Rinse. Repeat.

Calligraphy or Lettering? That is the question.

I can kind of see why beginners are told to focus on one or the other. They’re similar, but different enough that if you want to see your progress more clearly, it’s best to just focus on one discipline to start.

The funny thing is, I began wanting to learn how to make beautiful, fun, lettered illustrations. I still do. But I also want to be able to form letters well (and crank out exciting freestyle pieces on a whim if I want).

I love drawing. But, my favorite form of lettering seems to be brush calligraphy. I started learning how to use brushes for calligraphy back in 2013. Unfortunately, job hopping and parenting responsibilities didn’t allow me much time to put into it the way I wanted for a few years. But, my interest was reignited last year when I became an art teacher.

When you’re an art teacher, your staff thinks you know how to do everything! :) But, one of the most frequent requests was to make signage around the school. That was pretty much all it took to regain interest. I found some of my old brushes…tried a few new ones…played with the Crayola markers at school…whatever I could get my hands on for whatever snippets of time I could. I’d letter in my planner every week and during morning meetings and breakfast duty. I’d use faux calligraphy to letter a sign on a lunch break from time to time. Sometimes, I’d warm up if I had time. Most times, I didn’t have that kind of time, but I’d letter anyway. Any practice is better than no practice so long as it’s deliberate. Still, I could say my letters looked similar to what they did in 2013.

If I’m practicing and I don’t see growth, how could I begin to see it?

Quarantine is crazy. But, it does give you time to look into some things….Two weeks ago, I started playing with broad nibs, just for kicks. At the same time, I was taking some classes on Domestika. I began to notice that many of the instructors there and the letterers I admire most seem to have started out with some form of calligraphy or even a blend of calligraphy and graffiti. I could still see some knowledge of the basic strokes of calligraphy in their brush calligraphy-taken to a whole ‘nother level. Hmmmm….

So, I’m adding some new tools to my arsenal.

Some of my new favorite lettering/calligraphy pens.

I still practice with a brush pen. But, now, I’m practicing with a broad nib too. I use Pilot Parallel Pens and sometimes the Sakura Brush Markers for broad pens. Although the 3.8mm Pilot Parallel Pen (green top) is the one I’ve seen most beginners using (and I love the bold strokes), I am much more comfortable maneuvering the 2.4mm (yellow-orange top) when I practice. These days, I really like the Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen, the Pilot Petit 3 Fude Brush Pen, the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, for brush lettering.

Do you know how you get better at calligraphy? Same way you get better at anything else. Practice, practice, and more practice.

At night, after all the Zoom meetings are over (and, sometimes, while I’m in them), I letter in my notebooks. All over the house. All night. I do a lot of alphabets and usually I end a practice session with an exploration of my growing tool collection (basically, I just ruin a whole sheet with a bunch of marks and scribbling).

What I do know is that practicing broad nib calligraphy gives me a better vocabulary for forming letters. I can also do a calligraphy piece that, along with some tracing paper, becomes a lettered piece with some changes that I can work and rework as much as I want.

Still working on this…But the process is pretty cool. I swear if they made a class on rhythm, spacing and inclination, I’d take it. I’m all over the place with that.

As for making beautiful, fun lettered pieces….we’ll see where all this goes with some time, practice….and most of all, patience.