turn into a kind of art. Modern calligraphy is characterized by decorativeness, which is often achieved by distorting the inscription. Severe distortion is unacceptable in documents, but it is quite applicable in design, logos, graffiti and the like.
In addition to the pen and brush, you can use a regular ballpoint pen, paint spray, charcoal and many other materials for calligraphy. Quality office paper is also not the only material suitable for calligraphy. Dutch calligrapher Niels Mölmann manages to put on whole shows using a regular paint roller and a broom dipped in paint for writing, creating graffiti on the walls of houses, writing on fabrics and carpets.
Some artists create true calligraphic masterpieces on textiles, cars, glass and metal surfaces, and even ordinary napkins. Recently, such directions of calligraphy as lettering, creation of decorative inscriptions from various materials, tagging and others have become fashionable. Despite the fact that most of the traditional national schools of calligraphy have disappeared today and are found only in the form of museum pieces, this art lives in new forms. Having lost the characteristic features of national cultures, the skill of creating graceful inscriptions became eclectic and turned into a unique way of self-expression.
Mar 5, 2017 Sergey
