Calligraphy Cosette's Closing Celebration (5)

   We all made it through the genius project! Luckily, we have at least a little bit of life/energy left in us. 

   Reflecting on the project as a whole is very tough. I find it hard because this project was over such a long period of time, and so much has changed since the start. Rather than talking about the entire project in general, I decided it would be easier to break it up into its components. 

My Topic:

   I know that calligraphy was done by a few other people, but I think that the approaches were unique. I am happy with the topic that I chose, because I honestly enjoy it. I find it interesting looking back at my classmates' topics and thinking about how (Les) miserable(s) I would be if I chose something else (everybody had good topics, I am just extremely picky with my hobbies). Calligraphy is something that I can use for the rest of my life. In fact, my baby sister loves it when I write her name in fancy letters and draw little pictures around it. I chose the perfect hobby that suits me very well. 

Blogging: 

   To be honest, the blogging part of this project was actually pretty fun. I felt that everybody could better express what they wanted to say because they were able to say things in their own voices. I felt that some of my blogs were very good, and sounded a lot like how I talk in person. However, after a while it was hard for me to continue with making witty comments and even finding what to say in blogs. Though I was making progress, I would feel so much frustration in trying to figure out how to explain it. This explains some of my not so good blog posts, they were written in a frustrating time. Otherwise, I enjoyed the freedom that we were given for our blogs. 

The Presentation: 

   My presentation was eh. For some reason I just wasn't in the right mindset when I was presenting (which is ironic because my overall idea was about positive mindsets). I was trying so hard to not be nervous, which made me sound like I put little effort into it (trust me, I put tons in). I don't think that my script was bad, and I think I got my point across. Other than some stuttering, I really don't think it was THAT awful, but everybody has their own opinions. Being in the audion made the presentations seem so realistic and professional, which I loved. It was such a cool experience seeing everybody go up and present something that they were passionate about. 

   Overall I would say I enjoyed this project. There were a few times when I got lazy and lost along the way. Despite this, I feel that I was able to push through in the end and show my progress to the class in my presentation. I hope that everybody continues to partake in the hobbies that they picked up for this project, because it would be a shame to throw away 6 weeks of work! 

   Thank you all so much for following me on this journey to becoming a calligraphier person thingy! 

Insanity (VLOG)

Am I insane? I apologize for this very late post, I have been on vacation in Florida! I thought that the Wi-Fi in Disneyworld would be good, but I was wrong (aren't they so high-tech and up to date though?). Anyways, I am here now!

With that being said, here is another reason why I'm insane… I completely forgot to bring my calligraphy notebooks to take pictures for this blog. I have been practicing on little slips of paper, but nothing major. I got most things done before I left for Florida, I was just not able to document them. Because of this, I will post an update during the week of my time-lapsed video and some more progress.

As seen in my last blog post, my experts got back to me! Seb Lester left me on read :( but that’s okay? Who needs him?? I luckily got the chance to interview two major artists, especially Katrina, because she does this for a living. They gave me great advice and answered some things that I was very curious about. I talk a lot about how the interviews changed my thinking, and what I did/learned this week, which can be found in my vlog below:

A problem that I have been facing during this process is really being able to see progress. I know that I have gotten much better since the beginning of the project, but I wish that I could specify what I have gotten better at. The overall look of my work has improved a lot, though, which is great. The reason why it is hard to specify what I have been doing well with is because the look of the writing can change so much. When repeating letters/symbols over and over again, it is hard to get them perfect every time.

 Anyways, I am so sorry once again for having to upload this so late! And I apologize for lacking in the entertainment department. Catch you guys in the next blog!

Expert Time! (Update)

   I reached out to two amazing calligraphers who specialize in two somewhat different types of calligraphy/have different reasons for doing calligraphy. The two experts are Kelly Klapstein and Calligraphy Katrina (Katrina Centeno-Nguyen) and they both gave great advice, and shared some helpful tips. 

  The full interviews can be found here: Cosette's Expert Interview

  I wanted to stray away from asking typical questions like "how did you start out?" so that I would be able to have a more meaningful exchange of information with them. I felt that some answers related more to me than others, because they were either more helpful or were responses that I felt the same way about/found interesting. I began by asking them both to describe their style, which compared/contrasted the two. These were the two answers that I received: 

Kelly-

My writing style is minimalistic and simple, with few flourishes and fairly round, upright letter forms.

Katrina- 

My writing style would best be described as my own handwriting. People always ask me how I learned how to write or how I began -- to be honest, my story is quite boring. I never took lessons or had special training in calligraphy. This is basically how I wrote since I was a child, and I was just very, very lucky to have nice handwriting. My consistency and form has improved through the years of practicing, but my style is definitely unique to me. All my fonts are of my own design, and I am constantly brainstorming new font style ideas.

   I find it amazing that Katrina is self-taught, and runs her own successful business selling/renting her art. I do relate to Katrina's answer in the sense that I have always had somewhat good handwriting, and my calligraphy branches off of that. Kelly's description of the way that she writes is more similar to my style, because it would be describes as more 'modern.' 

   I asked them both whether or not they found calligraphy relaxing or stressful. Though the answer to this might be obvious, I thought it was very relevant to somebody learning calligraphy (and being stressed out by it.) Kelly responded by saying that she found it very relaxing, and that it has become her escape from the world. I found Katrina's response very interesting, because sometimes I forget that these people who make such beautiful pieces of art sometimes get frustrated too: 

Katrina- 

It can be both! For the most part, calligraphy is such a stress reliever for me. I love this art-form, and I will never stop writing; however, there are some days when it can be stressful. As an artist and a human begin, we all have our off-days. There are days when I feel like I am unhappy with the work I am producing because I don't think it looks good enough. I am very critical of what I create, and I have a high standard for the quality of work that I release. On those days when I am just not feeling it, it can really stress me out. Even after years in the business, I still make sure that I release projects that I believe in.

I asked both of these wonderful ladies how I should work on/fix my problem with spacing between letters and words. Both recommended practicing with a grid, because I would soon get used to it and be able to write the same without the grid. Kelly informed me on the fact that the spaces between the lettering is called "kerning." Katrina let me in on the little secret that most calligraphers actually use a light box to line up their words properly! 

Lastly, I asked them for some advice that they would give to somebody starting out in calligraphy, and they gave two somewhat similar answers: 

Kelly-

 I once read a great quote by a famous calligraphy, and he said that calligraphy shouldn't look perfect, like it's produced by a computer. Develop your own style, and don't copy someone else. Embrace the imperfections because that is what makes your calligraphy unique. Striving for perfection can take the joy out of the art and then the creative expression is lost.

 

Katrina-

I'm a strong believer in disciplining yourself to practice what you love to do. My passion is writing! I can do this for days, and I would never get tired of it! That's the best advice I can give you coming from someone that is completely self-taught. Practice, practice, practice. Although I am not a teacher, there are also many classes and workshops that you can take to learn this fascinating art; as well as, books and YouTube tutorials! =)

You don't need the most expensive tools to start! That's another wonderful thing about calligraphy. I started out just doodling with a ballpoint pen on a notepad. As my handwriting progressed, I moved on to nicer pens until I eventually taught myself how to use a traditional quill pen. You don't have to start off big -- baby steps!

They both went around the idea of calligraphy being your own personal thing. Kelly focused more on creating your own style and trying to be unique, rather than striving for perfection. Katrina stayed on the track of practicing a ton, and building up the skill slowly. Both answers were very helpful and relevant to me. This makes me question my idea of learning a new font each week. Maybe I should focus more on creating my own font (as some of you have suggested in the comments.) These two interviews opened up my eyes and taught me many new things. Please feel free to read all of the questions and answers through the link that I shared, and check out their Instagrams (click on their names in the first paragraph.) 

Back to Basics (4)

   I took a step back and went back to the basics. This week I realized that I jumped ahead A LOT. Though calligraphy can be something you hop right in and try, I want to fully understand/master it. I finally used the one of the books that my mother bought me. The book is called Creative Lettering and Beyond, and has great basic AND complex tips. The book has several blank and lined pages that allow for warm-up and practice space. There's a lot of writing in the book, but it's worth the read.

   This week I learned a lot more about calligraphy, and I felt more pro-like because I was using slants and all that cool stuff. I learned more about the actual letters, and the basic ways of writing them individually. I practiced the alphabet in basic minuscules (lowercase) that were similar to Copperplate/Engrosser's Script lettering style, and I wrote a few majuscules (uppercase.) Swirly majuscules are great to practice with, and help to work towards embellishing my work (it helps when letters have plenty of curves to build off of.)

 

   Another useful piece of information that I sharpened was how to fit my letters into the basic lines and slants. Here is what I mean: 

   This may look confusing, but it is easier to understand once you know that the X is your writing line. The lines directly above the X's are called Waist lines, and the ones below are called the Base lines. These are the basics, and this is were all of the 'bases' of letters should fit. The line directly above the Waist line is the Ascender line, and this is where the tall letters like 'd' and 'b' should hit. Below the base line resides the Descender line, and this where low letters like 'y' and 'g' should reach. Following these rules and keeping this in mind when I free-write will be very helpful in making my writing look neater. 

   Though my calligraphy is still not great, I do see improvement and I am excited to continue using my lettering books to guide me. I apologize for not including my pretty quote thing in this blog, but I thought I would focus on the details and specifics today. 

   Lastly, I reached out to Seb Lester, but he hasn't responded yet. If he still doesn't respond, I have a few other experts to attempt to contact. I'll keep you all updated!

As always, here is a friendly YouTube video that you'll probably love watching: 

  

Cortisol (3)

   Calligraphy is stressing me out. This happens a lot when I pick up any hobby, so I know it won't last long. I've been a perfectionist for sooo long (read my first post to hear more about it) and it always makes me feel more stressed out than I need to be. I put so much time into attempting to make something perfect, and it becomes more of a chore rather than something fun to do. I didn't get much calligraphy practice done this week, but not just because I was pretty lazy. It stressed me out so much thinking about writing, making me stay away from it for more time than I should've. While I still made progress this week, I could've made more. I managed to learn one new font, called the Black Jack font. I find it very satisfying to look at and quite simple to write in.

    It's a very playful and subtle twist on regular cursive, which I find very unique. The quote that I wrote was 100% not as good as the first one that I did, because I was overthinking it too much. I ended up almost giving up and just leaving it at a very simple point. This is one lesson that I have learned so far, and that I can possibly talk about for my TedTalk.

    I learned that sometimes you can put down your utensil and just leave your work how it is. It can be considered completed if you want it to be completed. An artist is in charge of what their final product is, because it is what is coming from their minds. Though I can say all of this deep stuff now, it is hard to think of it in the moment. I sit and pick apart everything that I put in my sketchbook, because it will probably never look perfect to me. But that's just the way it goes, and I'm going to accept that.

   Spacing and writing in a straight line is also something that I need to work on, and luckily my calligraphy books cover those aspects. My letters are always different sizes and different distances away from each other, which makes me very frustrated. This is a basic in the calligraphy world, so I better learn it now before I run into more complicated problems later. The last thing I learned this week is to write quite quickly. I noticed that when my hand hesitates, it creates wobbly looking lines, which are very unattractive. I try to avoid this while writing as fast as possible while still attempting to make the writing look good.

   Though not much progress was made this week, I actually had time to learn a lot about what I need to improve and I have learned some lessons. Here was my final picture for this week's font:

And here is another calligraphy compilation, because you know how satisfying they are. Enjoy!

Baby You're so (not) Classic (2)

  I realized that I should probably stick to strictly modern calligraphy. While I have made slight progress over the past week, I have also come across some bumpy roads (which doesn't work when trying to practice calligraphy in the car.) I talked to my mother more about my project and she decided that if I'm going to do this, I better to it well. She ordered me a bunch of calligraphy stuff: two instructional books, a sketchbook, and a calligraphy pen set.

  

   Of course I was so excited to use these and dive deeper into this topic, and all of these are a great addition to my journey. The only thing that didn't go my way was the set of pens. It stressed me out so much, and I had a very hard time actually writing with the pens. I didn't realize how much easier regular markers were (maybe that's only because I got used to them.) Take a look at how awful my writing looks with these traditional pens.

   This is what I call a calligraphy catastrophe. I'm not going to give up on these pens, because they are one of the most popular tools for calligraphers (is that what they're called?) The pen just feels so stiff, like it takes away all of the freedoms that I received at birth. The crayola markers write so smoothly and glide across the paper so much better. Despite the many reasons why I do not like these pens, I will pull through and hopefully get used to them. 

   On top of this minor setback, I also realized that 5 new fonts is a lot to learn each week. Over the past week I learned one font, called Alex Brush. I practiced writing with this, and also simply freestyled. I write down whatever is going through my mind, because it makes the writing seem more natural. The whole "thick down stroke, thin up stroke" idea is not engraved into my mind, and I actually really like the way it looks. This took lots of practice, because I needed to make sure that it became an instinct while writing any word. 

   My best bet is probably to lower the number of fonts to 2 or 3 per week. That way I am still learning a bunch, but I also don't have to stress out about mastering so many. I've also decided that I will use each font that I pick up to write something pretty, and then I will decorate it. I did this with the first font, and it actually turned out well. 

   There is obviously lots of room for improvement, but I think I'm off to a good start. I've also decided to reach out to Seb Lester (the calligraphy god) for my expert interview, which I will keep you all updated on. Quick question to everybody reading this (who feels like commenting): what do you think of me making an instagram/youtube page? I thought it might be another good way of monitoring my progress. I also want to feel like one of those really cool people who make the time-lapse videos of them writing pretty stuff. To end on a somewhat fun note again, here is some of the freestyle work that I've done!:

  Here's a nice YouTube video that helped me a lot (I might link one in every post):

Let's Begin... (1)

     Some people enjoy watching videos of crunchy slime, or pimple popping (I'm really not sure how) and plenty of other bizarre things. However, I have always thought of calligraphy videos as the most satisfying. Since I can remember, I have always been the 'neat freak' or the 'germ freak' in the eyes of my peers. Though this impression has toned down a bit as I have gotten older, I still think that keeping things neat is very important. I could sit down for an hour rewriting the same sentence over and over, trying to make it look perfect. This is what convinced me to spend the next six weeks dedicating my time to learning calligraphy. 

     After stressing out over what to do for this 'Genius Project,' I was about ready to pick a topic out of a hat and just roll with it. I was told to take handwritten notes on a PowerPoint for one of my classes, and I realized how much I actually cared about the way that I write. It took me almost two hours to take notes on what would take another student 20 minutes. I thought to myself, "Cosette, you're wasting precious time." But I soon realized that I could find a way to incorporate my try-hard ways into a fun hobby that I can coincidentally use for my gifted project. 

    So here we are, 100 calligraphy websites and videos later. I have gathered my materials and I am excited (and a little scared) to begin this adventure. I dug out some old things I used to utilize when drawing was my hobby. I managed to find my box of Copic markers ($300+ worth of them) and an old sketchbook. 

    I was sure that these were just not good enough to use while partaking in the art of calligraphy, but I came across a video that proved me wrong. How To: Calligraphy is from YouTube user Heather Lee, and it gave me more confidence and motivation than ever. She talks about how she uses cheap writing utensils, and that they work the same as the expensive ones that are sold. She also mentions a quick tip on how to get started on writing pretty: Write the entire alphabet over and over using the method of "upstrokes are thin, down-strokes are thick." 

    This method will be my main focus for this first week, because it will build my general understanding of the basics of calligraphy. Each week I will learn more fonts (preferably five new fonts per week) and I will spend time mastering them. I plan on keeping track of my progress by keeping everything in my handy-dandy sketchbook. I will measure my progress through satisfaction and (muscle?) memory of different fonts that I will attempt to imitate. It (hopefully) won't hurt to ask a few of my peers to let me know how similar my writing is to whatever writing I am basing it off of, since I am probably a little biased. 

    By the end of these six weeks I hope to gain a great new hobby. Calligraphy is known as being stress-relieving, which is something I need in my life. It'll also be cool to gain the ability to write in many different fonts, so feel free to hit me up for a letter written in perfect Times New Roman. If being neat can be classified as a passion, then that's one of my passions. Putting my love of tidy things into my love of art will be an experience that I look forward to. Plus, being able to write things in such an elegant way is something to brag about, at least in my book (but we already know how obsessive I am over things like this.) 

    To end this blog on a fun note, you can keep up with who I will be following on Instagram and using as my mentors: Seb Lester and Artem Stepanov. And while you're at it, take a look at this beautiful video that makes me shed a tear: