Like any other art, Even in calligraphy, practicing and becoming an expert in its basics is the key to become master in this beautiful form of art.When I say Basics of calligraphy, what I really mean to say is to know basic strokes in handwriting which will keep on repeating in every letter, Know your space on the paper and adapt accordingly,try to create beauty with any medium on any surface but follow the basic necessary rules.
By looking at beautifully carved letters with pen on the paper everyone's eyes gets captivated with its beauty. And the next thing comes to the mind is to copy or to try something similar or new in such wonderful fonts. It is always good to observe and learn something.But if the same can happen with following primary steps then the results will be surely very great and also inspiring. Every learning is a process and one has to follow the proper pattern for big success.May be sometimes its slow but at the end after achievement it surely feels worth of spending time.
While learning calligraphy, First step is to chose good calligraphy pen and a good quality paper. It is not at all necessary to start with the best calligraphy pen or paper.There are huge variety of pens,nibs and papers are available in the market but chose the one which are both reasonable to the pocket as well as decent in quality. Because, in many cases , if the pen don't work properly or the paper fails to display the sharp strokes due to ink smudging then the inner interest towards calligraphy lowers by one step because of frustration. At that time there are many chances of the beginner to quit calligraphy before even enjoying the basic step. So better to start with a thick nib(around 2 mm),very simple basic font and both ink and paper favorable to each other.
Next most important step is , how to hold the pen. Mostly for the basic, the pen should be hold in such a way, so that the nibs flat tip makes angle of 45 deg with the upper horizontal line. In the beginning , for some people it is very difficult to maintain the same angle but again only with the constant practice one can get habit of maintaining the angle throughout the page.
When observed all letters, there are few strokes which gets repeat in a group of letters. Calligraphy's first lesson starts with a straight vertical down-stroke. One has to maintain the angle, stiffness and distance between baseline and ascending line. Here, along with calligraphy this practice helps people to build the good patience level. Like straight vertical and horizontal strokes, diagonal upward and downward thin strokes plays another important role in calligraphy, which can be achieved with practicing the continuous zigzag pattern. Practicing curves which adds beauty in the letters like c,e,o,s is also another basic feature to learn.
In calligraphy, not only fingers and waist but also elbow and arm movement is very important to gain the expected good result. Letters height and width should remain constant throughout the whole writing. However, there can be slight variations in the movement depending on where that letter resides in the word for eg. at start, in between or at the end. When these strokes come into sentences, another new thing introduced and keep in mind is to maintain a distance between two words and two lines. When written a big paragraph, the beauty of strokes, spacing in letters is visible. To observe self written matter and improve is a part of this process.
Adding frolics is actually another step to basic but don't hurry!! Floriks are beautiful but where to add it and where not to is very important to understand to create a good piece of art.Otherwise your decent basic composition may get ruined because of unnecessary designs. Once the basics are finely tuned, one can explore more with different fonts available or even create own. Also, one can try hands on variety of nibs, different pens, range of papers and other beautiful colors available around. But for everything it is very very important to give attention towards basics and keep on practicing to achieve perfectibility.
Here, I will like to share with all, Calligrapher Joanne Sharpes's mantra for his students learning about artful lettering - "PLAY,PRACTICE,WRITE ,REPEAT" i.e.Play with variety of basic strokes first, practice the basic strokes ,write and then Repeat. According to me before writing one need to read and understand it so that the calligrapher can pour his/her feelings in his/her artwork. So, my new mantra for learning students is
"PLAY , PRACTICE , READ , WRITE , REPEAT !!"
- Rupali Thombare.
