Five ways to improve your brush pen calligraphy - immediately!
SPOILER: It’s not all about how you’re holding the pen…
You’ve done the workshop, you’ve got the pens, you know the basics… now where do you go from here? I know the feeling. You’re at a calligraphy cross-road…creatively speaking! Do you keep practicing? Why isn’t it improving? Shall you try learning something else instead?
Well shake off the ‘I’m just not artistic’ voice and the ‘I’ll never get good at this’ saboteur and dive into these FIVE new mindsets, tips and tricks, ideas and inspo to get your calligraphy improving.
“Be curious not critical” with your calligraphy
This is something I say to lots of my students in workshops. You don’t want to be unkind to yourself, but the pressure to be perfect can easily make lead you down a constant stream of negative talk.
What kills creativity? Constant discouragement. It sucks the joy out of the playful side of creating. Getting things wrong is just an opportunity to adjust and improve.
A big side note: anything you create by hand should be imperfect. That is the nature, and beauty, of hand-created work.
Seek the joy through the process, not the perfection in the piece (that will come as it’s meant to be).
Top tips:
Notice when you say something negative (out loud or in your head)
What can you say or think differently next time?
What can you learn from what didn’t work?
What improvements can you already see?
Consistency: with your calligraphy and your practice
Consistency. This is a big – DOUBLE WHAMMY.
Firstly, in brush pen calligraphy our eyes enjoy seeing consistent shapes and strokes, transitions and flourishes. So practicing the consistency with your drills, letters and words can make all the difference.
Tips:
Repeat basic drills often
Challenge yourself away from the guidelines, perhaps just move to lined paper, and then plain
Notice the opportunity for consistency: Ps and Rs (ascending petals) / a, d, g, o (ovals)…and many more.
Secondly, finding a consistent practice can really help. Perhaps your creative energy is best in the morning, at lunchtime or in the evening. Perhaps you carve out 10 mins a day, 1 hour a week, or join a monthly class that books in that time for you and keeps you practicing.
Play and try new things
My style is only one way – and I have a few styles I love to use up my sleeve. But I also love to learn new ways, and try out other styles. We’re always improving!
Buy the books, watch the videos, follow the instagrammers…there’s plenty of variations of letters, designs and flourishes to inspire and try out.
Most people adopt a mixed-influence style which becomes their own that they can evolve and use consistently. Like your signature dish!
Remember: trying new calligraphy doesn’t stop you improving. It unlocks and reinforces the techniques you’re already learning and practicing. By being playful with it, encourages new learnings to embed into your practice without resistance.
Top tips:
Pop an upbeat playlist on
Have a comedy TV programme in the background
Use colours, or colour paper
Experiment with pens or other items!
Connect and share with others
Creating alone can be a wonderful time of solitude. Calming and mindful it’s a fantastic tool to ease stress and anxiety. But sharing your journey, and your progress with others allows you to:
Celebrate your calligraphy
Notice how far you’ve come
Keep you accountable - and practicing
Motivate you to do more
Inspire you to improve
Motivates others
Inspired others
Brings joy and hand created gifts to others
Gives you a sense of belonging*
In the Mindful Calligraphy Club, we not only share projects and progress, practice and plenty of questions… but we also chat all things stationery: from best pens, to printer paper and more!
Plan some projects, set deadlines
This one I share with caution – you don’t have to have a large project. In fact, you don’t have to have a project at all. It could simply be writing the days of the week everyday, or ‘shopping list’ on the top of a post it note. This repetition can improve your calligraphy fairly quickly (if you’re adopting good regular practice).
But if you if you enjoy projects, and work well to deadlines weave them in! Here’s some ideas:
Small calligraphy projects
Monthly Planner – write the month at the top
Weekly Planner – write the days of the week
Affirmation postcard – write 2-3 words on a card for you to pin up
Gift tags to add to a gift
Medium calligraphy projects
Create a self-care menu – write ‘Laura’s (replace with your name!) Self Care Menu’ at the top and add these sections:
Things that help me relax and feel calm
Things that help my body feel good
Things that keep my mind happy
Things that make me smile
Complete the sections in handwriting or calligraphy for a bigger project.
New year planner – write the year and planner title, plus all the months
Design and write a thank you card to someone
Affirmation postcard – write a short phrase to pin up, or give to someone
Larger calligraphy projects
Designs, write out your favourite lyrics/poem and frame it
Create your family tree in calligraphy
Personalise gifts (on the items, or on the wrapping)
Batch create birthday cards
Plan a dinner and create the place names in calligraphy (perhaps a menu and any dish labels if necessary too!)
Design a calligraphy mural for a wall (or local community project)
Try embroidering, lino cutting, or clay casting your calligraphy
The ideas are honestly endless…
For the deadlines – if you start a small or medium project, I’d say, finish it in one sitting. Most of those listed above shouldn’t take more than 15 mins for the small projects, and 30 mins for the medium ones. For the larger ones, you might take a few days/weeks to plan or design first, but you can plan in a date to finish and aim for to keep you on track, and actually complete it!
For help, support, friendly faces and to get your calligraphy improving, join the online Mindful Calligraphy Club!