One of the hurdles to learning calligraphy — or anything, for that matter — is figuring out how to practice. How do you set yourself up for success, and what projects and exercises should you do in order to improve? How do you even know that you’re improving? In today’s blog post, we’ll touch on the things you can do to ensure that you stick with your calligraphy practice and gauge your progress!
1. Make it fun.
As with anything you have decided to learn, you’ve got to make practice enjoyable. You will learn quickly and thoroughly if you like what you’re doing. To that end, you’ve got to set the mood! For me, that means setting up a workspace with a good podcast playing in the background, a hot cup of tea on my right, and a couple of squares of chocolate on my left. For you, setting the mood may mean playing heavy metal music and sipping on a milkshake. Just do whatever you want to make the practice space your “feel good” place! On a more practical note, you’ll need a nice, flat surface to write on, decent lighting, and the right supplies.
2. Start by building a strong foundation.
I’d kick off your calligraphy practice by beginning with a quality learning resource, something that addresses the problems you may encounter and provides solutions! To that end, I would recommend either attending an in-person calligraphy workshop from a reputable calligrapher, or take The Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course. If you begin with quality instruction and you understand the hurdles you may face, you’re less likely to abandon your calligraphy efforts when you run into problems as you practice!
3. Realize that there’s more than one way to practice calligraphy.
Are you familiar with the cliché “no pain, no gain”? Please don’t let that apply to your calligraphy practice! The moment you start to dread your practice, that’s when you need to re-evaluate what you’re doing. For most people, a varied approach will work the best. So, after you complete your beginner’s course, focus on mixing passion projects with structured practice (i.e. worksheets, drills).
I’d shoot for a 1:2 ratio of worksheets to projects. So, for every 20 minutes you spend filling out a worksheet set, try to give yourself 40 minutes of making something enjoyable (like mail art).
4. Experiment with different mediums.
Along the lines of making various projects, remember that working with different mediums will challenge you and improve your skills! So, instead of using sumi ink for your next project, try watercolor calligraphy. Work with the Finetec palette to make glittery, golden letters! Embrace paint-like white ink to make a pleasing contrast of white letters on dark paper! There are always new supplies and techniques that you can try to keep surprising yourself.
5. Don’t stress about having a strict practice routine.
Ideally, I’d recommend that you practice calligraphy at least three times per week in 20-minute sessions. That said, only you know your schedule and the repetition you need to master something. You may not have 60 minutes of free time in a week right now, and that’s okay! As a new mom, I know that I certainly don’t. Honestly — just set aside whatever time you can to learn, and that’s enough.
The real trick is not to make it a chore; it should be a relaxing activity, like reading a good book. If you’re not feeling calligraphy practice, just skip it. In a couple of days, you’ll be looking forward to giving it another try with a fresher outlook!
6. Take lots of progress photos.
As you practice calligraphy, you’ll find that one of the perks is time away from your computer or smartphone. Once you finish practicing, though, take advantage of technology to document your creation! You’ll find that your memory alone is a very poor record keeper, and improvement will sneak up on you if you don’t take photos of your work.
The point of documenting your work is for encouragement. If you don’t see improvement in your calligraphy practice, you probably will abandon it. But if you have a photo of something you created two months ago, and you can compare it to something you created today, you’ll probably notice a difference that compels you to keep creating!
7. Embrace guidelines.
A learner once asked me if more calligraphy practice means that you eventually won’t need to draw guidelines. The answer — in my experience, at least — is no. Guidelines are just part and parcel of calligraphy! No matter what your skill level is, guidelines show you where to write and how big to make the letters.
Yes, guidelines take time to draw, but you can consider them part of the meditative process of creating intricate lettering!
8. Accept that you’re constantly improving.
As you practice calligraphy, you have to keep in mind that nothing will ever be perfect. That’s exactly why we make calligraphy versus using a calligraphy font on the computer! You will always see flaws in what you make, always. The trick is to realize that those flaws are exactly what makes the work pleasing! In a world so saturated with perfect design, the artistry of imperfection will always stand out. In other words: embrace your calligraphy mistakes and applaud yourself for putting yourself in the position to make them!
Before I let you go, I’d like to remind you to be sure and clean off your nibs in water and wipe them dry with a non-fibrous cloth (or a paper towel) after every calligraphy practice session. This will ensure that none of your nibs fall victim to rust! If you have any questions or comments about practicing, please feel free to contribute to the comments. I’m always glad to clarify concepts — or read your tips!
Thanks very much for reading, and we’ll reconvene on Thursday with a YouTube tutorial video. 🙂
Warmly,
Hi Lindsey,
I really appreciated tip #3. I have kind of hit a wall with my calligraphy practice. I mostly just do drills, and alphabets, and more drills, and more alphabets. I think you had some great advice to get me out of my funk and encourage me to get up and “make” calligraphy, versus just studying it.
Just what I needed!
Aaron
Hi Aaron! I am so glad you found #3 helpful. It’s so important to remember that practicing calligraphy is not just straight drills and worksheets and what I might consider “hard practice” techniques. The process of making projects and pieces that you take enjoyment in helps ease the pressure of the technique. The craft and fun of it is equally important! Best of luck 🙂
Hi Lindsey,
Thank you for this and, well, all your wonderful posts! This one particularly resonated with me, and I especially love the advice for a 1:2 ratio of worksheets to projects. I’m not very far along in my calligraphy hobby, and have been feeling a bit stuck at the worksheet stage without thinking much yet about branching out to projects. This post has sparked the idea that I’ve just got to DO IT! Even if I don’t really feel ready for a project, surely with a little thought I can come up with some beginner-friendly mini-projects, which can only be more motivation to keep going, right? 🙂
Absolutely — I love that attitude! 🙂
Lindsey,
I’m attempting to revive my skills of calligraphy and hand-lettering. After years of raising my kids and now living in Asia, I find more time to devote to this. I have always written snail mail letters and enjoy them so much. Your blog is beautiful and inspiring. I was so thankful to find you on pinterest first, and now your tutorials are just so helpful. This discovery is such a joy! Please continue your wonderful work!
Amy, thanks for this great comment. I find it so inspiring as a new mom that you are making time to really indulge and engage in a practice that means a lot to you. I love doing this work and hopefully it inspires as many people as possible! XO
WOA! Your calligraphy is beautiful! I’m pretty new at learning to hand letter and I love all of your advice, especially about making it fun and knowing that I will progress over time. I keep a lettering planner (HA!) to at least encourage me to practice everyday. Then I get into it, grab a sheet of notebook paper, and just really get into it! Looking at these pictures…..I feel a very strong urge to go practice. lol Thanks for this post!
I love that you have a lettering journal, Chelsea! I am so glad you feel inspired to practice.
This is such a helpful post. I started learning calligraphy a while back, and I would like to get back into it. I love your ideas for how to get consistent practice. I think I always thought that once I “graduated” from my worksheets to projects, I didn’t need to do worksheets anymore. But that’s so not true! This is a great reminder.
Also – which of your calligraphy fonts do you use on the purple envelope under #6?
Thanks, Marie! That’s Janet Style calligraphy with a bit of extra flourish! 🙂
I have a “page to day diary” – at the end of every day I fill in any spare space on the page with a song lyric from the radio that day. Even if I don’t have a session of calligraphy planned I spend 5-15 minutes keeping my eye in by doing this. Plus I get a record of my soundtrack for the day!
I love this diary practice you have! I think it’s a great way to keep your skills in check on a daily basis. Thanks, Fayre!
I’ve just discovered the basic strokes (entrance, underturn, overturn, compound curve, oval, ascending & descending stem loops & full pressure stroke) and starting with learning these is definitely giving me the confidence that I just might be able to learn modern calligraphy. Understanding how the letters are formed is really helping me get this process. I’m starting with brush calligraphy as you suggest. I think though I am going to throw in some projects rather than just spending a month only learning a letter a day. Just doing letter drills for a month would probably bore me silly so I think the combination of basic strokes & letter drills combined with creative projects might really work. Thanks so much for all your tips, inspiration & resources! I love the coffee ink!
I’m so glad you find these are helping you! Throwing in projects to really mix up the practice is a great idea. I find it refreshing and a good way to step back from intensive learning of specific techniques all at one time. Thanks for the great comment, Linda 🙂
i have really bad handwriting but i want to change my “font”, But… I CAN’T. I’ve tried almost everything but it still doesn’t work! I’m trying something new but i doubt it’ll work
I had the same problem, although I was just trying to get better penmanship. To improve your penmanship look at your current writing. Do you do a lot of block letters? Is your writing very round with your ‘a’s looking like ‘o’s? Do you have very vertical writing or does it slant to the right or left? These will help you find a script that will work well for you. Here are some examples:
Block letters and vertical writing: You will probably find scripts in the blackletter (think Ye Olde English) pretty easy to master.
Round Letters: Try something from the uncial or half uncial family. (The writing used in the book of kells)
Slanted writing: Copperplate is your best friend. That was what you see in Edwardian and Regency movies.
All of these look good and can play to your strengths. Also because they are ‘families’ and not a single script you can mix and match the letter styles you like together to make something uniquely you.
I have a hard time with printing consistent caps and numbers (non-calligraphy) for addresses. Would love tips and tricks!
Hi Ali! I would recommend using a ruler to draw some faint pencil guidelines; that should really help! As long as the letters/numbers are a consistent height, they will look the same. 🙂
I just started the EF66 nib and am having a lot of trouble cleaning it. I don’t think I would be quite as frustrated with it if I had a good cloth to clean it with. I got some flour sack clothes but have found them to easily break off fibers when I try to clean it, particularly the EF66. Do you have any recommendations for a good cloth?
Hi Morgan!
I just use an old dinner napkin that I picked up at a garage sale … I think dinner napkins have the perfect fabric weave to interact with the EF66 🙂 Maybe try using one?