Calligraphy See You Again Calligraphy Online

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Welcome back for some other tutorial!

This is a beginners guide for those looking to acquire more about mod calligraphy.

Hither is a brief sum up well-nigh what you lot are going to learn in this tutorial –

1. What is modern calligraphy, and how information technology differs from traditional calligraphy?
2. What tools do yous demand for mod calligraphy – recommendations.
3. How to starting time with mod calligraphy? Basic strokes
4. A few fundamental rules well-nigh modernistic calligraphy to keep in heed.
5. Costless downloadable practice sheets.
6. Popular modern calligraphy techniques – three different styles in order to get y'all started!
7. BONUS – How to effectively practice modern calligraphy.

Without any further delays, let's begin!

What is modern calligraphy?

Modernistic calligraphy is whatsoever calligraphy style that does not follow the fundamental rules of traditional calligraphy scripts such as Copperplate, Spencerian, Italic, Blackletter, etc. Modern calligraphy relies on sure principles of traditional calligraphy. Still, it can provide you lot with more creative liberty.

How does mod calligraphy differ from traditional calligraphy?

You come across,

Traditional calligraphic scripts (such as the ones mentioned above) are governed by specific, structured, private strokes that course different messages.

Let'southward have a look at some examples.

This is an case of the Copperplate script--

Here is another case of the Spencerian script –

Finally here is another example of broad-edged script – the Italic hand.

Traditional scripts are done with specific tools, and with precise measures of heights and angles.

On the other mitt modern calligraphy has more freedom in it's performance.

Don't get me wrong,

you can't just scribble whatever you lot desire on a piece of paper and call it calligraphy.

There are some basic basis rules that should be practical in lodge to maintain a visual harmony.

These rules may seem complicated and overwhelming especially for beginners, however, I strongly urge you to stick to them and learn how to do calligraphy properly from the very get-go.

I will do my best and effort to stick to the very essentials in order to make an easier learning experience for you.

Before we spring to these rules, let's have a quick overview on the tools that we demand!

What tools practice i need for modern calligraphy?

Now that we know the bones divergence between traditional calligraphy and modernistic calligraphy, information technology's time to review some of the essential items that we will demand.

Modern calligraphy tin can exist practiced with a whole variety of different tools, such as –

• Castor pens
• Classic dip pens
• Pencil
• Markers
• Broad nib pens (Parallel Pen)

Nevertheless, if yous are a full beginner i would advise you start practicing with a brush pen but because it is much easier to learn how to work with compared to the traditional dip pen.

Don't worry,

I am also going to recommend specific products so you don't have to waste product time looking around for them.

Here is a list of some of the nigh popular tools for modern calligraphy

1. Brush pens!

As i only mentioned, the brush pens are the easiest tool to first off with.

The reason is that the brush pen has a flexible (felt) pecker which allows you to create nice thick and sparse lines with ease.

This is essential for calligraphy, and we are going to come to that part right after the tool recommendations.

Here is a recommendation for brush pens –

• Tombow Dual Tip brush pen
• Tombow Fudenosuke
• Crayola Markers
• Ecoline brush pens
• Lyra brush pens
• Artline Stix
• Pentel fude touch sign pen
• Sharpie brush pens

If you desire to find out more about the different kinds of brush pen, you can check out this review mail service.

In this commodity, I reviewed the different characteristics of some of the all-time brush pens on the market.

2. Traditional dip pens

Traditional dip pens consist of 2 parts –

1. The nib
2. The holder

The holder tin can either exist a direct holder or an oblique holder (cheque the image below)

Working with dip pens takes a bit longer to learn, and here is why –

When you work with a dip pen you need to agree it on a specific angle in gild for the tines of the nib to open up equally, thus creating a thicker stroke (aka shade).

On top of that, you need to hold it on a sure angle in order to avoid your tip getting stuck in the paper when you create hairlines (sparse upstrokes).

We besides take a dedicated tutorial on how to get started with dip pen calligraphy if you lot desire to find out more than near information technology.

Essentially you can buy the parts separately only since i constantly see many beginners struggling with this, i would recommend yous to take this calligraphy set past Manuscript.

As you tin run across in the picture to a higher place, this fix comes with an oblique holder, the nibs (with dandy flexibility)  and a bottle of ink.

This is a not bad prepare for beginners that gives you everything you lot need to go started.

Keep in mind that with this tool y'all will need to constantly dip your pen in the ink, it will crave more maintenance with the nibs, etc.

Taking that in consideration, once once again i would recommend starting off with a brush pen (like the above mentioned)

3. The Pencil

This tool is such an essential part of Whatever lettering/calligraphy toolbox.

In modernistic calligraphy we are mainly using the pencil to sketch out crude concepts,  create guidelines and for those who are on a budget y'all tin can even practice calligraphy with information technology.

When information technology comes to the pencil, I would recommend a simple HB pencil or a mechanical pencil like theStaedtler Mars 780 Technical Mechanical Pencil

Just remember non to underestimate the value of the pencil!

Bated from the pencil you will as well need a ruler in lodge to create your guidelines.

The best ruler for calligraphers is therolling ruler.

The rolling ruler allows you to quickly draw parallel lines every bit well as other shapes  with ease

Cheque out this quick video about the rolling ruler and all the unlike things information technology can do –

4. Various markers and ballpoint pens

More often than not used for creating Faux Calligraphy and other styles of modernistic calligraphy, these markers tin can indeed exist a dandy addition to your lettering.

Adding effects, patterns, colors, pretty much anything that comes to your mind, is 1 of the benefits when working with modernistic calligraphy.

Since in that location are a ton of dissimilar pens and brands y'all could utilise, we are just going to list a few of our favorites –

How to start with mod calligraphy – b asic strokes

How to concord a brush pen?

First things first let's only quickly cover this part because i often see beginners struggling with how to concur a brush correctly.

Unlike people similar to hold the pen in different ways merely the virtually important affair is the angle on which you to hold it.

Check out the reference epitome beneath –

Holding the pen too upright volition non requite you the desired effect (thick and thin contrast) and information technology will also harm the tip of your pen.

That been said, the next important part is to know where to apply thin strokes and where to use the thick strokes. (if you already know this feel free to skip to the next department)

The general rule is that your strokes going upward are thin while the ones going down are thick.

The thick down strokes are created by applying pressure while the up strokes are done with the tip of the pen – without applying whatever force per unit area

Bank check this prototype reference –

If you are a complete beginner it is essential that you first get familiar with the brush pen and how to utilize information technology.

Before even thinking to beginning writing letters and words, try to get comfortable creating thin lines when going up and thick lines when going down.

This will help you lot to become to know the tool and you lot volition start developing a feeling for it in your hand –

something that is too known as muscle memory

Stick to the stop of this article to find out more nearly what muscle memory is.

The basic calligraphy strokes

In one case you feel comfy enough using the brush pen, we can move forward and start learning the basic calligraphy strokes.

In case you haven't noticed, a lot of letters contain like shapes.

There are 7 basic strokes  and by combing these basic strokes nosotros tin can create virtually any letter of the lowercase alphabet.

Easy right?

Here are the  bones shapes i would like you to practice before y'all jump straight into the letters.

And here is a quick example of combining the unlike basic strokes in order to create letters and even words.

In the video below, I demonstrate how you can use these basic strokes to create the whole lowercase alphabet.

I utilize different colors for each separate strokes so y'all can clearly see the distinction.

A few fundamental rules near modern calligraphy to keep in listen

I know that from a beginners perspective this might already seem overwhelming, but at that place are just a couple more things that i must mention earlier we proceed (for your own skilful!)

In that location are a lot of things to talk almost and to explain, but information technology would be really hard to fit everything in a single tutorial.

Also, I promised at the beginning of the tutorial that i will try to continue things simple.

So the ii bones and fundamental rules i desire you to start implement in your practise are Consistency and Spacing.

Permit'south dive in!

 ane. Consistency

Keeping our letters consistent helps to increase the overall visual harmony. (something pleasing to the center)

In order to go along your letters consistent you lot MUST use guidelines.

I see way to frequently beginners discrediting guidelines and just trying to eyeball the heights, angles etc.

When i talk about consistency in modern calligraphy i don't mean that y'all have to aim for perfection and mathematical precision.

As you can encounter in the example below, information technology has enough of imperfections, however, the messages do follow the aforementioned height and angle.

All you need to achieve more than consistency in your letters is a pencil and a ruler.

Using the ruler and the pencil create the base line and the mean line (to create the x-top).

Add the ascender line, the descender line and the slant lines that volition determine the angle of your messages.

I often get the question –

What sizes should i use?

Considering we are talking about modern calligraphy here – you are free to determine the pinnacle, size and angles of your letters.

Cheque out this instance beneath –

Avoid doing this –

Hither is an example of what you lot should avoid doing.

This is what happens when you don't use guidelines.

I've added the lines afterwards in Photoshop (along with the text) to testify you how inconsistent this actually is.

2. Spacing

Skillful spacing between the letters helps you to go on a high level of legibility.

If the messages are too squished together that could have a negative impact on your calligraphy – of form, we desire to avoid that.

In order to maintain a skilful and consequent spacing you lot demand to go slower, lift your pen between each stroke and also keeping an eye on the infinite of the previous letter pair.

Again, this is something that volition just better with time and practice.

FREE worksheets – basic strokes + lowercase alphabet

Equally i mentioned previously y'all probably managed to notice that some letters are similar to others, and the expert news is that we can use this to our advantage!

To ameliorate your practise efficiency I've divided the letters in split up groups based on their similarities.

So, we take 5 different letter groups –

1. Straight messages – i, l, t, f,
2. Branching letters – n, k, h, b, p, thousand, r
3. Reverse Branching letters – u, y, a, d, one thousand, q
4. Oval letters – o, c, e
5. Diagonal messages – s, v, westward, x, z

Be sure to check out the bonus section on how to practice effectively before you first using these sheets.

Yous can download 2 different types of practice sheets depending on the size of the castor pen you prefer to work with.

Nosotros have practice sheets for both smaller and bigger castor pens.

Big castor pens – Tombow Dual brush pen, Lyra, Artline Stix, Sharpie etc.

Small brush pens – Tombow Fudenosuke, Pentel Fude Touch Sign pen, Zebra brush pen etc.

Drop your email below, follow the instructions, and y'all will become instant access to these worksheets besides as other worksheets currently available in the Lettering Crate.

Popular modernistic calligraphy techniques (pace by step)

In one case you experience confident with bones strokes you tin start experimenting with different styles.

In this section I am going to guide you pace-past-step on how you can create 3 dissimilar (popular) modernistic calligraphy styles.

 1. Bounce lettering

Bounciness lettering has become quite pop and it tin be seen all over the internet.

It is called bounciness lettering because that's exactly how information technology looks like – the letters bounce up and down!

This style is a perfect example of mod calligraphy since it defies the rules of traditional calligraphy.

What tools do y'all need for bounciness lettering?

• Castor pen
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Paper

Let's jump right into the footstep-by-step on how to do bounce lettering so go your tools ready!

Step 1 –

describe some lite guidelines using a ruler and a pencil.

Nosotros are going to draw the  base line, the mean line likewise as some lines for the angle of our letters (keeping upwardly with the consistency)

Feel costless to determine the sizes by yourself – if you want the letters to be bigger or smaller, directly or slanted, that'southward completely up to you.

Step 2  –

With your pencil, gently write the base of the discussion.

This footstep will just be necessary at the very beginning, once you have good a lot and yous finally developed a feeling for it, yous won't demand to sketch out your word every time.

Hither is the key to bounciness lettering –

As mentioned earlier, bounciness lettering is chosen similar that because the letters bounce upward and down.

In order to achieve this we are going to write every consecutive letter above and beneath the base line.

Cheque out the image below –

In one case y'all gained a bit more experience you tin play around and experiment with the bouncy pattern.

Pace three –

Now that we take our word sketched out with the proper boisterous pattern, it's time to go over it with our castor pen!

Remember – our up strokes are thin while our downwardly strokes are thick!

That's it!

Groovy job, in case it didn't plow out as good as y'all expected –

DO NOT WORRY!

Grab your tools and echo the process again. Calligraphy is all about repetition and building muscle retentiveness –

The more you do it the improve you become at it!

 2. Distant lettering

Not really certain if at that place is a dissimilar name for this technique (if there is, be certain to drib a comment below)

I named information technology distant lettering since it'south main characteristic is that the letters accept a large space between each other.

What do you demand for distant lettering?

• Brush pen
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Paper

The process of this technique is fairly similar to the bounce lettering that we merely did.

Step 1 –

This style has more of a "flowy" experience to it, therefore instead of drawing a straight filigree im only going to continue a manus-drawn underline and with the ruler i'll make some directly angle lines (keeping the slant consequent)

Stride 2 –

Using your pencil start writing a rough sketch of your letters, only this time extend the ending strokes of the messages.

Like this –

Step 3 –

Try to continue a consistent amount of spacing betwixt each alphabetic character – it doesn't need to be perfect, simply don't make it too obvious!

Once yous are done writing with your pencil it's time to grab your brush pen and become over the pencil sketch.

Once more, if you are not satisfied with the result, simply start over and so practise it again, and again, and again…. you lot get the point 😀

 iii. Faux calligraphy

Simulated or faux calligraphy is crawly because it tin be done with any kind of writing tool!

On tiptop of that it's very easy to learn.

Due to it's popularity we decided to create a split up tutorial for faux calligraphy where we dive into this topic more than in depth.

We likewise included some gratis practise sheets and if yous want to larn more about faux calligraphy i highly recommend you checking out this tutorial.

(BONUS) 4. Creating your ain unique mode

One of the best parts near modernistic calligraphy is that you tin deviate and create something unique.

Effort to create something that you similar, simply by following your own intuition.

Just continue in mind the rules that we talked about (consistency, balance and spacing) and keep exploring your creativity.

A golden tip! –

Get-go you need to relax! if yous are aroused, frustrated or even hungry you will struggle with your creative menstruum.  The 2d thing that will actually spark your inventiveness is to listen to some good music! (the i that y'all like plain) – I know that this may audio weird, but it actually helps with the inventiveness!

You can also find inspiration from other artists and create your own variations of a certain style.

Who knows maybe Y'all will create a new style that will become a new trend in the online calligraphy community 🙂

BONUS – How to effectively do modernistic calligraphy

Earlier yous print the practice sheets or yous simply start practicing, I wanted to share a couple of tips that could help you lot with your do routine.

Exercise is the defining element for progress, but the way you practice makes all the difference.

With deliberate do you can achieve more in less fourth dimension, and permit'due south be honest – who wouldn't want that?

What happens after a lot of practice?

You will quickly detect that the more your practice the more confident you feel with your strokes.

Like I mentioned information technology earlier, you start to build something called muscle memory.

For those who are not familiar with the term, hither is a quick definition –

Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a move is repeated over time, a long-term musculus retentivity is created for that task, eventually allowing information technology to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the demand for attending and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and retention systems.

If you are interested in learning more about muscle memory, I HIGHLY recommend watching this short video below.

Information technology'south 1 of my favorite videos on YouTube and it comprehensively explains what muscle memory is and how information technology works.

Imagine building a house

This is an analogy that i oft utilise to depict how the learning process should look like.

When building a house you lot will start by laying down your foundation.

Once you have that you can offset building your walls and your roof.

Then you can make your windows, the doors and finally you lot can paint information technology and decorate it.

With calligraphy (or pretty much any other skill) the process is fairly similar.

It makes no sense to learn and practice flourishing if y'all still don't have the basics down.

Working with multiple words and layouts volition exist quite difficult if you are nonetheless struggling with single words.

What I'm trying to say here is – have it ho-hum, and build your skills gradually!

I sympathise that when you roll on Instagram and you see all that astonishing work you but want to create something like that.

I also sympathise that doing the basic stuff seems pretty boring.

However, believe me that past gradually building up your skills you will run across more than progress in less time!

Here are a couple of actionable tips on how to practice more than finer –

• Practice daily! – i know that many of you lot have tight schedules and struggle finding time for practice. Nevertheless, it's much meliorate to practice daily for even 15-20 minutes than twice a week for two hours (consistency over intensity).
• Warm up drills – before you jump straight to writing your words, warm upwards your hand muscles by filling in a sheet of the basic drills for example (included in the freebie). It volition accept you merely a few minutes and information technology volition make a difference!
• Proper posture and placement of the tools – you do calligraphy by sitting at a desk menstruation! I've seen people practicing while sitting on the couch, laying in their beds, etc. If y'all plan to practice like that, don't expect much progress. Check out these YouTube videos from Paul, where he explains it further in depth.
• Employ guidelines! – every bit mentioned earlier, guidelines will help keeping your letters consistent.
• Stick to the basics – avoid multiple words (layouts) and any excessive effects. For the very fist weeks focus on the basic strokes and on incorporating them properly to create unmarried words. Focus on keeping your letters consistent – build your foundation first!

Concluding thoughts on modern calligraphy

I know that this is a lot of new information if you are just getting started, only honestly the best thing to do is – just outset!

Firsthand experience volition teach you more than annihilation else.

Are you looking to become some constructive feedback on your piece of work?

Do you have a specific question and you lot struggle to detect an reply online?

Maybe you only want to nerd-out with beau calligraphers.

If and then, exist certain to bank check out and join our official Facebook group!

The official Lettering Daily Facebook group is a identify where you can –

• Share your work
• Get effective feedback
• Network with fellow lettering & calligraphy artists
• Ask specific questions nearly lettering & calligraphy
• Much more!

Thank you for joining for another tutorial, and until the next time –

Stay Crawly!!

Pivot me!

About the author

Lettering Daily is an online community that provides educational and inspirational content for mitt lettering and calligraphy beginners. ​Our mission is to help artists and enthusiasts from all effectually the world to acquire and meliorate their hand lettering and calligraphy skills.

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