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For several months, I’ve been working on a comprehensive calligraphy online course for beginners. This week, I finally finished, and I’m *so* happy with how it turned out! In this post, I’ll explain what the course includes so you can determine whether it’s a good fit for you.
After months of work, I am so proud — and a little nervous and excited — to announce that the TPK Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course is live! You can find it by clicking here. In this post, I want to take you through what the course is, what prompted me to create it, and what to expect next.
The TPK Beginner’s Modern Calligraphy Online Course serves as a strong virtual version of my in-person calligraphy workshops. It was designed for both left- and right-handed beginners, and you can take it at whatever pace is comfortable for you! Since it is an online course with a focus on video instruction, I think it’s fitting that I explain what the course is via video:
(Note: feel free to turn on the video’s captions if you can’t watch it with sound at the moment!)
Due to its online nature, the course doesn’t include interactive feedback. To make up for that, I made sure I put a strong focus on concepts that beginners often have trouble with, like nib assembly and how to hold both straight and oblique pens. I promise that if you are able to watch me do it, you’ll be able to do it, too! If you compare what you’re doing to what I’m doing, you can absolutely self-correct; and if you can’t figure it out, you can always contribute to the lesson discussion or email me! I’ll answer all inquiries within 24 hours, and I’m glad to create and provide additional videos if necessary.
In addition to comprehensive video instruction and a worksheet, you’ll also find quizzes and homework peppered throughout the course. I include quizzes after every lesson so you can make sure you understand the most important concepts of the lesson. And the homework, of course, helps you to hone your new skills with practice!
If you’re not sure about whether the course could benefit you or not, take this short quiz! The course isn’t too advanced for anyone, but it may prove boring if you have a lot of calligraphy experience.
After three years of teaching sold-out calligraphy workshops, I realized that I’ll never be able to offer in-person instruction to everyone who wants to learn from me. Furthermore, physical calligraphy workshops give me a limited amount of time to teach (three hours), so I have to make sure I stay on schedule to focus on vital information.
In the modern calligraphy online course, I was able to thoroughly explain all the basics and beyond! Furthermore, suddenly I could demonstrate techniques that are difficult to show at in-person workshops. For example, close-up filming shots allowed me to exactly explain how upstrokes, downstrokes, and horizontal strokes work. I was able to show a video of precisely how far to dip your nib in ink, and an overhead shot allowed me to demonstrate how to create a calligraphy medallion.
Many people love to use their lettering skills to create beautiful mail, so I was glad to be able to include a unit on envelope addressing! I almost never have time to squeeze that concept into my calligraphy workshops, so it was really cool to be able to include it in the online course.
I designed this course as a comprehensive resource to learn exactly how to use a dip pen. My thinking is this: a learner can start with the course in order to build a solid dip pen calligraphy knowledge foundation. From there, he or she can go on to confidently create both modern and calligraphy styles. With that in mind, I’ll be revising the Kaitlin Style and the Amy Style calligraphy video courses to focus intensely on the calligraphy style, rather than the calligraphy basics that the courses currently focus on.
After I revise those courses, I’ll create video courses to accompany the other three calligraphy worksheet styles as well. I’ll start with the Janet (my current favorite), then the Flourish Formal, and, finally, the Beth. You can see the other projects that I’ll be working on this year in the What I’m Working on in 2018 post!
I have received several emails this year asking whether I am planning to teach any in-person workshops. Last year, I had every intention of scheduling workshops in Boulder for this summer, but life got in the way. In early September, Hernán and I will be welcoming our first baby, a little boy, and I feel like I have so much to do before his arrival.
In-person workshops may only last one day, but the preparation for them takes weeks. For that reason — and the fact that I’ll be in my third trimester for most of this summer — I’ve decided to take this year off from doing them. I would love to again in the future; maybe next year, when I’m sure some “adult time” will come as a welcome respite! For now, though, I promise that the online course is a fantastic alternative to an in-person workshop; and one that you can show up to in your pajamas at any time of day or night. I am so happy with how it turned out, and I know that you will be, too! If you have any questions about the course, feel free to ask … I’m more than happy to clarify anything, and I’d love to have you as a (virtual) student!
Warmly,
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