As we are getting closer to the middle of the semester, and closer to midterms, students all around campus are starting to stress about classes, assignments, and exams. As someone who has experienced that throughout high school and today as well, I have learned and acquired many different methods to relieving stress throughout the most stressful times in school. One method that has definitely been effective for me is calligraphy! Calligraphy is a writing art form that allows you to create different words with beautiful fonts through special brush pens used for calligraphy. I was first introduced to calligraphy my sophomore year of high school, about four years ago, and was able to learn how to do calligraphy through different YouTube videos and by practicing on different outlines.
Now you may be thinking, “I don’t have the current tools for calligraphy to start”, but don’t you worry because you can start your calligraphy journey by using any types of markers that you have available to you! When I first started, I didn’t have the fancy tools that calligraphers use, instead, I just used markers that I had at home to start practicing! In my opinion, you do not need all the fancy calligraphy tools as a beginner (just yet), and do not let this discourage you from trying calligraphy any time at home!
Tip 1: Watch Beginner Tutorial Videos!
My first tip to beginning calligraphy has to be watching tutorial videos on YouTube! This is how I first started calligraphy and I was able to practice on my own from there. I recommend watching a few tutorial videos, especially ones that don’t require professional calligraphy pens.
Here’s a couple videos I recommend!
Tip 2: Look up outlines to print and trace your calligraphy on!
Looking up different outlines of calligraphy online really helped me understand the different up and down strokes calligraphy entails, and definitely helped me to practice my cursive! These outlines are a huge lifesaver when you are first starting calligraphy and will definitely help you get the hang of it. I will attach an example of an outline to help!
Tip 3: Have patience/Practice makes perfect!
Honestly, not being able to do calligraphy on my first few tries made me upset that I wasn’t able to get it down after watching a good amount of videos. With more and more practice, I was able to get the basics down, but I had to have much patience for this. It took a few months of practicing to get the basics down, so have patience when first beginning calligraphy! It takes time to completely master this art, but definitely relaxes you and helps to relieve stress while trying to learn it!
Now that I’ve given a few tips on beginning calligraphy, I hope that you are able to begin practicing this wonderful art and give this stress reliever a try, especially throughout this upcoming midterm season! Happy Calligraphy-ing!