"Beginner's guide to materials and techniques for learning to do calligraphy. Includes instructional DVD-ROM"--Provided by publisher.

Calligraphic Drawing, written and illustrated by artist Schin Loong, is a step-by-step guide to the pictorial side of calligraphy. Learn how to make calligraphic flourishes, then apply the technique to draw 15 different flourished animals. You'll also find instructions for embellishing letters and drawing ornamental cartouches. In the past, masters of penmanship advertised their copperplate skills by shaping their calligraphy and flourishes into elaborate pictorial designs. Now the art of the flourish is back! With her fresh approach to this age-old art form, Schin will take you confidently through each step, from choosing your pen, nib, and ink, to creating calligraphic animals that express your own imagination and artistry. The basic steps for the strokes are simple, but as you learn each new pattern and stroke, you'll watch your drawings develop into ever more complex and beautiful compositions. By following the step-by-step instructions, you can create stunning drawings of a pigeon, swan, crane, rooster, jellyfish, goldfish, peacock, parrot, owl, raccoon, elephant, puppy, rabbit, fox, and zebra. Each exercise includes a photo of the animal, followed by an illustration and written guidance for each numbered step. You'll find helpful tips and encouragement throughout. At the back, a gallery showcase provides examples of Schin's own artwork to inspire you in your own flourishing pursuits. Whether you're a designer, calligrapher, doodler, or just picked up a pen, this guide to drawing with flourishes will enlighten and inspire.

In an age of myriad computer fonts and instant communication, your handwriting style is increasingly a very personal creation. In this book, Margaret Shepherd, America's premier calligrapher, shows you that calligraphy is not simply a craft you can learn, but an elegant art form that you can make your own. Calligraphy remains perennially popular, often adorning wedding invitations, diplomas, and commercial signs. Whether it is Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Bookhand, or Italic style, calligraphy conveys class and elegance. Margaret Shepherd makes this ancient art form accessible in a completely hand-lettered technical guide that will: * Provide context for calligraphy as an art, exploring the rich tradition of hand-lettering and mapping the evolution of the most popular styles. * Give detailed technical advice on choosing pens, paper, and inks, setting up your workspace, mastering various pen angles, along with step-by-step illustrations to guide you as you practice. * Explain which alphabets are appropriate for different forms of writing. For example, the Roman alphabet works well for short, unpunctuated passages, while the Italic alphabet is more suited to informal everyday communication. * Encourage you to personalize your lettering by using variant strokes and interpreting how you would like the words to look on the page. * Inspire you with carefully chosen illustrations and examples, which bring letters to life. In Margaret Shepherd's own words, "Calligraphy trains not only your eye and hand, but your mind as well." Learn Calligraphy is the authoritative primer for this age-old craft, and will help develop a new appreciation for lettering as you discover your creative personality.

A perfect gift for anyone who wants to learn the "write" way to craft calligraphy. Calligraphy is about creating something uniquely beautiful, whether to celebrate a special occasion like marriage or to use every day in the form of stationery. Author Molly Suber Thorpe, an award-winning wedding invitation designer and calligrapher based in Los Angeles, works closely with her international clients to give them the distinctive products they're looking for. In Modern Calligraphy, you can learn from this experienced expert how to master this fresh modern lettering style. The first book to teach this bold new style breaks the calligraphy process down into simple steps so anyone can learn to create their own stunning wedding invitations, thank you cards, gift tags, and more. Starting with an overview of the supplies—from paper to ink to pens—you will learn how to form letters, words, and then phrases by following Molly's clear step-by-step instructions, and by practicing with the provided templates. After mastering letter forms using a pointed pen and ink you can take it to the next level by learning how to use watercolor and gouache, or how to digitize your calligraphy. The twenty projects in the book provide lots of inspiration for making your own and are grouped into three sections: weddings, entertainment, and personal stationery. With loads of ideas, practice exercises, and helpful tips, soon you will be turning out gorgeous script calligraphy pieces like the ones featured in wedding magazines and popular websites like Pinterest.

101 artists from around the world celebrate all calligraphy and lettering can be, through different styles, mediums, and languages. A fresh, modern take on calligraphy that goes beyond the traditional.

Muthanna, also known as mirror writing, is a compelling style of Islamic calligraphy composed of a source text and its mirrored image placed symmetrically on a horizontal or vertical axis. This style elaborates on various scripts such as Kufi, naskh, and muqahhaq through compositional arrangements, including doubling, superimposing, and stacking. Muthanna is found in diverse media, ranging from architecture, textiles, and tiles to paper, metalwork, and woodwork. Yet despite its centuries-old history and popularity in countries from Iran to Spain, scholarship on the form has remained limited and flawed. Muthanna/Mirror Writing in Islamic Calligraphy provides a comprehensive study of the text and its forms, beginning with an explanation of the visual principles and techniques used in its creation. Author Esra Akın-Kıvanç explores muthanna's relationship to similar forms of writing in Judaic and Christian contexts, as well as the specifically Islamic contexts within which symmetrically mirrored compositions reached full fruition, were assigned new meanings, and transformed into more complex visual forms. Throughout, Akın-Kıvanç imaginatively plays on the implicit relationship between subject and object in muthanna by examining the point of view of the artist, the viewer, and the work of art. In doing so, this study elaborates on the vital links between outward form and inner meaning in Islamic calligraphy.