Introduction (please read this first)

[Salman Khattak]

First off, I want to thank Erica for bringing together this wonderful community and for inviting me to post these lessons here. I consider it an honour and a privilege.

I have compiled these tutorials as a series of lessons on groups of letters that share some similar characteristic. The idea is to learn how to identify these similarities while practising to produce the forms. I believe that developing this understanding (the 'eye') is critical to the learning of any hand.

The style of the letters in my lessons is a combination of Copperplate and Engrosser's script with some nuances of my own. I write my Copperplate this way most of the time. However, my intention is not to present this style as an exemplar. I am merely using it to illustrate the various elements that go in this 'family' of styles. I ask that you stick to it for the lessons but rest assured you will not be 'stuck' in this way of writing. You will find that you can adopt different styles with just a little bit of practice. This is where the 'eye' comes into play.

I ask everyone to follow the structure of the lessons as they build on each other. I know some of the students might be skilled already but the process helps me to get to know you. That is important in the faceless world of digital instruction.

I would appreciate it if everyone would take some time to introduce themselves briefly in the first lesson. The better we know each other, the more useful I can be. Please feel free to send me a PM if you would rather keep some information private.

I will try my best to provide feedback as quickly as I can. There are times where work and family commitments might delay things but I will always get back to you.

Please feel free to start additional threads in this forum if you have any questions or want to discuss something not covered in the lessons.

I also welcome participation by anyone who would like to contribute to the feedback and discussions. We all benefit from each other's knowledge so please don't hold back if you have something to share.

I am looking forward to everyone's participation.

- Salman

[ash0kgiri]

Hi Salman,

Was waiting for this thread to start soon. Finally here it is. I would be more than happy to start again

Regards,
Ashok

[Salman Khattak]

Thank you Ashok. I have just posted lesson 1. This is something you have already done but you are welcome to post again. It helps me to go back to the basics every once in a while :-)

- Salman

[Erica McPhee]

Thank you so much Salman for sharing your knowledge, skill, and time with all of our members! 

[ajcmovida]

Hello! I am Alxis John Movida from the Philippines. I've seen this thread through a group. I have been practising pointed pen for more than a year now, but I haven't really focused on strengthening my Copperplate/Engrosser's Foundations. I am trying to write my letters more carefully and slower now. Thank you for sharing these items with us.

[Salman Khattak]

Welcome to Flourish Forum Alxis.

I am glad you find these lessons useful. My lessons are a combination of the Copperplate and Engrosser's styles which I feel provides a solid foundation for the more free flowing Copperplate as well as the very structured Engrosser's Script. Please feel free to practice along with the lessons and share your work with us.

BTW, I would very much like to know which group led you to these lessons if you don't mind sharing that.

- Salman

[Anjali N]

Hi, just wanted to introduce myself 

I'm Anjali and I live in Chicago.  I'm new to pointed pen -- I started off with brush lettering (with brush markers) in July.  I practiced on my own and also took an online course with feedback.  I then moved on to pointed pen about a month ago, trying my hand at a modern style (using exemplars I found online).  I then decided to take a step back and try to properly learn the foundations of Copperplate.  So that brings me here! 

Thank you, Salman, for sharing your knowledge and time!

[Salman Khattak]

Thank you for introducing yourself Anjali. It is great to have you with us. I think your experimentation with the modern style will help a lot with learning Copperplate - at the very least you will be comfortable with the tools :-)

I will proceed to add my feedback to your post in lesson 1.

- Salman

[jolittletime]

Hi I'm Joanne. I have been learning copperplate for about a month and feeling like i am doing a few things wrong so i am going back to basics to improve! I hope it's not too late to koin in!

[Salman Khattak]

You are most welcome to join Joanne. Copperplate is a very demanding hand and can be very frustrating at times. I will try my best to help as much as I can.

- Salman

[cciele]

Hi, I'm Cathy, and I am looking forward to learning copperplate-type script. I played around with broad pen calligraphy when I was a teenager (way too long ago). Now I am rediscovering calligraphy and want to get into the pointed pen. Can't wait to delve into the tutorial! Thanks in advance Salman for all your work in putting it together.

[nicky]

Hi Salman,

These tutorials are incredible. I'm so excited to get going - I hope I'm not too late??

I've been teaching myself Copperplate using Eleanor Winters' book and it's been fantastic although somehow I'm missing something. There is something I'm doing wrong (most probably a whole lot of things I'm doing wrong) as the style just isn't the same?!. I'm using Sumi ink and a Braus66EF (I was using a NikoG but i couldn't make the downstrokes consistently wide).

Thanks again and I will upload the first lesson asap for you. It will be amazing to receive some feedback.

Nicky

[Salman Khattak]

@cciele

Welcome to the lessons Cathy. Please take your time with practice for group-1 as you will not only be learning the letter forms but also developing control of the pen and the movement. I think of pointed pen scripts as written in 3 dimensions, the depth being the shaded strokes as one needs to move the pen in a downwards direction to form that stroke. the other thing you will be learning is how to analyze your work - this ability to 'see' is as important as your ability to 'draw' the strokes.

It takes time to develop good control and a discerning eye and all of that has to take place in the first lesson.

If you see the progress of other students, you will see how quickly they start progressing through the lessons once they get past the first one.

I will be looking forward to your work.

- Salman

[Salman Khattak]

@nicky

Hi Nicky - good to have you with us. Eleanor Winter's book is and excellent resource so you should have a good understanding of form. Once you develop control of the pen and an eye for the letter forms, you can 'draw' different styles of script without much difficulty. Even though the style of letters in these tutorials is a little different from EW's, you will benefit from the work you have already put in.

I will be looking forward to your attempt at group-1.

Regards,
Salman

[Funietchi]

Hi Salman,

Ashok help me to find your tutorial here, and I'm so thankful that I can find yout tutorial, it's like I found a treasure! By the way, I've ever join your "time of bit Copperplate fun" in IG and I'm glad to meet you here. Thank you for the awesome tutorial. Honestly, I challenged my self to learn Copperplate in 100 days, and today is the 18th days. I was so excited! The reason that makes me want to learn Copperplate is to learn Engrosser's Script, David Masgrimes and Connie Chen are my idol in Calligraphy, and you too! But sometimes I think I need someone to teach me, I mean the real teacher so I may know which one is wrong and which one is right. My very big problem is when I can't concentrate or lost in thought when I was practicing, my hand is running on the page.

Thank youuu for letting me introduce my self here.

Regards,
Stephanie