This skill involves touch, pressure, hand movement, unity, and that elusive quality we term “beauty.” (V. 32Īnd one good general definition of calligraphy as a practical activity, from Vance Studley, a left-handed calligrapher:Ĭalligraphy is a skill. Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms (London: The British Library, 1994), p. calligraphy is a script that exhibits exceptional and often self-conscious artistry and aesthetic quality in design and execution. (M.
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Here’s more on how to recognise calligraphy, from Michelle P. I hope you have seen how there is more to it than just that. (The word comes from kallos, Greek, meaning ‘beauty’ and -graphy, ‘a style of method or writing, drawing, etc’ which in turn comes from graphe, Greek, meaning ‘drawing, writing’.) In painting etc.: beauty of line (elegant) brushwork. Style of handwriting, penmanship generally. Beautiful handwriting elegant penmanship. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines calligraphy as:ġ. Calligraphy is not exactly the same as ‘lettering.’įirst, the 'official' dictionary definitions. (But can calligraphy help improve handwriting? Absolutely yes.)ģ. "What is calligraphy?" - "It's lettering that's done by hand." Well, no. Handwriting, by contrast, aims to be read. Calligraphy aims to produce an 'art' reaction, in which a deeper meaning is communicated from artist to viewer, and the viewer feels invited to think a new thought in response.
It’s the difference between ‘writing as an art form’ and ‘artistic-looking handwriting’.
So, although calligraphy is a kind of handwriting, and some handwriting is calligraphic in appearance, they are not the same. Beauty, personality and artistic impact are not as important in handwriting as clarity and speed. But the word has taken on a larger meaning.īear in mind that the first goals of handwriting are to be quickly and easily written and accurately read. True, the Greek derivation of 'calligraphy' translates simply as 'beautiful writing'. Not exactly and not entirely. Calligraphy means more than just beautiful handwriting. "What is calligraphy?" - "Beautiful handwriting." Naked, undecorated calligraphy should look good just as it is, in the same way that athletes, models and healthy people would look good without their clothes on.Ģ. Think of the structure and form of an alphabet-letter, or even a whole page of text, as being like the bones and muscles of a body. Calligraphy is about symbols themselves being beautifully formed and arranged. There is a big difference between a beautiful form and beautiful ornament on top of a form. (More about that elsewhere.) But this ornamental layer only decorates the underlying FORM. True, calligraphic letters and pages are very often dressed up with some form of decoration: gold, colour, pattern, pictures, flourishes etc. that’s the slightly mysterious life and individuality of any piece of art. Rhythm means the calligrapher's deliberate repetition and variation of marks and spaces to create feelings of pattern and emphasis when you look at the work.Ĭreative fire . Harmony describes a pleasing relationship between different visual elements in a piece of calligraphy: parts of a letter, letters, words, the whole text and surrounding space.Īncestry refers to the heritage of letter-shapes, materials and techniques which calligraphers use. Integrity of a letter or other symbol means admirable proportions and form. Symbol here means a mark which has a specific agreed-upon meaning in a language, like a letter of the alphabet, a numeral or a word. You could also say that reading calligraphy is the closest you can get to hearing music with your eyes. (That's a summary of around 30 comments by calligraphers and lettering experts.) It’s a set of skills and techniques for positioning and inscribing words so they show integrity, harmony, some sort of ancestry, rhythm and creative fire. What is calligraphy really? Here’s where we scrape off any dull, half-hearted definitions that might be holding your calligraphy back.Ĭalligraphy is more than ‘beautiful handwriting’ or ‘ornate lettering techniques.’Ĭalligraphy is the art of forming beautiful symbols by hand and arranging them well.
Colour temperature for calligraphy and art.