I am planning on beginning my calligraphy adventure by learning Spencerian. From there, I'm planning on moving to Italic (actually, does anyone know if I can use an oblique pen for italic?) and then copperplate. And then I might move on to some other style, but we'll see.
I have a question: how many styles of calligraphy does an average calligrapher know?
Sheila Waters recommends the pen holders that are straight for broad edge - rather than the hour-glass shaped holders. In my years of teaching, I have observed that the straight holders have a distinct advantage. You can get a wooden one for $3 rather than than the $2 plastic pen holder and I think it is worth the extra dollar. The hour-glass shaped holders do not allow as much variation in how you hold the pen. With broad edge styles, there is a lot of *pen manipulation* where you make minor adjustments in how you hold the pen and the straight holder is more compatible with pen manipulation. The hour-glass pre-determines how far your hand is from the nib. Being able to slide the nib a tiny bit farther away from the hand can make it much easier for the beginner to have success.
Having said that, I am sure there are scribes who do broad edge work with an hour-glass holder and have never considered using a straight holder and have had fantastic results. So, if you want to stick with your hour-glass holder - that's fine. I just mention the straight holder because I have seen good results with my students and because it is recommended by Sheila Waters - as well as other fine teachers.
It would be fun to know how many styles an average calligrapher knows - but it would be hard to decide what makes a calligrapher *average.* In my most recent class, out of 12 people, half of them were clearly people who enjoyed trying everything. Of those 6 about half looked like they were smitten with the whole process and would actually take the time to become proficient at specific styles.
IMHO, there is a a tipping point after you learn about 4 broad edge styles and the 2 main branches of pointed pen. With broad edge, if you take the time to learn foundational, italic, uncial and blackletter, you have a good foundation and it will not take as much time to pick up additional styles like Neuland, carolingian, gothisized italic, etc. With pointed pen, copperplate and Spencerian are the two styles that give you a good base for learning all the others.
There is another category that doesn't get much attention and that is the Roman alphabet - or basic capital letters. While it doesn't look calligraphic on the surface - it just looks like a refined version of the printed or manuscript capital letters we all learned when were first learning to write the alphabet - it is actually a wonderful style to learn and extremely useful. It is sad to see a beautiful piece of calligraphy (a quote or poem) where the artist lettered the author's name in small block letters at the bottom - and that lettering is their quirky printing. It's a very small detail - but sometimes that lettering is so wonky it becomes an eyesore.
Which brings us to foundational. Hardly anyone considers learning foundational before italic - mostly because they do not know what it is and it looks really boring. I have had the honor of hosting Sheila Waters in my home for workshops and had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions about teaching. Sheila, as well as other excellent teachers, agree that while italic is the style that attracts people, it would be better for beginners to learn foundational first. In addition to the angle of the nib, with italic, you have the angle - or slant - of the strokes. With foundational, you can focus on just the angle of the nib and the strokes are vertical. You can learn an italic that has no slant - but it is hard to find good exemplars.
Again - lots of people, including me, started with italic and there is no harm in doing so. But, focusing on the pen angle - and leaving out slant for the time being - is helpful. I actually like Neuland for a first broad edge style because every single student will intuitively start using pen manipulation when they are doing Neuland. I do not have to show them - I watch them do it intuitively, and then point out that their brain already understands an important part of the process. Even a simple blackletter can be a very good style for understanding pen angle and learning the process of consistency and rhythm.
