What You Need to Know About the Different Styles of Calligraphy

Some people have great penmanship and more often than not, they are also the ones who are skilled in decorative handwriting.

This visual art that is related to writing is often referred to as calligraphy. Nevertheless, not only those with great penmanship can practice calligraphy, but rather, anyone who is keen on this type of art can learn it. It comes in various forms and styles, with some of these listed below.

Modern Calligraphy

With modern calligraphy, you are given more freedom in terms of your strokes compared to its traditional forms which entail the need for specific tools to yield the precise measurements of the letters in terms of heights and angles. Nevertheless, you still need to use some of the most popular tools to enhance your strokes such as brush pens and traditional dip pens to name a few. The art experts behind lettering.org also suggest that you use lettering worksheets to perfect your strokes. As a good rule of thumb, keep in mind that your strokes going up should be thin, while the ones going down should be thicker.

Western Calligraphy

The calligraphy of the Latin writing system is also referred to as western calligraphy. It encompasses the foundation hand, the Italic hand, the Roman writing, as well as the blackletter and copperplate script among others. The foundation hand or bookhand is one of the most basic forms of calligraphy, which makes any writing look elegant and easy to read.

The Italic hand, or chancery, is one of the most popular styles of writing wherein each letter tends to slant gently. On the other hand, the Roman writing, or rustic capitals that only features capital letters, is great for official-looking documents. Overall, the western calligraphy style is suitable for a wide variety of projects which includes hand-written invitations or other papercrafts.

Arabic Calligraphy

Another term used for Arabic calligraphy is Islamic calligraphy because it held a very important role in the Islamic culture, particularly in writing the Quran. This encompasses two strokes namely the Kufic and the Naskh scripts. The former heavily focuses on horizontal motions and geometric patterns while the latter involves delicate thin lines. The Naskh script is easier to master, such that it eventually replaced the more traditional Kufic script.

Oriental Calligraphy

Oriental calligraphy is also known as Chinese calligraphy, which is produced using a small, tapered brush, rather than a pen or nib. In this decorative writing, the emphasis is given on the motion of the letters, which provides this style life of its own. Nowadays, this writing style is mostly used only by scribes and artisans.

To wrap things up, you can learn different types of calligraphy which include modern, western, Arabic, or oriental forms to name a few. However, you may need a few tools to get you started. If you fail to get it right the first time you try, just go ahead and practice because for sure, you will eventually master the strokes. The key is in never giving up, especially if this is what you are most passionate about when it comes to art.