In Calligraphy as Art and Meditation, I offer a new paradigm for learning Western calligraphy. It emerged from a deep desire to create living letterform: calligraphy that infuses form with energy, movement, and feeling. My previous book, Finding the Flow: A Calligraphic Journey, resulted from a search for these qualities. However, I soon realized I’d only partially achieved my goal. Flow could not simply be injected into letters. How then could I merge flow with letterform? Given flow’s physical dimension, I began to conceive calligraphy holistically: as mind, body, and feeling interacting with verbal meaning. This enlarged perspective opened the gate to approaching calligraphy as art and meditation. My new goal was to find an encompassing paradigm for teaching this.

After six years of probing, I had a breakthrough: a tool-centered approach. Here, a tool is used as an extension of the calligrapher’s wholeness: head, hand, and heart. To introduce this as a felt experience, exercises using the “Prototool” – your index finger – connect you directly to the basic calligraphic act: directional movement through surface contact. This experience reveals the important role tool hold plays in translating a calligraphic intention into actual performance. It prepares you to investigate calligraphy through its tools. The familiar pencil awakens your body-mind to rhythmical, gestural movement; the Conte crayon sensitizes you to surface contact; and two-point tools pave the way for success with the edged pen. Through invented “training” alphabets, you combine these tool lessons with alphabet design, ductus, and dynamics (flow technique). In this merger of form and flow I hope you will discover a new, comprehensive template for creating vital letterform.

Today’s calligraphy must, I believe, also be a wholehearted response to our time. How, then, might calligraphy offer students leading a fast-paced, stress-filled life find both a refuge and a way to experience the joy of creativity? I remembered that Zen Buddhists practice calligraphy to help calm the mind. I realized that meditation itself had many values/skills which might be helpful to calligraphic practitioners. From the beginning, Calligraphy as Art and Meditation uses the conscious breath to help you relax and enjoy the sensuous act of stroke making. Attention to process intensifies this moment-by-moment experience. Patience and kindness become antidotes to frustration and self-judgment. Calligraphy practiced as meditation invites you to slow down, grow your confidence, and enhance your well-being. 

To develop calligraphy as an expressive art, you begin with the fundamentals of alphabet design, composition, and spacing. You investigate “calligraphic plasticity”: shortening, lengthening, and/or redirecting a stroke in response to letters preceding/following it. (Calligraphy is not type!) You awaken “calligraphic empathy”: the ability to translate verbal meaning into graphic elements. You cultivate felt, gestural movements through stroke techniques such as “bowing” (as if playing a violin). I warmly encourage you to enter these unexplored regions, to experience their untapped potential (and yours!) through structured exercises and guided play.

And historical scripts? Naturally, these are an integral part of calligraphic instruction. However, I think it’s time to reconsider their role. First, the edged pen that produces most of them is too sophisticated for most beginners. Only near the close of my book, in the last two of my eleven training alphabets, do I offer Italic inventions for learning to operate and understand this tool’s potential. For me, historical alphabets are first symbols of a period’s history/values (important for their allusive power); and second, formal vocabularies available as a rich source for creative inspiration.   

Learn about Gina’s other books and essays in the Publications section of Gina’s website.

Watch Gina Jonas demonstrate the relationship of flow and form:

We are absolutely thrilled to team up with Aspacia Kusulas of Design Kous to give away some fabulous calligraphy supplies and a discount code to get yourself even more.

Prizes

Marble Inkwell

This handmade marble inkwell holds a jar to make calligraphy pen ink dipping easy and spill-proof. 

Inkwell dimensions: 2 x 2 in
Jar dimensions: 28 mm wide x 25 mm high

Wand Straight Wooden Pen

This minimal, handmade straight calligraphy pen is made out of reclaimed tropical wood. It is lightweight and the grip is whicker than most penholders, giving it a relaxed, comfortable grip. 

Length: 16 cm (6 1/4 in)

25% Coupon for Design Kous Etsy Shop

The winner will receive a coupon for 25% off Design Kous’s beautiful Etsy shop.

How to Enter

1. Follow @calligrafile, @designkous, and @aspaciakusulas on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to @calligrafile's Instagram and leave a comment on the giveaway photo, telling us one of your New Year's resolutions and tagging a friend.

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on January 6, 2019.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

See more of Design Kous:

Instagram: instagram.com/designkous

Website: designkous.com

Etsy: designkous.etsy.com

Facebook: facebook.com/designkous

Enter to win this beautiful oblique holder by Inktable!

This handmade oblique pen's handle is green-dyed olive burl and the tail is made of walnut. Both woods are local to Northern Italy, the home of the pen's maker. It has a beautifully flourished finial and its slightly wide grip fits perfectly in the hand. The pen is 20 cm (7 7/8 in) long.

The flange is handmade of solid, flexible brass. It is adjustable by hand or flat-nose pliers to fit most dip pen nibs. The penholder is finished with a protective gloss that protects against stains, but please take care to never leave the penholder in ink or water.

The nib, wooden dish, and other items in the photos, are not included.

HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow @calligrafile and @inkatable on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to this post on @calligrafile's Instagram. Like the giveaway photo and then share/repost it.

3. Tag @calligrafile and @inkatable in your shared post so we can see your entry!

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on Thursday, December 6, 2018. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

We highly recommend that you browse Kate’s other beautiful creations in her Etsy shop, Inkatable.

Note: due to the nature of custom and limited edition designs, the exact pens pictured here may not be available for purchase. We wish we could show every design these talented artisans make, but have chosen just one image to represent each. So we urge you to please visit these websites to view the entire collections, and even to reach out to the makers if you have a custom design in mind.

Visit our entire archive of handmade pens, paper, ink, and tools here.

Calligraphy Influenced Glass Engraving

A 3-day intensive class for experienced calligraphers

Friday, October 12 – Sunday, October 14, 2018
The Berkley City Club • Berkley, California

This class is intended for experienced calligraphers who will learn how to use a micro-motor engraver to create engraved art. Instructor Carla Hagan (a Calligrafile Core Contributor!) will focus on translating students’ calligraphy skills from pen-and-paper to drill-and-glass on a variety of surfaces, including liquor and perfume bottles.

Students will learn to engrave on glass, metal, agate, and other surfaces using a quiet, low speed, low vibration, rechargeable drill. Your skills will quickly transform as you use your newfound writing instrument to translate your calligraphy style from paper to glass. Under the skilled hand of calligrapher and engraver, Carla Hagan, students will learn how to operate, hold and manipulate the drill to create the thicks and thins of traditional calligraphy using a dental drill.

By the end of the weekend, students will possess the basic skills needed to start producing produce beautiful artwork and personalized merchandise. Those students looking to expand their business offerings by incorporating engraving can look forward to our evening breakout session where we discuss The Business of Calligraphy and Engraving.

Carla Hagan is a professional calligrapher based in West Palm Beach, Florida. With over eleven years of professional calligraphy experience, Carla jumped into the engraving scene three years ago. With a few months of practice, she was able to learn how to transform her calligraphy hand to glass engraving. Carla has since built a vast network of engraving clients including Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Glenlivet, Chivas Regal, Josh Wines, Redemption, Cartier, Louboutin, and Chanel. She is also regularly hired to engrave at on-site corporate and wedding events. The engraving side of Carla’s business quickly became much more profitable than the traditional calligraphy offerings of envelopes, place cards, and the like. On average a engraver with experience and a trained hand can earn $125/ hour and up!

Curriculum

This three-day class curriculum features an intensive, hands-on approach to learning. Carla will share her knowledge of the most effective engraving tools and supplies and of course safety. Then we will dive right into the basics of glass engraving, getting comfortable with the operation of the micro-motor and drill, burr rotation, and the different burrs available to use.

Next, we will get into engraving design and be working on bottles of various shapes and sizes. Then, of course, engraving while writing on a curved surface. Carla will be sharing how to avoid mistakes and, when necessary, how to ‘fix’ mishaps.

Professional Engraving Kit (Included in Class Price)

This kit normally retails for $750.00 USD and is included in the class pricing. Ink.Academy will be providing all kit materials to class participants.

• Cordless micro-motor drill

• Collet

• Burrs

• Safety goggles or glasses

• Mask

• White pencil

• Pillow cradle and putty

• Duster brush

• Wax

• Brushes for wax

• Small spray bottle

What are the best, basic, affordable tools that a very beginner can buy for learning modern calligraphy? I've been asked this question at least once a week for the past six years but have always hesitated to write a post about it. For starters, there are already tons of articles like this floating around the web, and most of them offer pretty great advice. But perhaps more importantly, there are so many techniques for doing modern calligraphic styles that I would be remiss if I pretended I could craft the be-all end-all kit for every beginner. However, I have taught in-person calligraphy workshops to 700+ students over the years, so I do have some opinions about the tools that work for beginner students! And of course I have preferences as to which ones I personally prefer. So without further ado, here are my favorite supplies for beginners.

The images below are linked to online stores, all of which ship internationally!

Level 1: Black Ink on White Paper

These are the basic supplies I give all my students and are all you need to get started putting pen to paper for the first time. If you get these items you'll have a bare bones kit and will likely want to branch out quickly, so I've offered add-on ideas below.

Level 2: Expanded Tool Kit

These tools are great additions to the basic tool kit. In fact, you can skip the two plastic pen holders above if you want slightly nicer pens from the start.

Level 3: White Ink on Dark Paper

I consider using white ink an early intermediate technique because it has its own set of technical hurdles (mixing the ink or paint to the right consistency, for one!). Nonetheless, most beginners want to give this a try pretty quickly, and I can't blame them because the results are just so gorgeous.

Level 4: Add-Ons & Splurges

Here are a few book ideas for your learning library and some supplies to consider when you're ready to spend a little more and try new techniques. Of course the Calligraphy Resource Galleries are brimming with even more ideas on this front!

Looking for gifts? Don't miss our 2017 Holiday Gift guide, which is of course applicable year round!

If you're treating yourself, consider signing up for a Skillshare Premium membership. You'll get 2 months free with this link if you're signing up for the first time!

I was fortunate to be able to interview the organization's founder, Todd Oppenheimer, for our blog. Todd is an award-winning journalist and author who has dedicated the past decade to showcasing the work of artisans in a wide range of fields who are making a difference in the world. Todd told me about what craftsmanship means to him, just how it can make the world a better place, and why technology both helps and hinders this pursuit.

The Craftsmanship Initiative and magazine embrace a refreshingly broad definition of "craftsmanship". Can you define what this word means to you and your organization?

To us, craftsmanship means an uncompromising dedication to excellence and durability. It means doing a job to the very best of your ability, and to the height of your knowledge, simply because that’s the basis of integrity. We believe this is the right way to approach any challenge in the world.

In the lettering arts community there is growing debate about whether replacing traditional tools with digital technology (i.e. computers and iPads) diminishes the art form, rather than simply changes it. (I imagine that there are artisans in many fields who feel this way.) What role do you see new technologies playing in the future of craftsmanship? How have computers and internet helped or hindered the craftsmanship movement?

This is an excellent and tricky question—and an eternal one. The dilemma with technology is that it’s a magnifier; it advances and expands both the good in our world and the bad. Since humans are the only living beings on the planet with advanced brains, we ought to be smart enough, and forward-looking enough, to see which applications of a new technology cause trouble, and which ones help our lives. It shouldn’t be difficult to control or sideline the first category, and to then encourage the second. Instead, we act as if we have no control over our inventions, and thus let them pollute areas of endeavor in which advanced technology has no place.

The lettering arts is a prime example of this foolishness. Yes, advanced printing presses are a great gift to publishing, but if people stop learning to write, they will lose an opportunity to develop one of the last manual arts that is available to everyone—with all the attendant damage we now know that does to human brain development.

Part of your organization's mission statement involves highlighting ways that craftsmanship can help the world, from climate change to global conflict. What are some concrete ways this is already happening, and what is your advice to artisans who want to contribute to this movement?

Some of the best examples involve two of the biggest problems of the day—the increasing damage being done to the world’s soil; and the rising political divisions between various camps, especially the American left and right. In the first case, in a story entitled “The Drought Fighter,” we profiled one of today’s most innovative farmers, a young man, in Sebastopol, who has devised promising ways to revive infertile land, even in ultra-arid parts of the world like Africa. In the second case, in a story entitled “The Architecture of Trust, we featured a small but unusually brave initiative, started in Florida, to revive the art of constructive civic dialogue.

Both concepts are being led by people using the principles of craftsmanship to make their innovations work. They’re proceeding with imagination, without fear of failure, and with faith in the core materials of their trade. That’s how artisans in other fields can achieve similar results. Think big, think bravely; maintain your eye for detail, and your knowledge that progress takes extraordinary practice, and extraordinary patience.

What craftsman have you profiled for your blog or magazine whose work most surprised or amazed you?

Certainly Paul Kaiser, the farmer we call “The Drought Fighter,” surprised me the most. His farm is so small, and there were so many knowledgeable people in the agriculture world who doubted him, that I remained uncertain about his scheme for most of the year I spent visiting and studying him. (It was a pleasure to finally figure out that the experts were wrong.) But more traditional artisans have been just as amazing to me for different reasons. Many of them have gotten relatively little credit, attention, or commercial success, but that has not dimmed their drive to work diligently, often obsessively, for years and years, fed only by their pleasure in the work, and their own faith in the marriage of beauty and functionality. Fortunately, that faith has generally proved right. So, we’re now trying to help the world see exactly that.

The Craftsmanship Inititive produces some beautiful videos (compiled on their YouTube channel) featuring craftsman around the globe. In the video below, Master Pen Shaper Michael Masuyama provides an inside look into his studio and discusses his passion for pens and his craft.

Follow the Craftsmanship Initiative on
Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.

Read their publication, Craftsmanship Quarterly, online here.

“Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

Learn Copperplate Calligraphy is a comprehensive online course taught by Calligrafile Contributor Younghae Chung, a seasoned calligrapher and teacher to over 2,000 students. Younghae will walk students through all the basics of learning Copperplate, the widely popular and elegant calligraphic script.

The course is designed with absolute beginners as well as seasoned calligraphers in mind, and is made up of 6 teaching modules, each with its own individual lessons. In addition, Younghae provides 4 bonus lessons (outlined below). Each lesson has both a video and a written component for students to follow along. Suggested homework will also be given after each module so you can apply what you have learned right away. Including the bonus videos, there are over 35 video lessons in this single course package! Learn Copperplate Calligraphy is designed to be a one-stop course packed with instructions, techniques, tips, exemplars, and suggested homework so that you can see your script improve over time. 

Students will walk away from the class with a solid foundation and can look forward to:

• 6 in-depth teaching modules:
  • What Is Copperplate?
  • Warm Up Exercises
  • Basic Strokes
  • Lowercase Letters
  • Connecting Letters
  • Uppercase Letters
• 4 bonus videos:
  • Envelope Addressing
  • Numbers
  • Lowercase Letter Variations
  • Special Instructions for Lefties

Over 350 students are already signed up for Learn Copperplate Calligraphy Online, so sign up before September 29th to join this community and gain instant access to all Module 1 videos.

Watch the course's introductory video:

FAQ

When does the course start and finish?

Module 1 has already launched so as soon as you sign up you will gain instant access to all Module 1 videos. Though this is a self-paced course, for accountability purposes, Younghae will provide a suggested schedule as well as homework for you to complete.

What supplies do I need to get started?

All you need to get started is a pen holder, nib, ink, paper, printer, and a computer with internet access! A full supply guide can be found at LearnCopperplateCalligraphy.com.

Will there be handouts included?

Yes! Not only will you get scanned images of the exact letters that Younghae demonstrates through the course, she will provide extensive handouts that you can download and print right away.

How long do I have access to the course?

You have lifetime access to the course so you can take your time and go at your own pace. Take a break if needed, and pick up where you left off.

Will Younghae be providing feedback?

Yes! Once the course launches, Younghae will provide weekly group feedback as well as hosting live videos for Q&As throughout 7 weeks.

Registration Closes September 29, 2017!

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This Calligrapher's Clutch by Sew Darn Close measures approximately 9 x 20 inches when unrolled and features a 6-inch wide zippered pocket, 6-inch wide notepad pocket, and four 2-inch wide pen pockets. The clutch is quilted with a thin batting to give your nib holders extra cushion while remaining soft and flexible. Tri-fold or roll the clutch, then tie it up in a bow with the attached ribbons! The zippered pouch can hold your other calligraphy necessities like nibs and ink pots. The pens, pad, ink, and tin in the photo are not included.
 

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HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow @calligrafile and @sewdarnclose on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to @calligrafile's Instagram and like the giveaway photo.

3. Leave a comment on the Instagram photo telling us your favorite spot away from your desk to take your pens and do a bit of calligraphy, whether it's at a nearby coffee shop, a live event, or traveling on vacation.

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on Thursday, September 14, 2017. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

About the maker

Sew Darn Close features soft, sophisticated, colorful items handmade by Emily Close. As a mother and a lover of all things creative, she creates items that support artists of all ages. 

Emily's Etsy shop has an array of beautiful handmade products for artists, and she takes custom orders too! Below is but a sampling of Emily's creations, as featured on her Instagram.

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what you'll learn

Script Design from Traditional to Modern is a four-week, online workshop with Bailey Amon Rivera. Classes will run for four consecutive Wednesdays in September, 2017. The aim is to take your script to another level with a focused course in letterform variations, word formations, and flourishing. We dive into the process used to create different styles, whether they're traditional, modern or somewhere in between. By focusing first on the "nuts and bolts" of letter construction and traditional letterform variations, we offer students of all levels a unique opportunity to both train their skills and develop individual variety at the same time.

Creating your own lettering style is fun and easy when it's based on the foundation of traditional letterforms. As a calligrapher and stationery designer, Bailey has made a name for herself over the years with her unique and varied calligraphy styles. Besides being fun to experiment with and design new styles, this process has been crucial to developing her business and making her work stand apart from other lettering artists.

This class is well suited for all calligraphy enthusiasts from complete novice to the more experienced and professional penman. The course material will start with the basics so that everyone can participate and learn together, no prior experience necessary. If you've been feeling stuck in your practice and want to brush up on your skills, or if you need new styles for your products or clients, this is the class for you.

Syllabus

Week One
Getting Started, Letterform Variables, and Lowercase Letterform Variations

Week Two
Lowercase Variations, Letter Connections, and Making Words

Week Three
Capital Letterform Variations and Numbers

Week Four
Capital Letterform Variations, Flourishing, Designing, and Bringing Our Script Style Together

Schedule

• Classes will run for four consecutive Wednesdays in September, 2017: September 6, September 13, September 20, and September 27.

• New classes are posted once per week but you do NOT need to be online at that time. The videos may be watched at whatever time is convenient for you!

• Each Wednesday there will be new worksheets available for you to download with an instructional video.

• The Classroom Forum provides a wonderful place to share your designs with the other students and it is always such fun to take the class with students from around the globe. There is no homework for this class, but a project will be suggested each week.

First five photos: Chelsea Francis; Last photo: Bailey Amon Rivera

About Antiquaria

Antiquaria was officially born in August of 2010, but the adventure began a year earlier when Emma James and Bailey Amon met in the Austin, Texas, stationery store where Emma was designing invitations. Bailey walked into the store one day with her calligraphy portfolio and the two immediately hit it off...we’re talking instant mutual admiration society here. A couple of months later, Emma hired Bailey to do the calligraphy for her beautiful wedding invitations, and the rest was history.

With their masterful use of calligraphy, hand lettering, hand-drawn illustration, vintage etching, watercolor, and typography, the Antiquaria design philosophy and product line embodies a vintage-modern design aesthetic. Antiquaria designs are meant to be approachable — not fussy or over-the-top. At Antiquaria, we believe design should feel natural, like it’s meant to be there, like it’s always been there. Above all, our designs should make you happy. Our extensive product line of greeting cards, gift wrap and gift items can be found in retail stores worldwide. 

Win this beautiful silkscreen art print from Worker Bee Supply Co.

THE PRIZE

In conjunction with our friends at Worker Bee Supply Co., we are giving away a hand-printed 11x14-inch silkscreen print. This beautiful art piece was designed by graphic designer and lettering artist Marta Ryczko. The print, on white card stock, features cyan and metallic gold ink and comes ready to frame. 

HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow @calligrafile and @workerbeesupply on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to @calligrafile's Instagram and like the giveaway photo.

3. Leave a comment on the Instagram photo with an answer to the question in the photo's caption.

It's as simple as that! The lucky winner will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on Sunday, June 18, 2017. The winner will have one week to claim their prize. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

Watch what artist Marta Ryczko has to say about her design process:

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Visit Worker Bee Supply Co. to see the other designs and services they offer, and be sure to follow them on Instagram and YouTube!

Hi all! Molly here, founder of Calligrafile.com. I want to tell you a bit about my second book, which I wrote in response to the questions I regularly receive about the business side of lettering arts. The Calligrapher’s Business Handbook: Pricing & Policies for Lettering Artists just came out and is available worldwide in print and eBook formats!

During my career as a professional calligrapher and freelance graphic designer, I have taught calligraphy to hundreds of students and worked with countless peers in the lettering arts industry. There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the business of calligraphy and hand lettering and, over the years, I’ve heard the same questions and run into the same misconceptions time and again.

My goal in writing this book was to provide answers to these questions and to clarify misconceptions about the business side of hand lettering by creating a guide to the best practices and pricing strategies of successful, professional lettering artists.

The common questions my new book answers include:

• What prices do professional calligraphers charge for their services?
• When should I charge a flat rate and when should I charge by the hour?
• I’ve heard I should charge a lot more to design a logo than to design something for an individual to use personally, but why?
• What is the protocol when a company wants to buy the copyright to my work? (Wait, do I even own the copyright to my work if a client hired me to make it?)
• What are exclusive rights? How are nonexclusive rights different?
• What should a fair project contract include?
• When, if ever, should I agree to do work for free or for considerably less than my customary rates?
• What are the best ways to advertise on a budget, especially when I’m just starting out as a freelancer?
• Do I need to go to art or design school to become a successful, in-demand lettering artist?

Enter to win this beautiful oblique holder by Jake Minnema of Jaay Pens! This is a custom, hand-turned and finished, oblique pen holder made from black palm wood. It was crafted entirely by hand in a simple but elegant "teardrop" shape, highlighting black palm's naturally beautiful patterning.

The flange is handmade from brass and custom fit for a Leonardt Principal nib (not included, but you can get one here) which perfectly aligns to center when fully in the flange. The flange is set at a slightly upward angle to help with ease of writing.

We highly recommend that you browse Jake's other creations at the Jaay Pens shop.

Product specs:

• Wood: Black palm
• Flange: Brass
• Length: 7.5 inches
• Width at thickest point: 0.78 inches
• Width at finger rest: 0.5 inches

HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow @calligrafile and @jaaypens on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to @calligrafile's Instagram. Like the giveaway photo and then share/repost it.

3. Tag @calligrafile and @jaaypens in your shared post so we can see your entry!

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on Thursday, March 16, 2016. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

Three lucky winners, three amazing prizes. 

In conjunction with our friends Tristan & Michelle of Foto Rx, we're giving away free access to two Foto Rx Skillshare classes – "Watercolor Effect in Photoshop" & "Quick & Easy Patterns in Photoshop" – and a free download of their popular Photoshop Watercolor Styles! Three lucky winners will get all three!

THE PRIZES:

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Follow @calligrafile and @fotorxco on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to @calligrafile's Instagram and like the giveaway photo.

3. Leave a comment on the Instagram photo tagging any artist who might like to learn Photoshop watercolor effects and patterns.

The 3 winners will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on Thursday, March 2, 2016. Winners will have one week to claim their prize. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

Kelly Chilton is the calligrapher and artist behind Lovers and Dreamers. She is a graphic designer by training and spent years working as a designer and art director. Now a calligrapher full-time with a studio in Southern California, Kelly's specialty is pointed pen calligraphy, with a primary focus on custom commissions, weddings, and other events. She loves to experiment with line, flourishing, and more recently, graphite. Kelly's lifetime loves are music and the ocean, which she often integrates into her work.

Kelly will have an art and lettering solo show in Louisville, Kentucky this summer, opening the night before the IAMPETH 2017 Conference starts. If you're in the area, it's not to be missed! Saturday, July 8, 5-8 pm; Lettersong Gallery; Louisville, Kentucky.

I interviewed Kelly via email to find out about her start in hand lettering and her advice for other freelance calligraphers. She shared with a great list of inspirations, valuable advice, and some cool personal tidbits like that she rows on a competitive masters team!

Follow Kelly on Instagram & Facebook.

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Where are you located?

I’m in Costa Mesa, California. About a mile from the beach in sunny southern California. I was born and raised in North Carolina.

What got you started doing calligraphy? Did you have formal training, teach yourself, or a combination of the two? 

I’ve loved making things and doing art since I was a kid. I initially wanted to be a painter, but my mom wanted me to have a job out of college, so I went into the closest thing at the time, graphic design, thinking I would still have time to paint (which wasn’t true!). I’m so grateful for the jobs and the different cities that my design career led me to, but I always did enjoy working more with my hands than on the computer. The practical knowledge was indispensable – kerning, leading, composition, the long critiques! – how print processes and the industry as a whole works – I wouldn’t give those up for anything. But I was itching to do work that was more personal and free, and I have always been hooked on the poetry of song lyrics.

I was taking these lyrics at the time and hand-lettering them and sometimes decoupaging them and collaging them and playing with the size of the words in my free time on weekends. One of the verses was from “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones and it felt like that needed to be in a script because it’s sung by a chorus. But when I’d scale up certain words, the width got too big and it didn’t look right with the rest of the letters…not to mention that I wasn’t happy with the few script fonts that I could find at the time – they just weren’t that pretty or spontaneous like script should be (as a designer, I had more access to fonts than your average person.) So I signed up to take a calligraphy class just for that particular piece of mine and to solve that one problem. The teacher was DeAnn Singh, who is fabulous and generous in spirit, and whom I would wholeheartedly recommend as a teacher to anyone.

When I got there, even though it was hard (of course!) and my writing looked not technically great for a very long time (of course!), it was one of those things things that immediately that day when I started doing it, I was like “Yes. This is what I am doing from now on.” But I didn’t go into business for five years because in my estimation, that is how long it took my work to look good, with a lot of practice in between. There are a lot of great teachers around and a long relationship with a good teacher is something I’d recommend. I also have to mention Harvest Crittenden and Barbara Close because they are wonderful in that regard. And us younger people are starting to show up. Mike Ward is killing it, Schin Loong is doing her awesome thing exactly like she wants, Skyler Chubak is doing his killer lettering and Bailey Amon Rivera is amazing now. It’s a really cool time.

You are quite accomplished in a number of traditional calligraphy styles including Spencerian, Copperplate, and English Roundhand. What’s your favorite and why?

Thank you. I have a lot that I’d like to explore. I like them all in different ways and for different uses. Copperplate/Roundhand is easy to customize and is kind of a crowd-pleaser at events, so it can be a jack-of-all-trades. It’s easy to change one thing on and still get a pretty nice outcome. But overall, I think found home with Spencerian because it's faster, more my rhythm, and I think you can have more freedom and craziness in the ends and beginnings. Since I do like to try to catch a tempo, it works better with the speed of Spencerian, you can really go faster with it and be very free and pretty wild in the flourishes as long as you keep certain rules in mind, and as long as you keep a lot of air in there. With Copperplate or Roundhand, the up-and-down nature of it and the fact that you you dip in the ink so much can really slow you down although the contrast is also quite beautiful. I adore the look of a solid, crisp Engrosser’s and I keep telling myself that one of these days I’m going to do nothing but devote a several years to it and maybe even develop a fierce one to call my own but I haven’t yet.

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What is your favorite type of project to do for a client? What about your favorite project to do for yourself?

This is actually a harder question than I thought it would be! I do a lot of envelopes, and actually like them – I always have. Place cards also really get my imagination going – who is going sit next to whom, and do they like each other? Are these people cousins? Are they brother and sister? I love food, so I really get into imagining what the scene is going to be like at the dinner, and who if anyone might even sneak the place card home in their purse! I also have a real fondness for the person who orders the card and envelope, for their thoughtfulness, and I hope that guests are noticing the attention to detail they are putting into giving them a beautiful event.

On the other hand, I think Good Gift Giving is a precious skill so I also love the clients who want to commission a piece for a loved one. I’ve had clients commission song lyrics, poetry for friends and family members, and I find that very touching too. I had a client who, for the birth of his friend’s daughter, wrote a poem for the baby about how her parents met and fell in love and commissioned me to write it out in Spencerian, and I almost cried as I wrote part of it – it was hard to give it away, I worked so hard on it! I am touched by it all. It’s hard not to become connected to all my clients.

I think I already answered the other part of the question. For myself, I like to do music. The goal that I am working towards now, which is hard to put into words, is that I am trying to translate music into line, if that makes any sense. When no one’s at home, I turn the music up real loud, get some big paper, and dance around with a big stick of graphite in my hand, or pastels, or a paintbrush or whatever. Most of the time I’ll stick with the same artist or album and sometimes I’ll stay on the same song for hours trying to get different parts of the song or trying to get the rhythm just right. Or with a pen and ink — and not dancing, sitting! – I'll create new flourishes, I love to make octopus flourishes and come up with other sea creature ones. The health of our oceans and the creatures in it is on my mind almost all of the time.

Apart from thousands of hours worth of honed calligraphic skill, what are the other most important skills that a freelance calligrapher should possess if they want to monetize their craft?

I think it’s important to stick with what you do, and not necessarily just to follow trends that you see or what seems popular. Even with calligraphy, we wouldn’t have the Master Penmen if they had only come on board when calligraphy had just gotten “cool” with the mainstream again. I think it’s important not to sit around and compare yourself with other people. Just do what you do. Things take a long time to practice. I like to think that people respond to something or someone that’s genuine, so try to develop your own voice. Listen to the small whisper in yourself and go that direction and keep practicing until there’s something there with some skill behind it. But really for everybody, and I can’t emphasize this enough, it’s a lot of practice. A lot a lot. Look at work by Masters, people who have been doing it a long time and NOTICE THE DETAILS. Details are important.

Who are the calligraphers, designers, or artists – past or present – from whom you draw the most inspiration?

I had a turning point when I took a flourishing class with Jake Weidmann. I had been doing calligraphy for a while, and at that point things really gelled for me, so he is big influence and a great teacher. He’s so serious and diligent, you wouldn’t look at his work and expect that he is also funny and patient, but he is. After I took his class, I literally could not stop seeing every object in front of me how I would create them in flourishes, and I just kind of ran with it.

I had another artist and teacher this year that also really rocked my world and she is Anne Cowie. She is a calligrapher and artist and I took a mark-making class with her and I honestly still want to be doing that every day, all the time. I am doing bigger work now because of her, and freer marks in more mediums and now I feel more confident in combining marks and words and I’m closer to my goal of getting rhythm on the page. So those two people are very huge influences in two different ways. But one thing they have in common is that they like to work big and so do I.

As far as pushing the envelope and working with music, I also worked with James Fazz Farrell and that was very exciting and I am really inspired by what he does and we work the same way in how we sort of flow to the beat and just go with the rhythm and make something with the pointed pen.

My favorite painter has always been Matisse, for the way he breaks up space, his amazing use of color that still seems avant-garde to me even now and especially the way he portrayed things so optimistically, which was also a big choice at the time. I’ve always admired the sculptures of Degas in that he is trying to solve the same problems with his dancers that we are, or that I am anyway – how to represent physical motion and tension when you are creating what is a still piece. He does it beautifully.

With my graphic design background, I always loved very bold type and composition, and I love Hatch Show Print and big bold posters. They are on Instagram and I was so happy to get to visit the printing space when the IAMPETH Convention was in Tennessee.

I’ve always loved the Russian Constructivists. I think if you have any nervousness about composition in your own work, you can’t wrong looking at these. The posters are so fun and you get a real sense of the focal point that can help you in learning how to set your own composition on the page. Too much to list, really. I love Art Nouveau, Maxfield Parrish, Paul Klee, Toulouse-Lautrec, and the Japanese woodblock prints of Hiroshige – and I could ramble on.

Right now I’m verging on obsessed with the series of underwater photographs by Howard Schatz. I’m also a big fan of the illustrators Yuko Shimizu and Maira Kalman. Also: the website apod.nasa.gov, which posts a different high resolution view of space each day, Wayne White, Hugo Guinness, and the photographer Thomas Struth.

It’s probably obvious by now but I get my influence from all over the place. I follow florists, jewelry designers, interior designers, couture fashion, underwater and nature photographers…really just anything that gets my brain inspired and thinking about space and movement.

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What are the top 5 lettering tools or resources you couldn’t live without?

Stabilo Pen 68
This is what I sketch with when I am not sketching directly with a pointed pen

C-Thru Ruler
My favorite ruler – just don’t cut along the edge – use a cork-backed metal one for that!

Topolino Magnetic Ink Stirrer
Lately this has been saving me because much of my client work has been in gouache or metallic.

Pentel Clic Eraser

IAMPETH for historical examples

Do you have a hidden talent, hobby, or nerdy interest that you don’t usually share?

I have a lot of hobbies – too many really. The one that takes up the most time 4 mornings a week at dawn is rowing, usually on a boat of either 4 or 9 women. It’s not much of a secret because anybody who’s friends with me on Facebook knows that any time we have a race or a photographer comes out and photographs the team, we all tag each other in a million pictures together (sorry!).

A weird hobby that not many people know: I am teaching myself the art of espalier, so that I can train some blood orange trees into fan shapes in my yard. I also really love cooking, gardening, growing flowers and herbs and veggies, going to rock shows, knitting, sailing, and SCUBA diving.

Any exciting news from your studio that you'd like to share with readers?

I’ll be featured in a solo show featuring my art and lettering that opens in Louisville, Kentucky. It is timed to open the night before the IAMPETH 2017 Conference starts. There will be live music that will feature the lyrics in my pieces. The opening is Saturday, July 8, 5-8 pm at Lettersong Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Kelly also creates beautiful 'calligraphic marks' – abstracted letterforms rendered in graphite.
Left to right: Son of Man, Talking Heads, Get By VII, Abstract 4

Win free access to this new, online class and learn to design a font from your own hand lettering.

In conjunction with Calligrafile Contributor Isabel Urbina Peña and our friends at Brit + Co., we are giving away two promo codes to Isabel's NEW online class, Design Your Own Font. In this beginner-friendly class, you will create your first typeface inspired by your own lettering, learn about going digital, and set up your letters in a font editor. With Isabel's easy-to-follow lessons, you'll soon be type setting EVERYTHING in your own font! 

HOW TO ENTER

1. Follow @calligrafile, @bellera, and @britandco on Instagram (if you don't already!)

2. Go to @calligrafile's Instagram and like the giveaway photo.

3. Leave a comment on the Instagram photo tagging a fellow lettering artist who might like to make a font of his or her own.

It's as simple as that! Two lucky winners will be randomly selected and announced on Calligrafile's Instagram on Friday, February 24, 2016. Winners will have one week to claim their prize. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world.

This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Instagram in any way. By participating, you are affirming that you are over age 13, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram's Terms of Use.

Register and learn more about this class over at Brit+Co.

And be sure to read our interview with Isabel right here at Calligrafile.

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Mary Ellen Seidman is a professional calligrapher specializing in weddings, logos, and custom-designed maps. She started practicing calligraphy many years ago when she was a stay-at-home mom to three young children. In 2010, Calligraphy by Mary Ellen became a full-time business offering calligraphy, hand lettering, and digital design.

Today, Mary Ellen works with clients and offers private lessons in the Philadelphia area. She is also an active member of the Philadelphia Calligrapher’s Society and IAMPETH.

I interviewed Mary Ellen via email to learn her advice for budding freelance calligraphers and some of her favorite tools.

Follow Mary Ellen on Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest

Where are you located?

I am located in Marlton, New Jersey, about 15 miles outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA).

What got you started doing calligraphy? Did you have formal training, teach yourself, or a combination of the two?

My first introduction to calligraphy was in a college typography class. It was in that class when I learned the importance of type and lettering in design. When planning my own wedding, I knew that I wanted to design my invitation, and I addressed them in a very beginner calligraphy style. As newlyweds, my husband and I owned a café in Old City, Philadelphia. It was there that I got to practice more by hand-lettering our seasonal menu. My calligraphy was very raw but our customers loved the look of it. It wasn’t until after the birth of my third child, Claire, that I took my first class in calligraphy. I took every class offered and from there my love of pen and ink was born.

You offer a variety of script styles, ranging from very flourished and formal to loose and lowercase. What’s your favorite and why?

My favorite hand is flourished Copperplate – it’s what I feel comes most naturally to me. Recently I’ve started offering a modern style script which took some time to develop. I have fallen in love with that too, so I guess I have a hard time picking a favorite!

What is your favorite type of project to do for a client? What about your favorite project to do for yourself?

My favorite type of client calligraphy project is working with a bride and groom from their save the date to their invitation through to wedding day place cards, table numbers, and reception signs. Recently I have been studying watercolor painting and would like to combine my two loves – calligraphy and painting – into my work. 

What are the most important lessons you learned when establishing your creative freelance business? Specifically, what advice can you offer a budding lettering artist interested in monetizing their hobby?

The most important lesson I have learned about establishing a freelance business is to believe in yourself and your craft. It took me a long time to be confident in offering my calligraphy to clients. Set goals and always challenge yourself. Know your value and don’t compromise to please someone else. My advice for beginning lettering artists would be to study, practice, and study and practice some more! Never stop learning. The calligraphy community is very giving and nurturing, take the time to get to know your fellow calligraphers. They have a wealth of knowledge and most are happy to share. 

Also, running your own business requires you to have knowledge in accounting, publicity, trends, pricing, social media, technology and mastering your craft.

What is the most unusual, interesting, or difficult commission you’ve worked on to date?

The most unusual project I have done so far is to hand letter a nine-foot bridal veil that I made for a styled shoot (see below). I had always wanted to do a large piece and when the photographer approached me for the shoot I suggested a veil. It turned out beautifully with a soft ethereal look and featured one of my favorite sonnets, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How do I love thee?”

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What are the top 5 lettering tools or resources you couldn’t live without?

My favorite pens: a Yoke naked pen from Yoke Pen Company and my custom pen by Heather Victoria Held

Dr. Martin’s inks and supplies from Paper & Ink Arts. 

Another favorite tool is the often overlooked office chair! I experienced bad back pain while working from a very bad inexpensive chair.

I couldn’t live without Photoshop for editing my calligraphy and also my Wacom Cintiq Graphic Monitor. It has enabled me to edit and layout my calligraphy so much more efficiently. 

Do you have a hidden talent, hobby, or nerdy interest that you don’t usually share?

My nerdy interest is collecting vintage stamps. I use them to style my calligraphy snail mail and I’m always on the hunt for more treasures!

My business is always evolving and growing, I have recently started giving private lessons, which requires a whole new skill set. It’s been challenging and fun and made me brush up on the basics of copperplate calligraphy. I think keeping current with new trends and styles is important in today’s marketplace.

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Pieter Boels is a graphic designer and lettering artist with a studio in Antwerp, Belgium. His strong typographic work merges graphic design, calligraphy, digital typography, and illustrative hand lettering. The focus of Pieter's studio is corporate identities, books and catalogues, murals, shop windows, posters, packaging, and even the occasional tattoo.

Pieter received his Master's degree at St-Lucas School of Arts in 2008 and set up his own studio in 2012. Next to assignments, Pieter also works on personal projects, continually exploring new visual techniques. His mantra is that life is too short (or too long) not to have a lot of fun.

This year, Pieter collaborated with fellow type enthusiast Eltipo to found the lettering artist collective Analphabetics. It will focus on creating and teaching lettering and calligraphy, and will host its first lettering class in Antwerp in March 2017.

We are so pleased to welcome Pieter into the Calligrafile team! His background in digital type and sign painting makes him an especially great asset for the intersection of graphic design and calligraphy. I interviewed Pieter via email to find out more about his start in hand lettering, his favorite projects (for clients and on the side), and his (fantastic) advice for combatting creative burnout.

Follow Pieter's work on Instagram, Behance, Facebook & Twitter

Where are you located?

The lovely city of Antwerp: Belgium’s second biggest city – although it’s tiny – and the capital of fashion and diamonds. It has an exceptionally lively creative scene too.

What sparked your interest in hand lettering, and what path have you taken to master the art form since that time (formal training, independent study, a combination of the two)?

Like most children I drew a lot, and I attended weekly art classes throughout my entire youth. I was always conscious about my handwriting, regularly changing the shape of certain letters to something I deemed fashionable or “cool”.

My first steps in hand lettering happened as much because of technical limitations as out of interest. In my first years in art college I loved working on analog undergrounds and textures, and I just didn’t know how else to apply type on them. I experimented with scanning and applying digital type but the results were always underwhelming. Luckily I inherited loads of dry transfer sheets from my parents, relics from their time as interior architecture students 30 years earlier. Great stuff, but at a certain point I got tired of the available fonts, and a lot of the sheets were so old they had lost their adhesiveness anyway. So I started drawing type by hand.

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At my first job in a small design studio I tried to incorporate hand written type from time to time. A frustrating experience because most clients were very corporate and not interested in typographic experiments. And if I’m being very honest also because of my lack of skills, which made me give up.

It was only when I went freelance in 2012 that I really got into lettering and calligraphy. I started experimenting with cheap brush pens and markers and slowly got better by looking at other people’s work, subscribing to online tutorials (like Skillshare) and generally practicing a lot on my own. There’s a lot of good books on lettering out there. Two of the best are In Progress by Jessica Hische and The ABC of Custom Lettering by Ivan Castro. I wish I had these when I was just starting out! Nowadays I attend workshops regularly. They are a great way to meet other people, learn new skills or boost existing ones. In 2016 for example I took a two-day blackboard art course, a cursive calligraphy workshop and a brush script workshop.

Recently, my partner in type Eltipo and I started a collective called Analphabetics, where we will focus on creating and teaching about lettering and calligraphy. Our first workshop will be in Antwerp somewhere towards the end of March. Keep an eye out for more on our the Analphabetics Facebook!

Your eye for typography is quite unique, and you frequently combine hand lettering with modern digital fonts As both a graphic designer of some purely digital work, and a versatile lettering artist (doing everything from sign painting to logo design), where do you feel that lettering falls in the spectrum from fine art to design? Do you distinguish between the two? 

For me, the difference between (graphic) design and fine arts lies in their respective intentions. When I design I'm usually trying to solve a problem or question that’s stated in the brief. Art on the other hand may convey an idea, raise questions and be interpreted, and is born out of the artist’s mind, therefore not confined to serving a single purpose. Of course there’s often more or less overlap, which is interesting. Lettering inherently means lettering something, so what you’re lettering, the message, determines whether it belongs in one category or the other, in my opinion. In Spring of 2016 I visited Stephen Powers’ exhibition Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull) at the Brooklyn Museum, and the Icy Signs installation there was a perfect example of how an applied art like sign painting can become fine art.

Doing mainly client work I consider myself more a designer or craftsman than an artist, but the more personal projects I start the more those borders become blurry. But why label anyway, right? Although it’s nice to be free in my personal work I do enjoy the restrictions that commissions usually impose, and I use hand lettering in both instances.

As a creative freelancer, how do you combat creative burnout and stay motivated?

So many possible answers to this one. I guess the most important thing is to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your business. In other words having a plan, a mission, vision or whatever you want to call it. Whenever times get rough – and sooner or later they always do – it’s good to have something to hold on to, a compass pointing you in the direction of your long-term goals. It can be hard to formulate such a plan, especially when you start out as a freelancer, and it requires absolute honesty. So here are three other, easier rules I have applied over the past years.

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VARIETY

For me it’s important to work on several things at the same time. At any given moment I have at least ten projects on the table, some of which are self-initiated. When I get stuck at one project I can easily pick up another (preferably very different) one. Of course deadlines often dictate some order of urgency, but even then it helps to switch between projects to keep a fresh eye on the matter. Variety also means not doing too much of the same work for long stretches of time, and often trying new things. Be it writing copperplate invitations, painting signs or vectorising lettered quotes, if that was all I did every day I would soon throw myself out of the window. But evidently that is a very personal thing. The feeling of acquiring a new skill or successfully finishing a first-of-its-kind project is hard to beat and gets me going for at least a few weeks.

WORK WITH PEOPLE, NOT FOR

One of the quickest ways into creative burnout is feeling like a tool. I have no problems with a restricted brief or following brand guidelines, but if a client merely uses me to execute his or her ideas, then our relationship is doomed to be short-lived. As a designer I need creative participation. The end result always benefits when my client and I work together as a team. It also creates loyalty from both sides which makes burnout and frustration much less likely to happen. Going the extra mile for an appreciative client is easy!

GO OUT AND RELAX

Huge cliché but oh so true. During busy times it can be tempting to lock myself up in my studio like a hermit, working long days and eating behind my desk to save time. However effective it can be at first, after a while I always end up feeling miserable and looking at Pinterest and Instagram for hours, killing my creativity (not to mention my efficiency). Inspiration often comes in unexpected forms so it’s super important for me to go out into the world and connect with others.

What is the most fun, unusual, interesting, or difficult commission you’ve worked on to date?

Antwerp is home to the Museum Plantin-Moretus, which houses one of the world’s oldest existing printing presses and was the first museum to ever become a Unesco World Heritage Site. After a renovation it reopened in October 2016 and I was asked to do a typographic performance during the opening weekend. I chose to write a Medieval poem on the bars and shop windows on the square where the museum is located. (See below.)

Blackletter seemed fitting, as a reference to the time when the poem was written and printed. I had used this style in calligraphic projects before, such as table seating, but never on anything else than paper. Having only practiced on my studio’s windows, it was quite intimidating to start on the first shop window – with the owner, clients and passersby watching my every move. But once I found my rhythm it was one of the most rewarding commissions I’ve had to date.

It took me three days to do them all and it was an absolute blast. People reacted really well and often came over to talk and ask questions. It was challenging and fun, and the interaction with the crowd gave the experience an extra dimension. 

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What are the top 5 lettering tools you couldn’t live without?

Hmm. I’m gonna start off with the most obvious: a pencil. More specifically my trusty Staedtler Mars Technico mechanical lead holder. The inseparable Tombow Mono Zero eraser stick comes in at a close second. While most regular pencils and erasers also get the job done, few can compete with the precision of these two. Honorable mention: Palomino Blackwing pencils. Truly fantastic gear, especially for rough sketches and writing. Their smoothness and responsiveness to pressure is beyond comparison.

Next: tracing paper! Although I’m starting to use a light box more often these days, I love the feeling of drawing on those smooth sheets. Slightly heavier tracing paper is perfect for using with brush pens too.

Speaking of brush pens, the Pentel Art Brush pen certainly has a place in this list. It took me a while to master it, and it was so satisfying once I did…versatile and dynamic, plus they’re refillable and last forever.

Adobe Illustrator ends my top five. I’ve always been more into vectors than pixels when it comes to making digital artwork, and the pen tool has been my go-to drawing tool ever since I first discovered (and hated) it in art school. 

I’m not mentioning any books or websites although they’ve helped me a lot throughout the years. The tools I mentioned above however enable me to create most of my work, so I’d miss those above anything else.

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Do you have a hidden talent or hobby that you don’t usually share?

It’s not a secret to people who know me, and it’s certainly not a talent, but I’m pretty big on cars and have been for as long as I can remember. However eco-minded and sustainable my lifestyle is in all other aspects, classic sports cars simply make my heart beat faster. One of my childhood dreams was to own a Porsche before I was 30 (which, as a child, seemed very old). A couple of days after my 25th birthday I bought one in Germany, a 1984 model. I even took a car mechanics night class for a few years in order to do some of the maintenance myself. This summer, my best friend and I are racing it in a rally from Brussels to Budapest.

Valentine’s Day is upon us and I am a hopeless romantic with a pen – brace yourself!

I happen to think, with every bias admitted, that calligraphy is the most romantic art form ever invented; words of love established by passion, stroked with affection, and adorned with beauty are sent through the eyes as beams of light to the soul.

Calligrapher or not, everyone has the ability to romance their beloved through the power of writing.

Romance thrives upon words. While the spoken word breathes life into a romance, the written word is evermore powerful because it establishes one’s words of affection in the physical world.

I love reading my grandparents' old letters to one another. My grandfather was in Europe during World War II and the only way that he and my grandmother could correspond was through letters. Seeing their handwriting on the page brings me to that moment in time. I imagine the comfort that each letter brought across enemy lines to my grandfather. I am sure seeing her beautiful penmanship filling the page was like a gleaming light in that dark place. Similarly, I am sure his letters back to his sweet Marian sustained her hope in a relationship she was vested in and for the return of a husband she loved dearly. Their own words for one another in that moment stand forever as the history of their love story.

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Hannah designed a custom-made box for the safe keeping of her and Jake's love letters. The couple's wedding invitation, executed by Jake, adorns the front.

If actions are louder than words, then writing is louder than both because writing is the action of creating words.

My wife, Hannah, and I have followed the lost romance of the pen through letter writing. Throughout our relationship, we have exchanged some of the most beautiful gestures two people can share. These letters grew in depth and love and respect as our relationship blossomed.

We love reading back through our first letters; most of them tear-stained with joy and gladness and heart-wrenching love. But even now, we still write letters to one another, adding them to our story as we fall deeper in love.

As an artist and Master Penman, one of my greatest delights is breathing romance into my artwork. Not all my artwork speaks to the romance that exists between lovers; art has the power to romanticize anything. Whether I am depicting nature, community, adventure, music, struggle or beauty, my job is to portray the romance within it.

Every so often I choose to speak to love in its most familiar form. Through the flow of the pen, passion is greatly expressed, whether in written form or beautiful lines of flourishing. I am not breaking new ground but speaking in an old tongue. What once was beautiful and romantic in ages past, and is regarded the same in the present, holds the promise of being beautiful and romantic in the future. More lovers have succumbed at the tip of a pen than any of Cupid’s arrows!

The pen still has its effect on us today. In my art, I convey love in a way that all can relate to it and see their own passions captured within it. Thus, I lend the grace in my hand to convey the passions of your heart.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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