It's not coming easily to me!

[ewigginton]

Not only am I frustrated by the amateurish look of my latest, most painstaking attempts, but I just lost a nice long post which makes me all the more frustrated! Anyway, I just can't seem to get the shaky, drawn look of my letters to melt into smooth strokes even though I seriously have been practicing night and day. Do I need to take a Xanax first? Am I just not a natural so even though I practice and practice, I am practicing the wrong letterforms? Will I always retain that "drawn" look rather than a natural flow? I've tried going faster and going slower. Neither seems to work. Don't even ask me about my attempts at modern/contemporary calligraphy.

This is the hardest fun thing I've ever attempted!!

Oh, and of course I smudged ink on my scanner. Too impatient to let the ink dry!

Ellen


envelope1 1 by Ellen Wigginton, on Flickr

[katianaval]

Hi Ellen! It's 5:30am here in Manila and I haven't slept because I'm practicing for envelope addressing too! 

I find it important to rinse my nib every now and then just to make sure I'm not having ink stuck somewhere in between. Also, a trick I read somewhere was to dip the nib in gum arabic, wipe it clean, then dip in clean water, and wipe it clean before you restart--makes nib flow smoother and lessen the pressure you need to release for the ink to flow. 

I do better when I'm practicing, but my nerves also give me that shaky outcome when I'm on an actual envelope. *sigh* If it matters to anyone, I have a glass of wine while I write when I feel like I'm overflowing with concentration mixed with impatience. And a good playlist from 8tracks.com won't hurt too.

Virtually sending a You-Can-Do-It,
Katia

P.S. I find the capital T and H (along with F) particularly challenging!

[ewigginton]

Thanks, Katia, for commiserating. I KNOW I can and WILL do this! I vow to be Erica's poster girl for how successful a teacher she is. I seriously feel like that old dog who can eventually learn a new trick after many whacks with a newspaper. (Figure of speech only, I would never advocate striking any creature ever.)

[Sherry Lu]

Could it be the paper? I found when doing envelopes (for Christmas cards), it definitely didn't look as smooth as my Rhodia practice pad. The nib probably catches more on rough-ish paper, and makes it less smooth? I can't wait to be able to write smoothly on ANY surface!!

[Emily]

Hi Ellen! I know it can be frustrating, but if it makes you feel any better, I can definitely see that you're improving.    I agree with Sherry, good paper definitely helps... the Rhodia pads are awesome. You might be putting too much pressure on yourself... maybe take a day or two off now and then, don't look at your stuff, then come back to it with fresh eyes. Sketching letterforms with a pencil first might help you get into the flow a little easier, too. Play around with the consistency of your ink/gouache by adding more or less gum arabic, distilled water, etc. Try taking some big deep breaths before you write, consciously releasing all the tension in your shoulders/neck/arms/hands when you exhale.

I dunno, just some ideas that may or may not work... everybody's different. But definitely just have fun with it! 

[Erica McPhee]

Hi Ellen!

I see two things happening here. First, your perfectionist brain is not allowing you to see the beauty of your work. We are our own worst critics. So where you will see every last imperfection, others will not. I already see improvement from your "ubiquituous" post.

Second, I think you're at that stage where you have committed the letterforms to memory but your muscles are still committing the muscle memory of them. You will get to that point where it flows. Line confidence.

I still get nervous when I am working on a piece and will have to do it several times before I get the flow. I literally swish my arm back and forth in big swinging motions before I start. I also always listen to music. But that is personal preference.(Video taping is the worst!)

It sounds weird but it's almost a meditative practice. So it's less thinking about every letter I'm forming and more about each line flowing out. When I say I practice 25 pages of one word, I'm not exaggerating.

Lower your expectations for yourself. You are doing great! You are right - it is not easy! "Relaxed" is the key word. Don't be "painstaking effort," be flowing effort.  Relaxed practice.

[Erica McPhee]

Emily and I were posting at the same time! I love what she wrote. 

One last thing... find an exemplar that you really like and trace it on a lightbox. This will help you tremendously. Sometimes what we think we are doing is very different from what we are really doing. Anytime I need to freshen up my letters, I do this. And I'm often surprised at how much it improves my letterforms.

[Emily]

Haha! I also love what Erica wrote - especially about being your own worst critic. Remember to give yourself a break.

Once I finally get my lightbox, I'm definitely going to have to try tracing the exemplars... it seems like for some letterforms I really like and want to try and emulate, no matter how many times I draw them, they just don't seem to even come close to what I'm looking at. 

[Linda Y.]

find an exemplar that you really like and trace it on a lightbox. This will help you tremendously. Sometimes what we think we are doing is very different from what we are really doing. Anytime I need to freshen up my letters, I do this. And I'm often surprised at how much it improves my letterforms.

This is what I was going to suggest too! It really helps to trace letterforms for me, especially when I was first learning Copperplate and just could NOT get the 52-55 degree slant and kept reverting back to my own handwriting. My teacher said all my letters were "standing up"

Tracing from exemplars really helped with my letterforms and consistency. I'd suggest tracing from traditional Copperplate though, like the ones Erica has provided, or if you find some from the past IAMPETH master penmen's that you like, by all means, print them out and trace. The students from the old Zanerian schools of Penmenship probably did the same, copied and traced exemplars from the masters.

I'm pretty sure you will see an improvement! Keep us updated!

[Roseann]

Hi Ellen, 
This helps me.  Pull the paper a little closer to you.  Then rotate your paper 15 degrees to the left, counter clockwise, so that the lower left hand corner of the paper is pointed a little more towards your chest.  Also, I always stay "above" the letters as I write.  I do not let them "get too far" from me, I keep pulling the paper closer to me.  Every 5-7 letters, I pull the paper towards me. 
I hope this helps in some way. 

Love,
Roseann

[katianaval]

find an exemplar that you really like and trace it on a lightbox. This will help you tremendously. Sometimes what we think we are doing is very different from what we are really doing. Anytime I need to freshen up my letters, I do this. And I'm often surprised at how much it improves my letterforms.

This is what I was going to suggest too! It really helps to trace letterforms for me, especially when I was first learning Copperplate and just could NOT get the 52-55 degree slant and kept reverting back to my own handwriting. My teacher said all my letters were "standing up"

Tracing from exemplars really helped with my letterforms and consistency. I'd suggest tracing from traditional Copperplate though, like the ones Erica has provided, or if you find some from the past IAMPETH master penmen's that you like, by all means, print them out and trace. The students from the old Zanerian schools of Penmenship probably did the same, copied and traced exemplars from the masters.

I'm pretty sure you will see an improvement! Keep us updated!

Wow I should do this!

[ewigginton]

Wow! Thanks so much everybody. These are all wonderful suggestions and I know newbies everywhere (and maybe even a few oldbies) will benefit. I am going to work on relaxing today (I'm pretty high-strung) and will try tracing again. I do find every so often that works so I'll keep at it. I have the Rhodia paper but I've been using quality copy paper to save on cost because I seem to blow through 50 sheets a day. Those pads are expensive! And the tilting of the paper is an interesting strategy, Roseann. I am wondering if my practicing on a lightbox rather than on a flat surface is a good or bad thing?

If all this fails, I did mix up some amazing Bloody Mary mix for the holidays. 

You're all fantastic!!!

Ellen

[Perfectsettings]

Ellen, as a true newbie I looked at your work and thought; wow, she's doing great!  It's the improvement that you don't see... that we all don't see.  (My family tells me all the time that my work is getting better... I don't see it!! - I feel your pain.)  All of the suggestions here were light bulb moments for me, so thanks for your thread.
PS  Don't forget to have fun!!

[ewigginton]

Perfect, I've vowed for 2014 not to be so hard on myself and gauge this new hobby against the pros. This is purely fun for me!

[Linda Y.]

I share your sentiment, Ellen. I love Instagram, but sometimes I have to stop looking, because the more I look at calligraphers whose work I admire, and I see some whose work looks perfect, and then learn they've never taken a lesson, or they've only been doing calligraphy for six months(!) - I feel like throwing my pen & inks out the window.