Yay! If your reading this blog post, it probably means you’ve been able to create calligraphy with the help of this blog and the sources I have provided you with! If you’re reading this it also means that you have taken the time, hard work, and patience to master the art of calligraphy. Now that you’ve learned a new skill, now what? How can you use calligraphy in your day to day life? How can you make sure this skill doesn’t go to waste? Here is a list of ways you can use calligraphy in fun, practical, and different ways:

1. Make an impression! When people receive a card from you, they will see the gorgeous calligraphy that you have mastered! It will help you stand out and people will remember you more.
2. Calligraphy can make you money: you can sell cards etc. or even start your own calligraphy business! In turn, you can also save money by creating your own cards instead of buying them.
3. Calligraphy helps your brand stand out! If you have an etsy shop or business, you can use calligraphy to create titles and headers that will make your brand stand out from other brands.
4. Calligraphy makes people feel important. If you need to buy a card for a holiday, or you just want to send a thank you card, calligraphy is the perfect thing to use to create a beautiful card that will stand out and make someone feel special and important!
5. Calligraphy helps you remain calm. Calligraphy requires patience, and you can’t be patient without having a clear head and calm mindset! Calligraphy helps relieve some of the stress and anxiety from work, school, and life in general.

Thanks for learning calligraphy with me, get drawing and I hope you enjoyed learning this skill!

-Virginia 🙂

Now that I’ve gotten the hang of calligraphy (and hopefully you have too :)), it’s time to try creating my final genius hour product! I chose to create a card that had different calligraphy renditions of the word ‘thank you’ on it. Obviously, I can continue to work on my calligraphy and improve it, but in the end I think I was able to complete my Genius Hour project and execute calligraphy in a modern and readable way! Here are some pictures of the calligraphy that I drew:

As you can see, I practiced different fonts, pictures, lengths, and details. These things come more naturally the longer you practice.

On this blog post, I am attaching images of what my tracing sheets and free hand drawings looked like. Once I felt comfortable with tracing and writing out the letters, I tried it free hand. I love the Tombow brush pens- I prefer the hard tip because I personally feel like I have more control when writing out letters, but it honestly varies with each person. The green Tombow pen is the soft tip, and the navy colored pen is the hard tip (even though the ink for both are black). Make sure when trying calligraphy free hand that you don’t write too fast or too slow; the tracing helps you find a sense of your ideal speed. I also wouldn’t recommend using cardstock or a ‘rougher’ paper; I think printer paper is probably the best choice because it is nice and smooth- it is also relatively cheap. Once you become more advanced, you can slowly graduate to more advanced paper (if you would like). If you feel like you aren’t getting calligraphy right off the bat, just keep practicing until you get it. On the other hand, if you are a natural at calligraphy, you can experiment with different pens, paper, and styles!

Tracing really helps you get a feel for your natural style!

This is my first attempt at free hand calligraphy!

The Tombow Brush Pens!

I didn’t trace the entire page because if I felt confident with a letter I stopped, but if I felt I needed more practice I kept tracing that letter.

Here is my bibliography and citations for all of the sources I used when trying calligraphy. I have provided a brief description with each source, so that you can know what the article or video is about before you start searching for a specific one. These sources have helped me gain a deeper understanding of what calligraphy is, and how to execute it correctly. Enjoy!

1. “How To Do Modern Calligraphy (3 Popular Styles 2019).” Lettering Daily, 9 Apr. 2019, www.lettering-daily.com/modern-calligraphy/ / This article describes how to create three different types of modern calligraphy. It shows what pens and markers to use, as well as how to use them in the correct way and where to find them.

2. Rebecca. London, 2 Sept. 2017. // I chose this image to be the avatar on my blog because I felt like it really resembled what I was learning, as well as what I was going to be displaying on my blog.

3. “Tombow 62038 Fudenosuke Brush Pen, 2-Pack. Soft and Hard Tip Fudenosuke Brush Pens for Calligraphy and Art Drawings.” Amazon, Amazon, www.amazon.com/Tombow-62038-Fudenosuke-Calligraphy-Drawings/dp/B01M71S9DU/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3M6W37H0DQ7FF&keywords=brush%2Bpens&qid=1556897979&s=gateway&sprefix=brush%2Bpen%2Caps%2C402&sr=8-4. // This citation is for the link to the pens that I bought on Amazon and used to create and practice calligraphy; I put it on my blog so people could easily buy the correct materials to try calligraphy.

4. Steele, Alicia. “10 Free Brush Lettering Practice Sheets.” Dawn Nicole Designs®, Dawn Nicole Designs®, 8 May 2019, bydawnnicole.com/brush-lettering-practice-sheets/. // I used this website because it included a variety of tracing sheets for beginners. I just wanted to get a feel for the pen, and I figured this would be the best way for me and others to learn; it was also an added bonus that the sheets were free.

5. Lee, Amanda, director. Calligraphy and Hand Lettering for Beginners. YouTube, YouTube, 15 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBoVGqiSzr4. // This video was one of the first sources I used when researching calligraphy. I wanted to see how to use it, what it entailed, and what materials to use- this video was perfect, and I highly recommend it!

6. Daily, Lettering. “8 Calligraphy Beginner Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them).” Lettering Daily, 9 Apr. 2019, www.lettering-daily.com/calligraphy-beginner-mistakes/. // I chose this citation because I wanted to learn how to avoid the mistakes most beginners make; I wanted to get off on the right foot and execute calligraphy the correct way.

7. Dean, Peggy. “Top 7 Reasons People Learn Modern Calligraphy.” The Pigeon Letters, 8 Apr. 2019, thepigeonletters.com/2018/07/06/top-7-reasons-people-learn-modern-calligraphy/. // I chose this website because I wanted to learn why people choose to learn modern calligraphy; I wanted to know how I could use it after my genius hour project was finished.

8. Daily, Lettering. “Top 5 BEST Brush Pens For Brush Calligraphy (2019).” Lettering Daily, 20 Apr. 2019, www.lettering-daily.com/top-5-brush-pens/. // I chose this article when I was first starting out. I wanted to learn about all of the different types of brush pens (since I knew I didn’t want to use dip pens), and how each one was beneficial and different.

9. Daily, Lettering. “Tombow Dual Brush Pen Review + Blending Tutorial (2019).” Lettering Daily, 9 Apr. 2019, www.lettering-daily.com/tombow-dual-brush-pen/. // I chose this source because I wanted to learn more about the Tombow Dual Brush Pens, as well as the different ways I could use it.

10. Calligraphy, Pieces, director. How to Hold Your Brush Pen at an Angle. YouTube, YouTube, 16 Aug. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdXy2vhpTT4. // I chose this video because I wanted to learn how to hold my brush pen the correct way, and how to improve my form.

11. Bugbee, Lindsey. “7 Practical Uses for Calligraphy – The Postman’s Knock.” The Postman’s Knock, 6 Aug. 2018, thepostmansknock.com/7-practical-uses-for-calligraphy/. // I chose this website because I wanted to find more ways I could use calligraphy; I wanted to see what I could use this skill for after I had successfully learned it.

12. Kari. Modern Calligraphy Wedding Invitation. Los Angeles. // I chose this image because I wanted to see how people used modern calligraphy in their daily lives, and what their specific style looked like. I wanted to see what details they added and how they executed it.

13. Beck. Autumn Lane Paperie. United States. // I chose this image because I wanted to see how people styled their modern calligraphy; in this instance it was for a paperie company which is something you can start if you are good at calligraphy. This logo played with calligraphy as well as regular block letters to add a playful twist to the brand name and the picture.

14. Artrise. Make It Bloom. // I chose this image because I wanted to see how people added little details into their calligraphy. I wanted to look at people’s calligraphy and their style as a whole, but also how they added little pictures (ex. Flowers and leaves) by their writing to make it more appealing and fun.

15. “Calligraphy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 May 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligraphy. // This was one of the first sources I personally used because I wanted to learn what calligraphy was, where it originated, and how it had become a thing- I wanted to learn more about the history of calligraphy.

16. Co, Snowberry Design, director. Watercolor Spring Wreath and Calligraphy Thank You. YouTube, YouTube, 3 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqGfy9QkTCI. // I used this video to learn about which type of calligraphy I wanted to use and how I could use different styles. This video uses watercolor calligraphy, but ultimately I decided on brush pen calligraphy because I thought that would be easier.

17. Nicole, Dawn. “Tracing Pages for Beginners .” Dawn Nicole Designs, 2017, bydawnnicole.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/NewYearInspirationPracticeSheets-DND.pdf. // This is my citation for the tracing pages I used; the tracing pages helped me get a feel for how I naturally hold the pen, as well as when I should use a upstroke and downstroke.

    18. Nicole, Dawn. “Tracing Pages for Beginners.” Tracing Pages: Calligraphy, 2017, bydawnnicole.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/TrickyLetterComboPracticeSheets-Set1.pdf . // This is another cite that I used for tracing pages; the tracing pages helped me get a feel for how I naturally hold the pen, as well as when I should use a upstroke and downstroke.

19. Bugbee, Lindsey. “What *Is* Modern Calligraphy? – The Postman’s Knock.” The Postman’s Knock, 12 Aug. 2017, thepostmansknock.com/what-is-modern-calligraphy/. //This source helped me learn about how regular calligraphy differs from modern calligraphy; it was helpful in making the decision on which style I wanted to try!

20. Thorpe, Molly. “Modern Calligraphy: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started in Script Calligraphy.” 『Modern Calligraphy: Everything You Need to Know to』 ペーパーバック 9780285643710 0285643711, 2017, antlion.xsrv.jp/0285643711/. // This source is a link to a book written by Molly Thorpe on calligraphy. I considered buying this book when I first started out, but opted for videos instead; I think this book would be a great hands on beginner book!

Let’s get started! I took the different techniques from the article and video I used (look at post #1 if you missed the article and video), and then tried to execute them. I personally think the best way to start learning calligraphy is to print out a few practice pages, and trace them. I also recommend practicing the upstrokes (the finer part of the letter) and the down strokes (the thicker part of the letter). I know you may feel like you are in kindergarten again, and re-learning the alphabet, but practice really helps you get a feel for your personal calligraphy style, and how you are going to hold the pen. I chose to buy the recommended Tombow 62058 Fudenosoke Brush Pen on Amazon; it comes in a two pack and is currently on sale for $5.05. The pack includes a soft and hard tip, so I’m excited to experiment with both styles. Normally everyone has a preferred style between the two. I also chose to use this pen because multiple sources have said it is a great beginner pen, but it is really up to you to decide which utensil you would like to use; the video and article are very helpful when trying to make a decision! I have linked where I bought the pens here, and I have also provided an article where you can access free tracing pages! Remember, the more you practice the better you will get, make sure to have fun with it!

Hello, and welcome to my blog! At the end of this blog (My Genius Hour Project), I hope to have learned how to execute modern calligraphy in a readable and fun way! My first two resources are specifically for beginners and more modern calligraphy (the calligraphy style I chose to focus on). For starters, I chose to watch a video, and read an article to get some variation and learn different techniques, tricks, and tips while learning calligraphy. I personally like both options because the video is more hands on, while the paper is a little more technical and you can learn more about what calligraphy is, what to buy, and how to combine all of these things to create your own product.

Here is a link for learning how to practice and execute modern calligraphy: https://www.lettering-daily.com/modern-calligraphy/