How To Learn Calligraphy
When I was about 8 my mum booked for me to go to a calligraphy workshop at our local museum, but when we tipped up it turned out it had been the week before. This, quite unreasonably, is something I’ve never quite been able to get over. Since then I’ve fawned over all types of calligraphy from medieval manuscripts to my best friend’s handwriting.I’ve recently realised that actually learning calligraphy could cure my burgeoning quote print obsession and save a lot of money on birthday cards. Plus, I’d get to scratch that 18 year itch. So, on something of a whim, I booked onto the first calligraphy class within a 100 mile radius I could find.
The winner was Judy Broad’s two and a half hour calligraphy workshop in Cobham (she hosts others in Wandsworth too). I don’t want to bore you with the ins and outs, just know it was an engrossing and therapeutic afternoon in a shed full of brides. So addictive was it that I went straight home, got out a chopping board (still eagerly awaiting an actual desk) and started practising.Whether you want a new hobby, an alternative to adult colouring books, to become more self-sustainable with your cards and gifts or, like me, have a calligraphy-based childhood trauma, it is a craft I recommend trying out.There’s no need to fork out for a course straight away; I’ve included Judy’s top tips, the basics of starting out and my amateur observations to help you get going at home...(I have used some of Judy's images as they are more inspiring than my own scralls. I have credited these throughout).
Six Tips For Starting Out In Calligraphy
1) Don’t hold a pen like I hold a pen
The positioning of the nib is vital for creating the right lines. Firstly, the nib should lie parallel to the paper. When you’re holding the pen, the full tip of the nib should be touching the paper, en pointe like a ballerina. I had a tendency to hold it flat and on one side, like my 6th form self in cheap Ugg boots. This led to a first hour of corrections from Judy. Keep the end of the pen high, but not too high, to achieve this - you want it resting on the knuckle of your finger like so:
2) It’s all about pressure
I’m not sure what I thought made the pretty shapes, but it turns out pressure is key. On downstrokes you apply more pressure, creating a thick line, on upstrokes you apply to pressure, creating a thin line. In principal, yes, that’s easy, but measuring your pressure and knowing when to apply it is where the art form comes in. As you can see from my practice strokes, inconsistency is a constant danger. Pressure in the wrong place can make ugly blotches, and not enough pressure in upstrokes can cause gapping. An hour in and practising letters, however, and you begin to get your eye in and feel how it should flow.
3) Think narrow, and think oval
I have included my practice A’s here because I think they look rather like those diagrams of the evolution of man (if nothing else take from this how quickly and easily you can see improvements). I had a tendency to make my letters too big and spacious, whereas Judy’s are all neat and narrow. Once I noticed that was where I was going wrong, I kept checking myself to keep things narrow and that really helped.
Your key shape in calligraphy is the oval. Ovals are super beautiful. Wobbly circles are not. Whether it was my first weird A or my attempts at flourishing, I have this tendency to round everything rather than make them ovular. Practise making oval shapes, and then give me some tips on how to do it).
4) They’re not letters, they’re strokes
On our course we learnt by doing to fundamental strokes that build up the letters. Once we got to the letters, I realised how important that was. When you go freestyle on a letter you can get the pressure all wrong and over-compensate with the flourishes leading to a word which resembles a three year old let loose with a make up bag (.i.e., a mess). However, when you think of a letter as a capital stroke combined with an oval, you know how to put it together.
5) It’s allowed to take your pen off the paper!
When I was taught handwriting in year 2, we could NEVER take our little HB pencils off the paper. But, revelation alert, to make beautiful flowy calligraphy writing it’s RECOMMENDED. In order to make sure each letter is perfect and built from your lovely strokes, take the pen off after each letter. Judy recommends you take the ‘tail of the letter to the mid-point of the line, and take a breath before joining the next letter to it. This helps you to think about what’s coming, and avoid scrawling by moving too quickly.
6) Look online for inspiration
One of Judy’s tips was to watch videos and look at inspiration on Pinterest - when she took up calligraphy years after learning it at school, that’s what she did. If you are starting out at home, watching how a professional moves and holds the pen is really really useful. Judy recommends following Molly Jacques, Laura Hooper, Molly Suber Thorpe and Paul Antonio. 