Learn Calligraphy impression(1).pdf

Learn How To Draw Beautiful

Lettering

from a teacher of the art of fine handwriting

Welcome to Chuck McGavren's web site celebrating the art

of fine handwriting. Learn how to be a real calligrapher over

the internet. Just get a calligraphy pen, some scratch paper

and practice. In no time you will get requests to letter

certificates, address envelopes, write special messages and

prepare poetry and other items fine enough for framing.

Now, it's time to learn one of the fastest ways to make your

handwriting more interesting.

Ready for the first lesson? Learn about the special pens.

Special attention: how to get started with a steel

nib in a holder.

Start with a script that is like italic handwriting:

Chancery Cursive

Second lesson: lower case 'a'

Third lesson: lower case 'o'

Fourth lesson: lower case 'c'

Fifth lesson: lower case 'b': working with ascenders

Sixth lesson: lower case 'p': working with descenders

Seventh lesson: Entire Chancery Alphabet . The complete

alphabet, herein, continues what Lessons 2-6 started. Or get a

better copy of this Chancery alphabet in PDF format . . . use

this link if you would like a better copy (longer download,

253 KB).

Eighth lesson: Make a sample sheet of your alphabet (46 KB

PDF file). Try to get a text that contains a variety of sizes and

penwidths. Try flowing the text into curves, recta ngular

blocks of different sizes. This is a terrific

Scripts to try without all the letter-by-letter

instr uction:

Beginning students: Gothic alphabet

Beginning stud ents: Gothic alphabet for left hand

Intermediate students: Gothic alphabet casting a shadow (left

hand)

Intermediate studen ts: Carolingian Minuscule (during the

reign of Charlemagne) alphabet for practice with ascenders

and descenders

Intermediate students: Insular Majuscule (Irish or, "of the

Island") alphabet for practice with ascenders and descenders

Return to the Index

A Fast Way to Make Hand Lettering Interesting

You will need any kind of a pen that makes a good broad stroke in one

direction and makes a thin stroke in the other direction. See the illustration

for an idea about the kind of marks a chisel point calligraphy pen can make.

Pens having a flat tip can make a thick stroke in

one direction

and thin in another.

l felt tip

l fountain pen

steel point

are three kinds of pens that can be

manufactured to make this kind of broad stroke. You can easily

make your own pens from feathers, too!

Felt tips are the most convenient . . . you don't need to do anything special

to start writing, they just "go" when you take the cap off. Felt tips come

with either permanent ink or water-soluble ink. I like to keep one at my

desk for the people that drop in and want a certificate lettered on the spur of

the moment. The felt tip pen is disposable when the ink runs out.

Fountain pens are also convenient, they go with very little coaxing and

only need refilling every once-in-awhile. But be careful of taking a

fountain pen out when a storm is coming up or if you are flying in an

airplane: many fountain pens do not do well under low air pressure and will

leak ink through the point and onto your nice paper or even onto your

clothes. I still have my first calligraphy fountain pen from 30 years ago

which uses water-soluble ink drawn in by suction and has changeable

calligraphy tips. With care these pens keep going a long time! Be sure to

disassemble and clean the pen periodically, making sure all the parts are dry

and free of caked-on ink before reassembly.

Steel points need to have a half-a-drop of ink fed to them out of an eye

dropper every couple of words or so. I put the dropper between the brass

and silver steel and squeeze a little ink between the two metal pieces

without completely filling the space. One advantage to steel points is that

with practice, you can get very fine detail and hard edges to your lettering

and the inks you use in them can be permanent. I use these pens the most

and so I need to get new tips every little while. It's easy to change tips

when I want to change between large letters and small letters. However it is

inconvenient to change tips frequently if the project needs a lot of changes

between lettering sizes. Be sure to keep a jar of water near the project with a

drying towel to clean the pen frequently. See the separate discussion about

getting the ink flow started with these pens.

Or, you could get a feather at the bank of a duck pond, leave it in the sun

to dry. Then cut it with a pen knife at an oblique angle near the pointed end

and shape a point. Quills make excellent pens.

It's also possible to practice with a chisel-sharpened pencil! Try

sharpening the point of a pencil on two sides instead of a round conical

shape. The result will be a triangle, or "A" shape, when viewed in one

direction and a "D" shape when turned 90 degrees. Try a fine grit sand

paper on a soft lead pencil, such as a #2, an HB or a B, working first on one

side at an angle to the lead. Then turn the pencil over and sharpen the other

side of the chisel at a similar angle to the lead. Keep the sand paper handy

and resharpen every few words.

Practice

Take some lined notebook paper and fill it with vertical and horizontal

lines. When you first try this exercise, use two or three notebook paper lines

in height for each vertical stroke. Make a similar length line for a series of

horizontal strokes. To begin each stroke, set the pen on the paper, make a

smooth straight stroke to the end of the line and finally lift the pen off the

paper. Hold the pen at a constant angle pointed at one shoulder or straight at

you while making each mark. Hold the pen as you would normally write:

comfortably and not too tightly. Eg: | | | | | =_=_=_=_=_=

Take some lined notebook paper and fill it with diagonal lines. Eg: ///// \\\\\

Take some lined notebook paper and fill it with curves and circles.

Concen trate on forward and backward crescent moon shapes made with one

stroke of the pen. ((( ))) Then form a series of "O" shapes by combining a

left curve "(" with a right curve ")".

Return

Using a steel nib in pen holder? A clean steel pen nib is the greatest ally

of a calligrapher. Fresh from the factory, steel nibs may have a little

machine oil coating them, keeping them shiny for the merchant's display

case but not helping the artist's effort. Before putting a new steel point in a

pen holder, wash with soap and water then dry it.

Can't get the ink to flow? I always start out on a scratch sheet to the side of

my project. Try to make several practice strokes placing the pen on the

paper, applying slight pressure, drawing the stroke toward you, stopping,

releasing the pressure and lifing the pen from the paper. Do this several

times.

I once saw a student of mine turn the nib over, put a little downward

pressure on the top side which was now upside down, then turn it back the

right side up. The pen started making perfect marks right away.

For steel pen nibs that need a drop of ink every few words, keep a jar of

water and a drying cloth near the project area. Wash the ink out of the pen

tip, dry thoroughly, and inject new ink into it. Then get the ink flowing

again on a scratch sheet before restarting the project or practice sheet.

Return to the Index

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