From the course: Learning Calligraphy

Getting the most out of this course

From the course: Learning Calligraphy

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Getting the most out of this course

- This is a how-to course. We're going to be hands on with calligraphy, creating beautiful writing with pens and ink on paper. But I hope it will also be inspirational for you. Calligraphy has the power to be life changing. It certainly was life changing for me. If you've admired the beauty of calligraphy, but didn't think you could learn to do it, I hope this course will give you the confidence to try. I assure you that all it takes is a strong desire to learn and the determination and perseverance to practice, practice, practice. It's just like learning to play the piano, or learning to ride a bicycle, or learning the techniques of French cooking. It's about studying the mechanics involved, and then developing the muscle memory to repeat and refine your results. In this course, we'll be modeling our letters after classical italic forms. You don't need to have any special artistic talent, but you do need to be able to observe details, and to have a steady hand. If you want to learn this, you can. When you start to experience the smooth touch of the pen on your paper, and you feel the flow of the ink as it emerges from the pen directed by the judgment of your eye and the movement of your hand, it is an indescribably delicious sensation. Doing calligraphy can be exciting. It can also be meditative and soothing. And I must warn you, calligraphy can be addictive. You might just want to watch the course straight through, and then decide later if you want to give calligraphy a try. But I hope you'll dig right in, and follow along by practicing with me. Either way, there will be plenty of good examples and step-by-step instruction. Follow my guidelines for learning the simple strokes that create the italic writing style using the broad-edged pen. You'll find my letter charts in the Exercise Files for this course. The exercise files also contain other calligraphic resources that you can use for taking this course to the next level. Start by getting the basic tools and materials recommended in the Exercise Files, which are simple and relatively inexpensive. Let's do some beautiful writing together. Calli-graphy. Join me as we embark on this calligraphic journey.

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