My calligraphy

[Calin]

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/calinous/smallthings_mic.jpg

Well, the post say most of it. If I'll have your support, I might upload other of my (not yet written) wonderworks

Calin

 

[Anubis]

looks nice, lines arnt straight tho

 

[Eli]

That's pretty good.

<-- sucks at anything drawing related.. lol

 

[Calin]

Thanks, Anubis. I know, I have to work alot for that. Anyway, writing with a feather is nice in itself.

 

[yhelothar]

looks great until mother theresa

 

[Calin]

Yes, but in the "training try", "mother teresa" looked just as bad.
Maybe I need martial art training to improve my calligraphy

Calin

 

[Gunther]

Looks pretty good, but looks a little shaky (maybe the ink bleeding?).

 

[Calin]

The paper quality was "ballpoint ready", so indeed it was too porous - but I have to improve the steadiness. Quite a bit
thanks

Calin

 

[Koing]

It looks pretty good.

Koing

 

[AndrewR]

Practice, practice, practice.

The fact that you're trying puts you ahead of most people, and frankly, it isn't terribly difficult if you can write well in script (meaning that you have good hand control). The trick is to be confident with your pen and write evenly and smoothly. I've found that the ink well/stylus combination is difficult because it's troublesome to make the ink even from start to finish. The beginning tends to be blobbed because the ink is so concentrated though it evens out right after that. I'm still practicing at it, and I've found you can get an even flow of ink if you make a few lines on a separate piece of paper before starting to write.

The BEST way that I've found to practice is to use a felt calligraphy pen and just write all day. You also have to use decent paper that doesn't bleed so experiment with different ones to get the best result. Use a standard alphabet that you can reference until it becomes second nature and definitely use some lined paper underneath your writing paper to keep the lines and heights consistent. Another good pen to start with is a fountain pen with changeable cartridges -- they sell them in sets at craft stores (can't remember the company names).

I'd advise you to get a book on calligraphy with a multitude of different alphabets/styles. I have several, and I can dig out the titles if you would like (think I have them somewhere around here). If you have many styles to choose from, you can experiment and see what you like best. I pretty much only do Gothic or Old English (depends on who you ask), but I have been trying to get Italic down because that's the style most people want for wedding invitations and other money-making methods. I've always loved the Gothic style, but it is very ornate and sometimes difficult to read. I wrote out our wedding reception place settings in Gothic.

 

[Calin]

I started the whole calligraphy after reading the book of Ludovico Vicentino, "La Operina". It is on the web here:
http://briem.ismennt.is/4/4.4.1a/4.4.1.01.operina.htm
If you want to study italic caligraphy, this is (probably) the most ancient resource you can find - and I find it a good "book" (but only 33 pages, and with very little details).

I saw gothic (Blackletter?) writing in a video here: http://www.calligraphycentre.com/demopage.html . It looks interesting, but the readability is lacking

I just made a reed stylus, and I made a few strokes yesterday evening. But I like it very much, more than the feather (and more than the fountain pen). I look forward to purchasing some wide head pens (not pointy as the current fountain pen I have). The variable-width style looks better (in my opinion) than the unitype one.
and my hand writing is (perfectly understandable to me but) awfully looking.

Calin

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: Calin
I started the whole calligraphy after reading the book of Ludovico Vicentino, "La Operina". It is on the web here:
http://briem.ismennt.is/4/4.4.1a/4.4.1.01.operina.htm
If you want to study italic caligraphy, this is (probably) the most ancient resource you can find - and I find it a good "book" (but only 33 pages, and with very little details).

I saw gothic (Blackletter?) writing in a video here: http://www.calligraphycentre.com/demopage.html . It looks interesting, but the readability is lacking

I just made a reed stylus, and I made a few strokes yesterday evening. But I like it very much, more than the feather (and more than the fountain pen). I look forward to purchasing some wide head pens (not pointy as the current fountain pen I have). The variable-width style looks better (in my opinion) than the unitype one.
and my hand writing is (perfectly understandable to me but) awfully looking.

Calin

I started with calligraphy after reading through a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island which had Gothic/Blackletter/Old English letters at the beginning of each chapter. After rummaging around in some old boxes, I found a felt calligraphy pen and started copying them. It's funny how these things start sometimes.

You are right that Gothic can be difficult to read, but I do find the results spectacular when done properly especially since I'm a fan of Medieval art (including but not limited to the texts of the monks). However, for other purposes, Italic is much easier to read and seems to be to write. Just haven't done it that much myself -- I prefer the more ornate script especially since you can fiddle with the capitals and really make some striking letters.

As for your regular handwriting, don't be too concerned. My handwriting, when I don't concentrate or take my time, looks like garbage as well. The key is to focus and write smoothly and evenly and to have the proper pen. I find that writing with a fine point ballpoint is easiest for me to create even script, but if I use a felt tip or a medium point ballpoint, the script ends up being crappy and all over the place because it's harder to control. The same goes for calligraphy -- use the right pen and the proper concentration.

Thanks for the post -- I think I'm going to break out my calligraphy stuff and start writing. I'll see about posting some results later.

 

[dquan97]

It looks pretty good!!!!!

 

[Atomicus]

my chinese calligraphy > all