Transcripts
1. Calligraphy for Mindfulness: I'm Molly Suber Thorpe. I've been a professional
hand lettering artist and designer for
the past 12 years. I have a particular passion for teaching and writing
about calligraphy because I simply love helping other artists improve
their technical skills, opening doors to new
creative opportunities and profitable
freelance careers. However, this course is something
a little bit different. Today I wanted to talk
about calligraphy, not as a technical
skill to be mastered, but as a practice to be enjoyed. One that can stir creativity and evoke a unique sort
of mindful focus. Over the past few years, I've published some
silent calligraphy videos on my YouTube channel, just set to music. Initially, I had no idea if
anyone would watch them, but they're actually some
of my most popular videos. People have commented
that they find it really relaxing to watch
someone do calligraphy. And I would have to agree. But for me, what's more
relaxing and Meditative than watching calligraphy
is doing calligraphy, specifically Calligraphy
for myself and no one else. So it occurred to me that if this practice helps me so much, it might resonate with you to the first half of this class is essentially my love letter to Calligraphy. I'll share my reflections
on the unique benefits of calligraphy as a practice and the broader benefits
of writing by hand. Then together, we will do a
calligraphy exercise that emphasizes the process
over the finished product. My hope is that this class will benefit you in more
ways than one. You'll see the many
ways that writing slowly by hand
forms connections, both internal and external. Connection to ourselves,
to each other. Connections to the past two
people we don't even know. And quite literally
connections within itself or to itself through
Letter form connections. And hopefully, you will also
feel inspired to explore your own calligraphy practice in new ways from different angles. Ultimately, my goal in
sharing these reflections and techniques is to help you find even more pleasure
in writing by hand
2. A Meeting of Creativity and Uniformity: Calligraphy is a unique
Art Forum in that it's a Meeting of Creativity
with Uniformity. Because we can't make up
letters from scratch. Calligraphy must
walk this fine line between creative
interpretation and adherence to
predetermined parameters or to the shapes of
letters themselves. In other words, as
Calligrapher's, we take creative license
with standardized forms. In that sense, our
work exists in this space between
individuality and conformity. While that might
sound reductive, while it might make calligraphy seem limiting in some way, Calligrapher's have embraced these parameters for centuries, push their boundaries, and
found it liberating to do so. The majority of the evolution of the world's alphabets has happened at the hands
of Calligrapher's, not with a printing press
or design software. Of course, because letters are a visual embodiment of language, we're not only creatively interpreting letter
shapes in a vacuum, but we're representing
language as well.
3. The Calligraphic Process: To a calligrapher, an
individual letter, maybe a beautiful configuration
of lines and curves. But ultimately, the
combination always results in our own interpretation
of language itself. In this way, calligraphy
conveys far, far more than words. This push and pull between
individuality and conformity when writing by hand
is what I'll be calling the
Calligraphic Process. And the tension inherent
in this process can induce a unique sort of
focus when we're doing it, I would go so far as to say a mindful or a meditative state. And that's what
we'll be exploring even more in depth today.
4. Peace in the Process: In many calligraphy
traditions around the world, the literal act of
writing calligraphy is as meaningful or more than the finished calligraphy
composition itself. The process from stroke
direction and stroke order to hand movement is considered as much in Art form as
the finished product, which is seen as a reflection
of that human endeavor. Maybe Hugh watching this have a background in one of these
Calligraphic traditions. But for the most part, Western calligraphy tradition
has placed more emphasis on the finished letters than the human act
of writing them. I would go so far as to say that sometimes, certainly not always. I feel like the
humanity inherent and calligraphy gets
overshadowed by discussion of it's
technical considerations and the proliferation of Calligraphic type
faces while meant to convey an organic
personal feeling, has only further separated the
hand from the Handwriting. The old adage, peace in the Process always comes to
mind when I think about this, It's so true in any art-making. But when I really
learned to enjoy the process of calligraphy more than the finished product. My creativity and
enjoyment in the Art Form increased exponentially
as a bonus consequence. I think my work
improved a lot too, but that's the opposite of
the point here, isn't it? I suppose I'm really
making this class as a response to a trend. I'm increasingly seeing
mostly on social media, where the process and
complexity of calligraphy is being lost in favor of
polished, finished work
5. With Our Own Two Hands: I want to reflect a bit on how writing by hand naturally
lends itself to mindfulness and forms a unique sort of
mind-body connection. First of all, writing my hand
is delicious Lee tactile. As humans, we're
drawn to activities that keep our hands
busy and working. In fact, when we
say we've created something with Our
Own Two Hands, we mean that it's an achievement and it's wholly
Our Own Creation. And creating something,
anything with Our Own Two Hands gives
us agency and autonomy. And a deep sense
of satisfaction. Writing by hand as in
doing calligraphy or even everyday handwriting really exemplifies this
tactile satisfaction. Writing utilizes
fine motor skills in a uniquely enjoyable way. In the English language, the word and can even
mean a handwriting style. Acknowledgment that
a page of writing is inextricably linked to the
actual hand of its writer. I would argue that as important and revolutionary
as computers are, the specific tactile pleasure
of holding a pen and making the small hand
movements of forming letters can never be
replicated by a keyboard.
6. The Mind-Body Connection: Handwriting also creates
a unique connection between our mind and
our physical bodies, which echoes of other
natural human actions. Think about when
you speak or walk, and how you unconsciously
Adjust your pace, posture, breath, and even
the intensity of your movement in accordance with your emotions and environment. In fact, here I am using
my hands to help me speak. Likewise, when we put pen to
paper or writing speed and the force behind it ebb and flow with our mindset
and surroundings. I'm sure that every person is familiar with this sensation, whether consciously or not, but doing calligraphy as opposed to just
everyday handwriting amplifies the sensations because it has to be done so
much more slowly. Writing by hand
connected my thoughts to our bodies because it's
not a passive action, but rather a dynamic one. If you focus on your
body as you write, you'll realize that
from head to hand, torso to toes, your whole body physically engages in the act of
putting pen to paper. But just like breathing, we're mostly unaware of
this intricate process. Unless we consciously
focus on it. We can literally feel
handwriting from head to toe because it stirs movement
throughout our entire body, not just our arms. The looseness of the shoulder, which is the true control
center of writing movement, affects the path of our elbow, which drifts steadily
back-and-forth from our body as we travel
across lines of text in the hand or fingers move up and down to form the
strokes of each letter. And our wrist moves our hand in an arc down the line,
almost like a hinge.
7. A Place Both Physical and Temporal: Calligraphy specifically
has a unique way of calming the mind and
stirring creativity. Perhaps I'm a little
bit biased here, but writing by hand connects us to ourselves because it creates a Place Both Physical and Temporal where we can
fully be ourselves. And calligraphy
specifically forces us to slow this process down in a way that fast
handwriting simply does not. Think about when you have the urge to write
about your feelings, whether it's in a journal, a letter, or anywhere else. The urges usually to write about those feelings by hand and to be alone when doing
so. Well. Why is this? I would argue that
this impulse for privacy when writing out
our thoughts by hand, stems as much from
the process of handwriting as the
content of that writing. Calligraphy is no exception. In fact, Calligraphic
Handwriting exponentially increases
this feeling for me because Calligraphy gives me the satisfaction of writing
and reading combined, slowly shaping each and
every letter and word, forces me to absorb it, to really reflect on it. And Calligraphy removes
that automation, if you will, that comes
with fast handwriting. So by stripping
away the barrage of thoughts and the rush to
get them down on paper. Calligraphy really allows us
to enjoy the way that words, thoughts, and physical
movement harmonize
8. Art Making vs. Art Sharing: The most important
step for me in embracing the process
of calligraphy over the polished finished
product was to detach my art-making
from my Art Sharing. Social media deserves a special place in
this conversation. Nothing zaps me of
creative energy faster than trying to design
something for social media. Will people like this? Will these colors
pop in my feed? Is this style trendy enough? How will this fair
in the algorithm? And perhaps the most
toxic thought of all, if my work doesn't get traction, does that mean it
wasn't worth making? When we feel
pressured to produce content on a set schedule, then the creative process
becomes an assembly line and the artwork gets reduced to
mere blips on a news feed. Keeping up with this level of productivity is hard for anyone. But when this
so-called content is inextricably linked to
your creative energy, it becomes nearly impossible
to be hyper productive for long periods of time while maintaining your passion
for the Art Forum. In a creative career. This is inevitable sometimes if you're a full-time artist, you can only be a little
factory for so long. Even for hobbyists. The allure of the
content production trap is still ever-present, I think. Thinking about designing
anything for the sole intent of sharing the finished
product with others can stump the
creative process to, or at the very least, prevent you from seeing the work through your own
eyes as you make it, rather than the imagined
critical gaze of strangers. So when I catch myself feeling caught in this productivity
hamster wheel, I have to zoom out. And remember, my enjoyment of calligraphy is what got me
started in the first place. That without that enjoyment, I am less experimental,
creative, motivated, and excited to sit down and
write it down periods though, in these creative ruts
that I certainly do get, I need to intersperse my mandatory work
with personal work. And by personal work, I mean doing
calligraphy for myself, for the sake of it, not
to share and not to sell. If you're trying to do the same, that means practicing
calligraphy for yourself and yourself alone and viewing it truly
as just that practice. It's practice in that
we're always learning, but it's also a practice, a practice of focus,
introspection, and acceptance
9. The Prime Creative Zone: The work I produce when I'm in my Prime Creative Zone is
almost always my best work, which I judge as the
work I'm most proud of. And if I ultimately do choose to share that work
with the world, I can then do so without
any expectations, without seeking external
validation for it. I'm already satisfied
with what I've created for others to like. It just feels like a bonus. Of course, I'm only human and so this ideal creative
state is certainly not always possible between work for clients that I might not
be very passionate about, or just the natural
ebb and flow of creative energy that can lead
to extended creative rats. I do often make Art when I'm not feeling very creative and I feel nothing but lucky
and grateful that I have this type of
work to fill my days. For me being a calligrapher is, after all, my actual
job and not a hobby. I can't expect to love
every moment of it. I'm not owed that. That's one of the trade-offs I made when I pursued this as a full-time career and
not something that I did anymore in the evenings to
relax after my day job. I've developed a practice for purely personal
calligraphy that's extremely Meditative for me. It helps remind me why I started doing calligraphy
in the first place. It re-focus his me. It keeps my Glove of
the Art Forum fresh. And most importantly,
since I do it without any goal
or expectations, my mind can wander to other areas of my
life while I work, I find myself
reflecting on problems or distressing after a long day. It's basically a
self-guided meditation. I believe that whether
calligraphy is your hobby or your career, doing exercises in Meditative
mindful calligraphy could really benefit you to
10. My Calligraphic Practice: Now, I'll walk you through
the exercise as I do it, and you can either
follow along or just sit back and relax and
enjoy watching it. Because the slow pace
of writing is one of the most important
elements of this exercise, I won't be including
any time lapses. While it can be fun and impressive to watch
this process sped up, it also emphasizes the
rest over the process, and that's definitely not
what we're going for here. It doesn't matter if
you do this exercise on paper with a calligraphy
dip pen and ink, whether you sketch it in
a notebook with a pencil, or whether you use a digital tool like
Procreate on the iPad. There are benefits and limitations
to every writing tool, so no one tool is the right one for this
exercise or in fact, the right one for
doing Cliigraphy. The medium is up to you. I pick up a calligraphy pen, fountain pen or Apple pencil,
depending on my mood. The important thing
is just that you feel comfortable and at home
with your writing tools, that there's no friction
between you and the writing medium
that would prevent you from fully engaging in
the creative process. I personally love using my iPad to relax
with calligraphy, especially because it's so portable and doesn't
require any setup. Plus, I treat my iPad more as an art tool
than a computer, basically as if
it's digital paper. I don't have on
any notifications or anything else that
might disrupt my workflow. But I know that I'm
the exception here. So if you're using an
iPad for this exercise, I suggest simply turning off the WiFi and data
temporarily so that it becomes merely a
screen rather than a device connecting you
with the outside world. And as a side note, I have always rejected
the idea that digital writing
tools are somehow inherently inferior to
traditional ink and paper. In some ways, they
certainly are, but digital tools also offer possibilities that
analog ones don't. There's also a unique
satisfaction in using each kind, so embrace both or just
pick your favorite.
11. What to Write: Before we dive into
the writing exercise, we need to find texts to write. And sometimes figuring out what to Write can be agonizing. I think this is true
across the board with creatives from painters
picking their subject, to knitters choosing
their next pattern. I don't know about
you, but I find myself questioning whether other people would like to quote or the message of my work. Whether it's worth
the time invested in the Calligraphy and whether
there's something better, I could be Calligraphic instead. So the next crucial point of today's exercise is
not to think too hard. In fact, not to think hard
at all about what to Write. I keep my favorite most
well-worn books around me, which I have highlighted dog ears and annotate
it over the years. For me, these books provide
endless inspiration when I need some good texts
to Calligraphic for myself, all I have to do is flip
through and land on an underlined passage that resonated with me the
first time I read it. And usually it resonates
with me still. You may also have favorite
books or poems to draw from. But if you're struggling to find a text that inspires you, consider a page from your own Journal of
Favorite song lyric, or even an excerpt from a Wikipedia article on a
topic that interests you. Websites like GoodReads have search engines for quotes
and literary passages where you can search
by keyword and find substantive
interesting excerpts, both short and long, by authors from all
around the world. It's easy to get lost
browsing in those, but that's what makes them
a really great resource. Just try picking
the first quotation that resonates with you. Today. I've chosen a
passage from one of my all-time favorite books, ever, a death in the
family by James Agee
12. Exercise Part 1: Sketching: I'm going to start by
creating a new canvas in a vertical size just
because I liked that best for manuscripts
and longer pieces, I'm going to make
mine US letter size. So eight-and-a-half
by 11 " high. For DPI, you can set this at anything that's 300 or higher. I like even higher just
because then I can zoom in really far without my
image pixel eating. So I'll set mine at 500. Now to get some guidelines, I'm going to just use some
that I always keep on hand. These are a nice set of
really small guides. I happen to have mine on
my clipboard right now, but you can download these from the Class Resources section and then bring them in here as either a photo through Add, Insert a photo or a file if
you save it to the Cloud. So I have my guideline layer
here and I'm just going to rename it guides so that
I never get confused. I'm going to reduce the opacity of this layer
quite considerably. Then I'll create a
new layer and I'm going to get a Pencil brush. I have a set of Pencil brushes that I like to use for
Calligraphy Sketching, but that's absolutely
not essential at all. The whole point of this
is used which you have. So you can use the Pencils that come
right with Procreate. I'm also setting
up a color that's really high contrast to the
black that I'm going to use. Eventually, I'm going to choose a pink or
magenta color here. Now remember that
the point of this is not to create something
for other people. This is really about relaxing into the process over
the finished product. So for me, what that
ultimately amounts to is focusing on the shape of every letter and the
actual experience of writing it far more
than thinking about in advance whether things
are really going to fit perfectly and the stresses that I sometimes put on myself, if this is work for a
client or social media or My website or
somewhere else that the public is going to see or that I'm gonna get paid for. On my new blank layer. I'm just going to start writing. I'm going to write
really, really slowly. Please feel free
to just sit back and watch if you prefer, or follow along if
you feel so inspired. One thing that I
like to do because I so enjoy Flourishing, is to write my words
that are going to have flourish able strokes
like the cross of a T or the stroke of an age, to Write them without their
crossbars and flourishes yet, because step number two that I really enjoy is
to come back and add those and really have FUN playing with filling
and negative spaces. Like to zoom in a lot
when I'm writing, I like to look really closely
at the texture as I write. That flow of thick and thin is honestly one of the most
relaxing and Meditative parts. But even just writing in
Pencil is so relaxing. Think a lot about
your arm movement, how your arm can just
float and glide. This is actually one nice
benefit of writing on the iPad simply because you
really can float and glide. You'll see that I
wear this Glove, Lincoln in the description, but this also helps me glide. But either way, it's really nice to just be able
to have very clean, soft, smooth movements
around the page. If you catch yourself
writing too fast, just take a deep
breath. Slow down. Not only is calligraphy, not as nice when
it's done quickly, but it actually tends to
be a lot less enjoyable. It might mean that you're a
little bit out of the Zone. Just reset and come
right back into thinking about each and every
single word and stroke. The passage that I'm
Calligraphic right now is so beautiful that
I'm finding myself, while I do focus on
the letter shapes. Also sort of meditating on the beautiful words and
reading them as I go. It's nice if you pick a passage that also is very
thought-provoking and really something that
normally would make you relax even just reading
it, let alone writing it
13. Exercise Part 2: Flourishing: Now for me comes what I think
of as the most Fun part, the most relaxing
and meditative part. I make a new blank layer
above my sketch layer. And I'm going to choose another contrasting
color that's not black. And now this step is a lot more like drawing than anything else. Now, it's a question of
coming in and filling in these negative spaces
with flourishes, with strokes and loops and any sort of PFK-1 decorative
element that appeals to us. And like I said, this
is a lot more like drawing than actually
writing letters. Still you'll be reading
the words as you go. And I just overall find it to be one of the most
relaxing stages. On a new blank layer. I honestly come in
and I pretty much redraw over all of my letters. They draw over them
while editing them. This is very experimental. It's really, really good for
practicing flourishes later, but it's also really good at training your hand and
just getting that sort of mind-body connection going
between your hand and your arm movement
because you're making much larger movements here. When you're making
flourished strokes. I still go really
slowly with this. You remember how
I left off a lot of those ascenders and crossbars and descenders specifically so that when I come back
and do this now, I'll have the
ability to play with them without any interference
from the original sketch. Well, sometimes I don't go over every single letter when
I'm doing this to relax. I do. I go over every single letter
just because it's really, really relaxing to do it. It's nice to add little
loops in places like this. So we come down and in like that lot of negative space
happening here. So I can really fill that in.
14. Exercise Part 3: Inking: Now that our pencil
sketch is complete and all of our
flourishes or refined, It's going to be time to do
the actual calligraphy layer. So coming up here to
my layers palette, I'm starting by reducing the opacity of my
pencil sketch layer. Then I'll add a new blank
layer over top of that, which is what I'm going to do
my calligraphy writing on. Next, also like black
from my color palette. But of course you can do your calligraphy in any
color that you'd like. I'm selecting one of my
favorite Pointed Pen brushes, which is one that I designed and I have linked
in the description. But of course you can use
any lettering brush that you prefer to make sure that the stroke width is
appropriate for the lettering. I'll make a couple
of samples strokes, and adjust the brush size accordingly until I get a stroke width that
I'm happy with. Then the most
relaxing step begins. This is where the manuscript
really comes to life. And I can have the
most Fun creating my thick and thin
down-strokes and really tracing
over these letters and refining them as I go. Tracing can really be such a wonderful way
to zone out and relax while also building
muscle memory that will ultimately improve
your free handwriting. Whether you're using an iPad
for this or ink on paper, it really doesn't matter. This moment. App is truly about
relaxing into the letters, seeing them come to
life before you, giving meaning to the
words on the page. And just really being
mindful of all if a small movements that it takes to create this
beautiful artwork. Let's focus for a moment
now on writing speed. This is the perfect
exercise for training yourself to write
slowly, very slowly. In fact, you're watching now is my actual writing speed
in all the calligraphy I do. This speed allows me to look
ahead as my pen approaches directional changes and
to focus on varying my pen pressure throughout
individual strokes. You may even see that
I pause a lot to consider where to
begin my next stroke. And I sometimes trace out in the air what shape
it should take. One of the most common
mistakes I see my students making when learning calligraphy
is writing too fast. Unlike Handwriting calligraphy
simply can't be done fast. It usually can't
even be done well at half the speed of
everyday handwriting. This is another
reason that I haven't used any time lapses
in this class because they really won't
allow you to see just how long it takes to
produce a single word, let alone a full-page
of calligraphy. So right slowly. Like really, really slowly. If you're already a
professional calligrapher, try slowing down even more
than you're already used to writing to see if that gives you a fresh appreciation
for the Art form. But especially if
you're a beginner using this form of practice to
improve your writing, you're really training yourself in new hand-eye coordination. So even if your brain knows exactly how you want
the letters to look, your hand hasn't been programmed with all the necessary
signals yet. Trace letters or
draw them free hand, but do so just a fraction of
your usual writing speed. Only once you're able to draw a letter with smooth
controlled strokes, should you increase
your pace at all?
15. Share Your Process!: My sincere hope is that
this class has given you a renewed love for calligraphy and even for
Handwriting generally. I believe that by
appreciating the role that handwriting plays
in our own lives, we can connect to
ourselves and to each other in meaningful ways. On the one hand,
calligraphy is hard. But I hope I've shown you just
how Meditative it can be. Two. I invite you to share images of
your process in the class project section and tell us all about
your writing experience. I know I love to see the many creative ways that my students interpret
my lessons. And I believe that you love to see each other's work as well. Remember that for this
class we're focused on process over
finished product. So don't feel like
you have to share images of only polished work. I'd love to see your sketches and hear about your
thought processes to if you're interested in learning various other
modern calligraphy styles, I offer a library of free
downloads where you can find dozens of printable and
Procreate practice sheets. I call it Molly's
Lettering Toolkit, and I've linked to it in the
description of this class. I also encourage
you to check out my other classes and my books
as you continue learning. Thank you for following
along and I look forward to meeting you
in the comments section
Molly Suber Thorpe, Calligrapher & Designer
