Many people, myself
included, look at calligraphy as a complicated form of writing, something we
will only see in our Pinterest boards and YouTube videos of organized notes and DIY's. But, the
truth is, we are all just one step away from becoming beautiful artists who
have mastered the art of calligraphy ourselves. For my journey, I will be using
the "Complete Calligraphy" set by Hinkler, which includes: a book, a pencil,
kneadable eraser, a calligraphy pen, 4 nibs, 2 marker, 6 cartridges of ink, 2 metallic calligraphy markers, and
a T-square.
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Since I've never done
calligraphy before, I started with what is known as one of the simplest styles
for calligraphy: Italic. The point of teaching the italic alphabet to beginners
is so we will learn how to get the pen angle for calligraphy right, and understand
how a calligraphy pen is different from a normal pen. Since we learn that the
angle must stay consistent, Bennett tells us to hold the pen in one consistent
position and move the paper, not your hand or your arm. This will ensure a
uniform angle throughout your writing (56). I started off by perfecting my pen
angle before I started my letters. So, I made sure that I didn't move my position, and as I got better and better at it, I achieved a uniform angle. The book provided some practice that showed
me how to get my angle right. Although it was hard at first, I kept readjusting
the pen, paper, and what position I was in to make sure I got the angle down,
before I moved on to doing more complicated things, such as the alphabet and
words.
After I got my pen angle
right, I moved on to the actual letters. This book told me to make sure my
proportion according to the width of my pen was right, I had to, "...turn
the pen sideways and make five little marks, one on top of each other like a
stack of little bricks" (Bennett 58). So, I started off by tracing, and
then writing with dashes so I would write in straight lines. I got through
three lines of the alphabet before I stopped using lines, and used the five
dashes throughout my whole alphabet, until I thought I got the proportion
right.
Bennett said that I
should not have curly serifs, which are the “tails” at the ends of letters
(59). I refined my serifs, and practiced the alphabet a couple more times until I
did not need dashes or lines at all, and this is what my final product looked
like:
After reading this post,
do you feel as though you can now tackle calligraphy? Why or why
not?
Bennett, Jim. Calligraphy for Dummies. For Dummies,
2007. Print.
No, but I admire people who do and your letters are gorgeous. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteHello Mrs. Robison! Thank you so much for the compliment. This was my first time doing calligraphy, and I was a nervous since I’m generally not good at art. I’ve always wanted to do calligraphy, but I just don’t usually have the time. Do you think learning calligraphy can benefit one at school, or is it just a hobby?
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