Learning Calligraphic Type: The Art of Calligraphy Writing
Learning Calligraphy
I have always had good penmanship but did not learn the art of calligraphy until I was in my late 20's. Always an artist, learning calligraphy was just a natural extension of my art. I was also a budding sign designer, so learning calligraphy helped me learn other types of font styles.
I have used calligraphy to address envelopes, make signs, badges, artwork and sometimes I even use it in my everyday writing. In fact, I think calligraphy has somehow blended into my own handwriting, purely by default.
The first class I took in calligraphy was in college. It was actually a lettering class and calligraphy was one of the forms of type that we needed to learn by hand. Although I did learn some of the more fancy styles which took much more time, I developed my own style which I still use to this day. The artwork above is one of the pieces I did when I was creating lots of framed calligraphy for sale. I used marking pens to do the roses (just a very loose style - something I like to use in some of my artwork) and then I used a pre-made calligraphy pen to do the lettering (when I say pre-made I mean the pens that are already ready to write with) Although I can do calligraphy with a fountain pen and inkwell, I prefer the more modern pens. Much easier and less messy.
How to learn calligraphy
I became a very fast calligrapher
In the 90's I started using calligraphy a lot when I started painting Christmas windows. I used the edge of a foam brush just like the tip of a calligraphy pen to write "Happy Holidays", "Merry Christmas" and "Seasons Greetings" on customers windows. I got so proficient with the foam brush that I also learned how to use 3" and 6" foam rollers to also do these same greetings on large customer windows like 24 Hour Fitness and Trader Joe's.
To this day calligraphy remains one of my favorite type styles to use. It is beautiful, elegant and ads a nice flair to any written word.
For those that want to learn the art of calligraphy, there are many inexpensive sets that you can buy with pens and instructions already included. Calligraphy sets can also be bought through Amazon (see Amazon capsule here with some of the sets you can buy) And don't be afraid to try learning this art - all it takes is patience and a desire to learn. And lots of practice! Once you learn it though you will be hooked and find yourself using calligraphy in some, if not many, of your writing tasks.
@Copyright Dorsi Diaz 2011
(Dorsi Diaz is a freelance writer/publisher, artist and photographer. She has written over 150 articles here at HubPages on everything from art to poetry, climate change, conspiracy sites and gardening. Please check out some of my other hubs and I hope you enjoyed this piece on the art of calligraphy! Please subscribe to my RSS feed to be notified when I publish more hubs)
