TPK’s innovative collection of engaging calligraphy drills features a marine theme that will give you ample practice with your calligraphy pen. You can embrace “surf and turf” for the ultimate creative calligraphy experience!
The Not Your Average Calligraphy Drills: Under the Sea Edition first appeared on the TPK site seven years ago. Since then, I’ve been overjoyed to see the waves of progress that learners have made using this worksheet! Today, I want to revisit these drills with fresh eyes and share what users have to say about them. Whether you’re looking to refine your strokes, inspire your art, or simply find a peaceful retreat in your practice, these drills will help you.
This calligraphy drills packet goes beyond your average calligraphy drills by tying exercises together with a theme and some imagination. The mind is a funny thing: it’s easy to get bored when you’re making random swoops and swirls. Give those same movements a theme and names, though, and many of us will gleefully draw “Fish Hooks”, “Currents”, and “Fins” to fill up a page.
Calligraphy drills are helpful for several reasons. First and foremost, they provide a space and a situation for you to practice without the pressure of making perfect alphabet letters. Filling out TPK’s artistic Under the Sea Drills helps you to explore all sorts of different pen movements: circles, long downstrokes, short downstrokes, curved upstrokes — you name it.
Different pen movements help you to become comfortable using a calligraphy pen. For those who feel intimidated by their pointed pens, doing drills will allow you to develop a familiarity that helps you to become a better calligrapher. I love these particular drills because they remind you that pointed pens are capable of making art.
As you fill out the Under the Sea drills, you’ll learn a few little techniques that you may want to employ on beautiful calligraphed envelopes, incorporate into invitation designs, or explore in sketchbooks. Remember, too, that you can use these drills to warm up before a couple of hours of calligraphy creation.
The Under the Sea Calligraphy Drills worksheet starts simple, with a page of basic long drills. Next comes two pages of square drills. These drills are a little more involved than the rectangular drills, but red and green arrows will walk you through exactly how to create them!
Next comes the circular drills. Again, they start off simple …
… and become more detailed and involved as you work through them. I love all of the drills on the last page of the circle section, especially the octopus and the jellyfish.
After you finish the smaller drills, you move on to two large drills: a sea turtle, and a stormy scene at sea. I think these are just the coolest — especially the storm at sea.
Finally, the drill sheet ends with instructions and practice covering how to draw a flourished fish. The fish incorporates many of the techniques and movements that you explored in previous sections of the worksheet. Once you learn how to draw the fish, you can use it to add embellishment to an envelope or for making framed art to display in your home.
These drills are wonderful! They helped me gain confidence with my strokes and I have since made a couple of sea-themed cards that the recipients have really appreciated, so it’s not only worth for practicing, but for real life as well. I wish I could give it 6 stars!”
– Enrique L.
Love the whimsical drills you follow along with this course. Very easy to understand with clear instructions. Even in black and white you know which order things are supposed to be followed in. A great way to warm up, or just build more stability.
– bobielake
I love all the “not your average drills”. Writing basic shapes and letters over and over gets boring. These drills are so much fun and you learn to create art with your pointed pen at the same time!
– Evelyn J.
As is the case with any calligraphy practice, you want to make sure that you’re working on high-quality paper (32# laserjet paper is best). Use this paper to print the worksheet, then use your favorite pen and nib combination to fill it out. If you’re a beginner, I recommend using a Nikko G nib and a straight holder. A Brause EF66 nib and/or other flexible nibs are good for intermediate calligraphers. As far as ink goes, anything works!
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to out the worksheet — one to two weeks is ideal. Some of the drills are quite detailed and will take time to create! Remember to keep a light, positive attitude as you work. Not every drill that you write will be perfect, which is perfectly okay. That’s how practice works: you mess up a bit, which helps you learn for next time. We want those mistakes, and this worksheet offers a safe place to make them.
As with all TPK printables, you are welcome to print off the drills sheet as many times as you need to. If you want to practice a certain page over and over again, please be my guest! I encourage you to do the drills until you’re comfortable with them.
TPK’s premium Not Your Average Calligraphy Drills offer multiple pages of a themed adventure. However, I understand that not everyone has the budget to collect them all! If you aren’t quite ready to invest in TPK’s premium drills, you can always download the basic one-page Not Your Average Calligraphy Drills sheet for free!
Thanks very much for reading TPK, and enjoy your new drills!
Warmly,
*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon
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