Overhaul Your Handwriting: Calligraphy Tips for Cards

Hi Everyone, Today I am sharing an article which is part of my guest posting series, I will be having some talented guests here.. Do you want to be my guest any day? Let me know.. here today Lesley Stevens is guest posting on Creative Khadija. She is very talented, I hope you will like to read her article as well as visiting Her blog

Overhaul Your Handwriting: Calligraphy Tips for Cards

calligraphy tips

Think back to your school days; we bet you belonged to one of two camps, at least when it came to handwriting. If we’re right, your handwriting was either scruffy and therefore unreadable, or beautifully curly and elegant.

If you’re part of the former camp, you no doubt looked over the shoulder of your friends who fell in the latter camp and felt a huge pang of jealousy. Untidy writing may, or so they say, be the sign of a more intelligent mind, but beautifully tidy writing just looks lovely, doesn’t it?

So whether you need some help fine-tuning your calligraphy skills, or you’d like to transform your scribbles into something to be proud of, read on…

The great thing about modern calligraphy is it celebrates personality. Whether we realize it, we’re each giving away a little about us via our handwriting. Small and neat handwriting? You could well be a perfectionist. Big and bold? Maybe you’re someone who likes to stand out, in more ways than just via your huge scribbles.

Start with Faux Calligraphy

When giving you advice on where to begin, many expert calligraphers will say something known as ‘faux calligraphy’ is a good staring point. While some call it ‘cheating’ others say it’s not; instead, it helps you begin what may otherwise seem an almost-daunting hobby. Above all, whether you’re a novice or an expert, a good understanding of calligraphy in general may be all you need to get going.

With this in mind, study the styles of writing you like; look in art books, online and while you’re out and about. Then give them a go yourself at home, seeing if you can recreate some of the swirly, curly lines that feature in writing like this.

Where to Start?

To get started with ‘faux calligraphy’ simply write your chosen word or phrase in simple cursive. A good place to start is with a Pilot G2 pen; and using this faux technique which apparently works with any connected letters.

Have you written your text in simple cursive? Now, simply draw lines to denote the down strokes in the text. This generally occurs when your hand moves downwards to create a certain part of a letter. Once you’ve gone over your letters again with those lines, simply start to fill them in until your text resembles something a little fancier than your usual handwriting.

While this ‘cheating calligraphy’ or ‘faux calligraphy’ isn’t quite as skilled as the real thing, it also isn’t quite as daunting for beginners.  In fact, some people will tell you they can barely tell the difference between text written in this way, and text written via the skills of ‘real calligraphy’.

Still a bit confused? Take a look around the Internet for some more tips before you get started. You can explore many different alphabets on Pinterest. It’s no use going out and buying all the gear – the pens, ink and good quality paper – if you’re not really sure what to do with it all.

For ‘faux calligraphy’, for example, all you need is a simple ballpoint pen and some scrap paper. Once you move onto the real thing, that’s when you’ll feel like splashing out on all the right tools will be justified. There are plenty of starter kits online; containing everything you need to give the hobby a try. And then before you know it, you’ll be impressing friends and family with your new-found skill. The great thing about learning to write in this style is it isn’t a particularly expensive hobby, which means even if you do treat yourself to some kit you won’t be too much out of pocket.

Mastered the skill? Now you can start creating hand-written notes in beautiful blank cards to your heart’s content! Hey, why not send a card to that school friend you once envied for their pretty handwriting?

Don’t forget to let us know how you get on – and if you have some top tips, we’d love to hear those too. Enjoy!

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