Calligraphy Online Tutorials

[salman.khattak]

Evethatsme - welcome to WC

Glad to have you on board. You will find a lot of good information here. I have benefited tremendously from Geoff's tutorials and recommend them highly to anyone learning Calligraphy. What I enjoy most about these lessons is that they teach you how to 'see' the nuances of a script and understand its character - its a much more interesting way to learn than just practicing strokes.

Which script do you feel is calling out to you?

Salman

[Evethatsme]

Thank you for your welcome. I'm starting with lesson 1 Roman and going from there, it seems a good place to learn basic pen control etc. I live in Switzerland and am busy looking for supplies available here, however, I am English and having a trip over to England in May and know exactly where to go to buy things there. I would get mailorder but the Swiss charge so much import tax for things sent, I can manage with what i have until May

[dgford]

Welcome Evethatsme (Eve ? ). Arriving in UK (as a born and bred Cornishman I say UK instead of England !!! ) in May --- how lovely. I envy you. A bit too far for me, though!
Salman has better eyes than I have and is a very capable mentor. I am pleased that you are starting with the Roman and for your thinking behind it. The control it allows you to develop will stand you in good stead for all your calligraphic future.
Above all, enjoy it. And once again --- Welcome.
Geoff

[Evethatsme]

Is it still ok to post my work in this thread? Or is somewhere else more appropriate? I am sure you are busy, but I would love some comments on my work...... Once I have practiced a bit!

And yes calling me Eve is fine, or Bev, which is my real name

[Evethatsme]

Here is my work, it looks even worse when scanned!!
I tend to lean the verticals to the left, and then overcompensate, maybe i am pressing down too hard too. and i see my horizontals are not all as they should be either. Practice practice!
Any comments would be appreciated, thanks

Bev

[salman.khattak]

Geoff - thanks for the kind words. I will help as much as I can but I would greatly appreciate it your could step in and check up on us from time to time.

Eve - I'm glad you started with the Roman letters. They are joy to get right and you are off to a good start. You have maintained a good nib angle for all but one or two of the strokes and show a good sense of spacing - maybe your previous experience is showing here :-)

Take your time with the 'I' and 'L' drills - getting a steady hand at this early stage will help you tremendously. You might want to try this little 'trick' to get the straight lines straight - place the pen at the correct angle at the starting point, now look at the spot where your stroke is going to end. While looking at the end point draw the line to this point boldly and confidently. It feels a bit awkward at first but it works for me whenever I fall out of practice.

You might want to check if the guidelines you are using are 6 nib widths apart - to my eye it seems they might be a bit too far apart for the nib size you are using - it makes things a bit harder if they are.

Looking forward to seeing your next attempt.

Salman