Download exercises for calligraphy. Calligraphy for everyone

How to teach a first grader to write beautifully? Writing will help here. Daily exercise will help you develop calligraphic handwriting.

Danila went to first grade. In the first two quarters of the letter he learned, learned to read, there are no problems with counting either.

Difficulties arose only with the letter. Well, he does not get beautiful letters, even cry.

For some reason, the current recipes for first graders do not provide for the development of a beautiful calligraphic handwriting.

More recently, notebooks for such kids were in a frequent oblique ruler, each letter fit into its own frame. I'm not even talking about the fact that at first the first-graders wrote sticks, hooks, squiggles for a long time and persistently, and only then moved on to writing the letters of the alphabet.

It is clear that in our computer age, it is much more important to be able to quickly type texts on the keyboard than to write beautifully by hand. But the first grader is praised or scolded precisely for the written text.

That is why we decided to download and print the correct recipes. But it turned out that on the Internet it is not so easy to find what suits the first graders.

Here is a more or less suitable option:

If so, then you've come across just the perfect article to do it.

Learning calligraphy is not an easy process, but with the right teaching materials it can take less time than you think.

What is calligraphy?

This term is borrowed from the ancient Greek language and means the art of beautiful writing.

Instead of just writing pretty letters, calligraphers are expected to follow a number of rules and traditions, including those that govern the placement and placement of letters in text.

How to master calligraphy? More importantly, does it really make sense to do this?

For example, if you're a designer, modern calligraphy is a great skill to add to your resume and the fastest way to attract clients with elegant logos, signs, cards, invitations, and more.

Our article on calligraphy for beginners will help you familiarize yourself with all these things and will guide you in learning calligraphy and give your work a recognizable and individual style.

Here's our compact guide to calligraphy:

Learning calligraphy - where to start

How to learn calligraphy? The first step along this path is to get the right equipment, including the best calligraphy pens. Calligraphy with a pointed pen will require you to learn how to use a fountain pen. Including one that is made of a metal tip - a feather, and attached with a special holder.
All these calligraphy basics guides recommend these pens as they don't contain ink inside and can't do any damage - instead, you dip them in a special container while writing and benefit from their flexibility to experiment with different line variations. This way, your nib will never corrode or clog, despite the sheer amount of different inks you must use to complete your project.

How to use calligraphy pens? Here are the tools you'll need:

• Feathers
• Pen Holders
• Paper suitable for fountain pens
• Ink

Feather

For beginners who are learning how to use a calligraphic pen, we recommend the Nikko G-Nib nib. It is relatively rigid and draws nice lines with the desired level of flexibility.

Pen holder

There are two types of pen holders: straight and oblique (oblique). The first look is better suited for vertical calligraphy styles, while the slanted holders make it easier to combine several different styles.

A high quality, affordable alternative is the Speedball Oblique Pen Nib Holder and the Tachikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder for Various Pen Nib - Model 25 (great choice for vertical styles as it holds more firmly than other similar pen holders).

There are designers who use the same pen holder for all calligraphy pens, but we advise beginners to try a few different options before choosing one holder.

Paper

The roughness of plain paper will prevent you from using it for calligraphy. Other challenges include situations where your nib clings to paper and leaves annoying ink blots.

In addition, regular printing paper has more fibers and therefore absorbs ink and allows it to diffuse within the sheet, which is likely to be a hindrance to the sleek and clean lines that calligraphers aim for.

To make your calligraphy more effective and enjoyable, buy paper that is suitable for nibs and fountain pens. For example, the popular brand Rhodia, whose paper is very smooth and ink resistant. Several types of paper are available: blank, inline, or dotted.

Ink

There are several types of ink suitable for fountain pens, but beginners should always choose good quality black samples. Our choice is Speedball Super Black India as this ink is very dark, water resistant, and in addition to that at a reasonable price.

As with any creative process, calligraphy is best done in a pleasant work environment.

A comfortable and well-organized table where you can place all your supplies and feel positive and relaxed is the best place to practice your calligraphy skills.

Choosing the best place to work

To get the most out of your calligraphy practice, choose a comfortable and relaxing place where you can rest your feet comfortably. Organize your supplies well and keep the area clear of clutter to allow enough room for your hands to move.

Writing paper should be placed on a special writing board or at least 5-6 sheets. This way, you have a soft surface that will allow you to write more naturally than on a desk, and the surface will not allow your paper to fidget.

Instrument preparation

Make sure there is a fluffy towel and a cup of water nearby so you can clean the feather. Paper towels are also great, but keep in mind that the fibers can snag on the tip and cause irritating blots.

Your ink should be placed in a wide-mouthed bottle or jar so that you do not touch the sides with the nib. And place the bottle where you can't knock it over easily. Basically, your work tools should be within reach, but still at a safe distance. For example, we put them on a roll of tape or even close them to avoid risk.

As mentioned earlier, you must place the nib inside the holder. The easiest way to do this is to take the nib somewhere near its base and then insert the nib into the holder using its outer ring.

Make sure not to hold the nib by the nib, as this can bend and deform. To get it right, find the YouTube manual and follow the instructions.

The main strokes calligraphy

The building blocks of calligraphy are thick downward strokes and thin upward strokes. Subtle upward strokes are easy to draw as you effortlessly hold the pen and move it upward.

Thick strokes, on the other hand, require more pressure as the nib is moved downward. Of course, you must balance and combine both movements to get the best line change.

Before starting, dip the nib deep into the ink bottle, making sure the breathing hole on the back of the nib is completely closed. Wipe off excess ink from the side and you can start writing.

Here are the rules you should follow:

Downward strokes come first. Don't press too hard - this will help you observe the change in line thickness. This way you will also protect your pen.

Experiment with different loops and combine thinner ascending strokes and thicker descending strokes. Continuous loops will help you connect them and come up with the perfect combination.

Continue with thick downward strokes and slowly release the pen, working downward.

Change the order. Draw downward strokes so that they appear to flow downward.

Continue with ovals. Apply firm pressure on the left side and lighter pressure on the right side.

It often happens that a new pen draws two parallel lines instead of one, or "railways," as experienced calligraphers call them. This is because you have either pressed too hard on the nib or is low on ink.

Equipment and finishing tips for professionals

For those of you who are confident that you are starting to write professionally, we have prepared some embellishments to add to your beautiful lettering.

Variable letters

An easy way to give your writing a proficient look is to change the slant. You can easily change the width of the strokes and the length of their connections. Start by changing the letter spacing and give the baseline a slanted, stepped, or curved look.

Changes like these can help change the feel your letter makes, as well as the message it conveys. Is it formal, dynamic, or eccentric? Think about it!

You can also change the way the letters are formed, make them a little thinner, rounder, or even connect them differently. Do this a few times and you’ll come up with a completely new design for sure.

Swirls and decoration

You are learning calligraphy, so you need to do some squiggles. Squiggles can be added to your text like curls and loops to make it more beautiful and eye-catching. For example, you can cross heavy lines with lighter ones to show that you care about the visual balance of the text.

Another option is to decorate the calligraphy with special designs aligned with your words, or use banners to highlight important lines. The more complex your design, the smarter it will be to start drawing with a pencil and test it.

Traditional calligraphy

Spencerian and Copperplate are great examples of traditional handwritten calligraphic fonts. There aren't many font options out there right now, but their classic elegance is undeniable. Special projects may require you to become familiar with them, and this is also useful as a workout.

Perfect feathers

Your ideal nib should be sharp, flexible and responsive. This way, you can draw finer lines and enrich them with dramatic and graceful finishes. For sensitive projects we recommend, in particular, three excellent nibs:

• Speedball No. 101
• Brause 361 Steno Blue Pumpkin
• Brause 66 Extra Fine Arrow

None of these pens will be easy to use, but the effort will be worth it.

Useful tricks

You've just started to monetize your calligraphy skills, but something still looks completely wrong. You may be having problems using the pen, in which case you may find the following tips helpful:

If you're having trouble with strokes:

• Instead of doing like everyone else, try faux calligraphy and see how the strokes look and are drawn. Write neatly and fill in the blanks. This way, you will mimic perfect lines and see what you really have to do.
• Practice on printable sheets until you learn how to make perfect letters. It is not hard to find samples of basic strokes and uppercase letters on the Internet.
• Start with lighter pencil sketches and tracing them slowly with the pen. Once the ink is dry, erase all traces of the pencil.
• Bigger letters make it easier to see critical errors.

If your letters have a sloping slant:

• Use the slope guidelines as you exercise. Draw one of your own using a protractor, or even use plain paper. Place the sample page under the sheet to make the process easier.
• Rotate the paper to create the correct slope. You will immediately see which position is best for you.
• To avoid rotating the paper, replace the current pen holder with a tilted one.

If your hand is unsteady or tired:

• Use training strokes to warm up
• Hold your pen loose and shake your hand
• Move your entire hand as you write, not just your wrist.
• Spend more time exercising. Get more exercise even when you are just using your phone. This will help make your hand move smoothly and naturally.

If ink just doesn't stay on the nib

• Some of the newer nibs have a very thin layer of oil that may not match your ink. To prevent a serious problem, wipe it with rubbing alcohol (or a soft toothbrush and paste) or simply run it through a flame.
• It can also be a problem if there is dried ink on the nib that interrupts its flow. If so, take a nib cleaner and clean it out.
• Keep in mind that a regularly used pen requires periodic cleaning and maintenance. To clean it properly, remove it from its holder, brush it gently and let it dry before using it again.

If your work might require some update:

• Change nibs and try a few new ones.
• Change ink. You can find many types of ink suitable for calligraphy, but fountain pens can usually carry any liquid that can leave marks when applied to paper. Some designers even prefer to use unconventional methods and make their drawings using watercolors, coffee or berry juice.

Choose a style

Unlike calligraphers of the past, designers today can choose any style they like, or even master multiple styles professionally to complete a variety of projects. As discussed earlier, knowledge of several styles of calligraphy is useful for showcasing a writer’s personality, conveying an important message, or simply complementing a formal occasion. Here are some popular ideas to inspire you:

Combining styles

Just because the tone is classic and vintage doesn't mean the font won't look modern. Combining these styles will impress everyone who sees your work, from your friends to the Queen of England!

Elegant calligraphy

Writing can be fun and challenging at the same time, and elegant calligraphy is proof of that. Mixing classic lettering with energetic swirls is the best choice you should use in your wedding invitation design and other special occasions.

Romantic and artistic

Has it happened to you that a particular thin font reminds you of romance?

These lace lettering has beautiful steep curls that are suitable for sophisticated caps and invitations that will grab your guests' attention.

Eccentric

Whimsical lettering feels light and relaxed and usually inspires us to think about fairy tales and escape from reality. This is because of their flowing baseline and dynamic angles that this font style defines our mood, how a well-written poem makes us dream of adventure.

Cheerful font

Regardless of age, you are always attracted to beautiful invitations - a trick that designers often use. The ideal typeface for invitations like this is fun, done with playful baselines and rounded letters to set the good tone time.

Important facts O calligraphy

• Calligraphy is not learned overnight. You must practice as often and often as possible.
• It will take no more than two hours and several attempts to understand if you can really do calligraphy.
• If you're not 100% focused, it won't work. And this is the end of the story.
• Calligraphy is not only about how you write, but what you write. This is why you should always write "real" words and convey a meaningful message.
• You must learn continuously. By doing this, you will discover a vast world that will captivate you and make you search for more. This entertaining process is simply unmatched.
• There is a difference in quality, so make sure you buy high quality materials and supplies.
• Calligraphers are generally friendly people and great conversationalists. As such, they are your best source of information and inspiration, and you should start looking for a mentor immediately.

Top five calligraphy options

In the following, we outline the most important basic principles of calligraphy, categorized into five different approaches, sets of lines and letterforms. This section will also help you learn about the different tools and techniques that can be used for your projects, and we encourage you to try them all.

Twin pencils

Twin pencils are simple and very useful for those who draw calligraphic letters. They can also be used to create large and attractive lettering for posters, banners, and similar promotional materials.

You need a pair of well-sharpened pencils and two rubber bands. First, scrape off some of the side of the pencils so that they fit snugly together.

Leave them together in an upright, downward position, and make sure their tips are at the same level when touching the paper. For this purpose, you can secure them with tape or rubber bands at both ends.

Then take a double pencil and hold it in your usual drawing position. Ideally, it should be pointed at an angle of about 45 degrees.

While both pencils are being placed on the paper, lightly press down on them and slide them forward and to the left. The distance between their points is what forms the so-called "invisible feather".

As you move your hand, you will draw a double line, and if you choose to draw circles by pointing them in one direction, your double pencil will create unique thin and thick ribbons with unmatched precision.

If you are not comfortable with the angles of the pen, think carefully about all movements and directions.

This process requires three different skills: working with the pen angle; direction of hand movement; and the correct pressure on the paper.

Markers

These handles are more than comfortable, very bright and, most importantly, much cheaper than all similar tools.

Of course, there are downsides, and the ink on these pens tends to fade over time, or maybe look too heavy and can be easily damaged by the slightest pressure. This is why these pens are a great training tool, but not the best alternative for important projects.

To choose a marker for yourself, take a pen and a piece of paper. First, take two markers: 3-5 mm and 1.5-2 mm. Start with a broader

You also don't have to worry about paper: markers work well on printer paper, parchment (not the best for beginners), or similar materials.

Pressing should be light and even, as many undergoing calligraphers make the mistake of pressing too hard. This will not improve the work of the marker, but will only ruin it. On the other hand, maintaining contact with the paper will yield much better results.

Touch the paper with only one corner of the nib, then try another to see what your letter will look like.

Place the nib all the way down on the page and then rock it slowly: feel like one corner is not touching the paper and the other is still on it? It's almost like magic!

This time, place the full width of the nib on the page, making sure both corners touch it appropriately. Remember that this is the perfect writing contact, and if you push harder, any corner of the nib will come off the paper.

The pen angle and pressure are two different points, and the pen should point to the left and forward about 5 degrees. While doing this, the hand should be moved to draw the faint and beautiful ribbons.

For clearer lines, consider buying a higher quality marker, but you should only think about it after you feel confident in practical calligraphy professionally.

The best set for the best price we recommend is the Sharpie Calligraphic, which contains 12 nibs in different colors and sizes; and the Staedtler Duo - a set of 2 good quality markers. An excellent set that doesn't smudge or drip is called the Calligraphy Pen Set and comes with four lightfast inks in primary colors.

As discussed earlier, there is no point in buying specialty calligraphy paper while you are learning, as printer paper is cheaper and suitable for our purposes.

However, if persistent ink stains annoy you, you may want to consider buying Ampad office notebooks or heavy drawing paper such as the one used in the UK, but keep in mind that this will cost a little more.

Calligraphy with refillable and cartridge pens

You will need: a pen, a separate ink supply (refill bottle or included cartridge).

Refillable fountain pens and cartridge fountain pens work like this: Each pen has a large reservoir filled with more liquid ink, and this ink will flow through the body baffles, controlled by an internal mechanism. This way, the ink will flow directly into the nib unit and easily be applied to the page.

With a pen like this, you also get several different nib sizes and a wide variety of cartridges to use with the main body of the pen.

The biggest advantage of using refillable and cartridge pens is that they are easy to work on horizontal surfaces thanks to their advanced mechanical ink flow control mechanism.

Unlike fountain pens, which need to be dipped in ink, these pens run out of ink in the middle of a word and are certainly a much safer option for awkward beginners.

Cartridge inks are thinner so they don't dry out and clog the insides of your pen. It also gives them a lovely delicate look when applied to paper.

The nib itself is also quite stiff, considering that its mechanisms must be screwed into the body. This means that cartridge inks, when combined with a flexible and responsive nib, can truly transform your entire calligraphy experience.

Just like fountain pens, cartridge-refilled pens leak spectacularly.

This does not change the fact that ink remaining inside the pen over time can dry out and clog, making it necessary to maintain it properly. You will need to wash the nib thoroughly, but you can never remove all the ink stuck in their reservoir.

Refillable and cartridge pens are considered by calligraphy professionals to be the most convenient and common on many popular websites. For this reason, beginners are strongly encouraged to use them.

Fountain pens and quills

There are many different types of pens, but there are a few basic principles that apply to all fountain pens. For example, all fountain pens are composed of the following elements:

1. Pen Holders- The holder is the area that the writer will squeeze while working, and therefore should be comfortable and soft on the hand. Most often, holders have internal metal fittings on either end of the pen so you can move them around safely.
2. Feathers- these are the metal ends of the handle that have two separate parts and an elongated "tongue" that holds them together. Their nib has a square slit to make full contact with the paper, and is usually flexible enough to allow ink to be distributed smoothly and evenly over the surface.
3. Reservoirs are sometimes found within the structure of your nib and look like small tilted bowls on the side used to feed ink into the slot. Some of them look like individual metal cups that you must clip onto the nib before you can use them, including the ones on the top and bottom of the nib. The main function of the reservoirs is to collect some ink and support it at the top of the slot so that you can write at least a few words before refilling them with ink again.

The reservoirs will not always be inside the pen, which allows you to buy each of the three elements separately, namely to mix and match them. The options are endless and cannot be combined in one guide, but the experience of popular calligraphers can help you make the right decision.

As a beginner, you may also want to save time and effort, and therefore consider buying a pre-assembled calligraphy kit. In most cases, you will be given 4-6 different nibs with holders and reservoirs, and they will cost less than if you bought them separately. Once again, we recommend the Speedball Calligraphy Kit, which has a holder and even 6 different nibs.

Ink may not be included with your kit, so start looking for a suitable ink.

Best fountain pen ink types

Best results are obtained with opaque and thick inks such as Chinese, India or even gouache paints that you have previously thinned to achieve the consistency you want.

For faint strokes, you might consider the watery ink typical of fountain pens.

Instead, you can grab a medium sized brush suitable for watercolors and then refill the reservoir at the top of the nib slot.

Calligraphy on inclined surfaces

A fountain pen will make it easier to write on inclined surfaces than on a regular writing desk. This includes easels and a board resting on your lap and supported by the edges of the table. Calligraphy is time consuming, so make sure you're comfortable with it.

• Above all, choose a stable writing surface that won't slip.
• Adjust the seating position and make sure you are comfortable and relaxed.
• If possible, fix the surface of the paper on an inclined surface (you can use office clay (Blu Tack) and duct tape).

If you are using a quill pen or fountain pen:

• Keep the ink / paint open and place it next to the hand you are not writing.
• Choose a good “parking space” to safely dunk the pen and avoid splashing ink onto other surfaces. You can bring a small saucer to hold your tools while you are on a break or having a phone call.

Please note: Refilling the pen by dipping into an open ink bottle will cause ink to spill onto the holder and eventually get your fingers dirty as you work.

How to refill the nib:

• Take a pen in your hand and hold it horizontally
• Lower the refilling pipette or brush so that you can only dispense a few drops.
• Keep the pen horizontal as you draw ink into the reservoir.
• Replace the saucer and place the pipette / brush on the saucer and leave the handle in a horizontal position. Otherwise, you may have to clean ink stains from your knees.
• Take a sheet of scrap paper and check how the ink drains on each side of the slant board. Only then will you be able to complete basic tasks.

Your choice of ink, nibs, and writing surface will determine how often you need to refill your reservoir. At best, you will do this after a few words, not a few letters, but it can also depend on the speed at which you are working.

The same rules apply when you use a quill pen. Unlike steel nibs, a quill nib is more flexible and wears out faster, especially when you use it on cheap and stiff paper.

A layman can tear the paper with a quill pen and fountain pen.

If you are not sure if you know what you are doing, we recommend that you look for similar calligraphy techniques that require less effort to learn.

Calligraphy with sponges and flat brushes

Here comes the dirtiest (note - because you are more likely to get your hands dirty) approach to calligraphy that we have prepared in this guide:

The thinner the sides of the brush, the better results you will achieve. The recommended width is 6 to 20 mm, preferably with a harder texture (eg sable and nylon instead of bristles). Flat brushes are long and short, the latter being considered the best option that maintains control over the line due to the fact that they are short and stiff.

You can take a regular cleaning sponge and cut it into cubes, then turn it into the most amazing calligraphy tool. Remember to protect your hands from ink with rubber gloves when using.

There are several important differences between writing calligraphy with a pen and a flat brush.

A brush, for example, is very flexible and soft, and will respond to more pressure, creating thicker lines, and that's not what traditional nibs actually do. Another feature of brushes is that they tend to run out of ink rather quickly, and they happen to create a modern texture and a unique, rough look.

The best way to use brushes is on an inclined surface (approximately 30 degrees). However, horizontal surfaces will work well as well.

However, you must control the pressure you apply, as any change can affect the legibility of your lines and cause ink to flow down the page. But of course you can do it on purpose (looks absolutely delicious!).

Another interesting effect of sponges is that when working with ink, they create blotchy (non-uniform) effects, similar to lines drawn with a brush, and create interesting contrasts and fading lines that look very attractive.

Ideally, you should use viscous and matte inks such as India, very watery poster paint, or thinned gouache paints for your sponges and brushes. The thin and watery ink will not stay on the sponge for long, and thus your letters will look sloppy and uneven.

The biggest advantage of using sponges and large brushes is that they leave enough space and wet ink in the letter line for you to add additional colors, mix them in interesting ways, or just let them drip.

When mixing several colors in one letter, take a small volume - any bright color (white is fine too) and draw the base of the letter shape. Then place it on a horizontal surface and pour in a few drops of darker and more contrasting colors. Do not move it until it is completely dry, unless you originally intended to mix the paints and achieve a unique color.

Mastering artificial calligraphy

Faux calligraphy is essentially modern calligraphy created with a standard pen (gel, ballpoint, etc.). For many designers, standard pens help to fully familiarize themselves with calligraphy, and there are two important reasons for this:

The point is that standard pens do not intimidate the beginner and are often more flexible and more accessible than fountain pens. After all, these are the tools you've been using ever since you can remember, and you already have enough muscle memory to work and create beautiful calligraphy.

However, fake calligraphy isn't just for beginners. Whatever your professional level, you may find it useful for your important projects.

Build your own calligraphy fountain pen set

Here's what you need:

• Pair of nibs by Nikko G - At the beginning of this post, you had the opportunity to learn more about the quality of these nibs, often cited as the best choice for beginners.
• Straight handle. The Manuscript pen is a good choice as it has a versatile nib insert. We also recommend General cork holders for their flexibility and ease of use.
• 32 # Laser jet paper - Or just take printer paper. It is an economical solution that still prevents ink bleeding.
• Screw cap bottles and Sumi ink (India ink works well as well). Both ink grades are matte and will provide the desired viscosity.
• Water - You will need a cup of water to clean your pen from time to time.
• Non-fibrous towels and fabrics. You can also use paper towels, but you must be careful not to allow the feather to cling to their fibers.

Rather than buying expensive, overpriced beginner calligraphy kits, we recommend that you build your own and choose only those tools that are beginner-friendly, affordable, and truly useful to you.

Feather cleaning

When purchased, all feathers are in factory oil, as this oil helps them to maintain their presentation and prevents them from deteriorating. At the same time, it is almost impossible to have oil and ink on the nib at the same time, so clean the nib thoroughly before using it.

Once you're done, you will see the ink flow down the nib smoothly and not blot the paper like it would with oil on it.

Assembling the fountain pen

Most beginners choose plastic Speedball pens for their Nikko G nibs, but there is nothing wrong with using universal nib holders.

These nibs have a rim and 5 metal petals, allowing for many different sizes and types of nibs.

How to hold a pen

Holding a fountain pen is no different from holding a standard pen. This means you still have to use your thumb and index finger by squeezing the holder and placing your middle finger behind the handle for extra support. When drawing, use your ring and pinky fingers to draw weak lines.

Dipping a pen into an inkwell

It doesn't matter which nib you use - the quality of your writing will still depend on how deeply you dipped it.

Technically speaking, this means that you submerge the nib just above the vent (center) so that you don't put too much ink on the nib and let it drip while you write.

You should also shake the nib vigorously over a cup of water to make sure any excess ink has dropped off.

You are ready to go!

The main difference between regular ballpoint pens and fountain pens is the tilt angle: modern calligraphers must be careful to maintain the tilt angle of the pen relative to the paper.

You should never hold your pen upright, but write at a 45-degree angle between pen and paper.

Also, do not hold it too vertically, as the nib can catch on the fibers of the paper and affect how the ink flows.

FULL BOOK TEXT
(no special characters)

A bit of history 8
Tools and materials 77
Practice calligraphy, wide nib pen 122
Modern handwritten book 197
Calligraphy in everyday life 224
Notes 242
Index of names of European, American calligraphers 245

This book is about the art of writing beautifully. People have competed in it for many centuries. And not only professional scribes. Many famous poets, scientists, statesmen have succeeded here, dispelling the myth that great people have bad handwriting. Michelangelo, Schiller, Goethe, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Pasternak ...
Calligraphy for All is an attempt to captivate a wide range of people with the art of beautiful writing, to help them master the font culture, master the initial skills and more complex work techniques, and acquaint the reader with a brief history of calligraphy. The author hopes that the unique works of famous artists from many countries (most of them are published in the USSR for the first time) will attract the attention of not only beginners, but also professional font masters.
The history of calligraphy is inextricably linked with the writing tools. Nowadays, instruments of distant antiquity coexist with a ballpoint pen, felt-tip pen, synthetic brush, but nibs continue to occupy one of the leading places.
A wide-nib pen, even in inexperienced hands, ensures the correct ratio of the width of strokes in letters, and beginners quickly learn the basics of a handwritten font. Broad-end writing is preferred in this edition.
You can learn calligraphy at any age. English educator Byron MacDonald recommended this activity to anyone capable of holding a pen, from six to sixty years. The famous master of the East (15th century) became famous already in childhood. “One of the grace of God is that I am nine years old, and I write that way,” he was proud. Natural ability, "limitless and countless exercises" led him to such an early success.
A variety of writing instruments, a bewitching untouched surface of a sheet of paper, an incomparable sensation of an easily and obediently running instrument - all this brings many minutes of true pleasure.
I thank foreign and Soviet artists who sent their works for publication. For their help and constant attention, I express special gratitude to Paul Lukhtein and Villa Toots from Tallinn, Vadim Vladimirovich Lazursky from Moscow, John Bigs from Brighton, Paul Shaw from New York, Gunilaugur Braim from Reykjavik and Konstantin Eremeevich Turkov from Krasnodar.

A LITTLE HISTORY
At the dawn of their existence, people learned to communicate with each other with gestures. The interlocutors frantically gestured, grimaced, blinked, shrugged their shoulders, but did not always understand each other correctly. Several tens of millennia have passed. The man spoke. There is a more reliable opportunity to share knowledge and life skills. Speech served for direct communication of people, and it took a long time to convey their thoughts and feelings with the help of conventional signs, to fix them in time.
Writing was perfected for a long time and with difficulty by many peoples, but it was formed in Egypt and almost simultaneously in Sumer by the 4th millennium BC. At first, the letter was picturesque. The image of fish, animals, birds, plants is troublesome! It took a lot of skill and a lot of time. Gradually, the drawing became simplified, becoming more and more conventional, schematic.
Sumerian writing is called cuneiform. The badges were applied by pressing a wedge-shaped stick into damp, pliable clay (ill. I). Certain techniques, including the use of wedge edges, made it possible to achieve a variety of impressions. The first appeared in Sumer
Sumerian cuneiform tablets. 3 thousand before and. NS.
Hieroglyphic writing originated in Egypt. Ancient stones are so dotted with intricate patterns of signs that in the soul of one, not too meticulous researcher, a doubt arose: is this a work of human hands? “The gray stones are eaten away by special snails,” the “scientist” decided. In Egypt, cursive forms of writing developed: hieratic * writing, and then a more simplified, demotic ** (ill. 2, 3, 4)
* From grsc. hieratikos priestly.
** From the Greek. demotikos - folk.
Albert Capr suggests that in Sumer, Egypt and other ancient states that paved the way for the creation of writing, something similar to calligraphers' competitions already existed *.
Why have people long sought not just to express something in writing, but to do it beautifully? The world that surrounded the ancient man was full of secrets, mysteries, and the signs with the help of which it became possible to transmit vital content over long distances, as well as from generation to generation, were perceived as the greatest miracle given from above. The utmost clarity of the writing made it possible to unambiguously understand its meaning, and the decorative flair of the ancients turns the text into a truly artistic work.
The Phoenicians knew about the writing of the Egyptians as sailors and traders. The honor of its further improvement and the invention of the alphabet belongs to them.
An amazing innovation became the property of the ancient Greeks. They supplemented the alphabet with signs for vowel sounds, geometrized it and simplified it. Phoenician letters, open to the left (H), were turned to face right (P) Greek capital letter * reached graphic perfection by the 4th century BC (Fig. 5) The Greeks, like the Phoenicians, first wrote from right to left, and then came to the method bustro-fedona **, or "furrows". This method was spied on by farmers.
* The modern term comes from the Latin word capiialis chief. Capital letter letter in capital letters.
** From the Greek. bustrophedon I turn the bull.
They reasoned something like this: the plowman, having passed the first furrow, does not return the bulls empty to the beginning of the field, but turns and plows in the opposite direction. So they wrote: each subsequent line began at the end of the previous one (note: those who are not burdened with rules sometimes act like the ancient Greeks and our preschoolers) There was, perhaps, a grain of reason here. Much time is spent by the modern reader, transferring the "cart with oxen" 40-50 times on each page and looking for the beginning of the next "furrow" of the line. In the 4th century BC, the Greeks switched to writing from left to right.
The Latin alphabet goes back to the Greek alphabet. In the 1st century, the formation of the Roman capital letter was completed. A classic example of it on the famous Trajan's Column (2nd century) was first carefully removed with a flat brush, and then carved into stone. Analyzing the text, the scientists noticed: the tilt of the axes in the letters "O" is distinguished by a small error, confirming the original handwriting of the font. Perhaps the great calligrapher deliberately made an inaccuracy, trying to give the strict inscription internal dynamics and strength. The creation of an unknown author received wide recognition. Exact copies of the signs of this masterpiece were found on the monuments of those times in Verona. The Italian book publisher and typographer Giovanni Mardersteig suggested that in ancient Rome, Trajan's era, there was a nationwide standard of typeface for official inscriptions. Graphic perfection and readability, organic connection with architecture ensured a triumphal procession for the Trajan Column font for centuries and gave rise to many imitations. Our contemporaries also turn to the creation of the past (Fig. 6)
Already in the inscriptions on the stone, there were two varieties of Roman capital writing: square (Fig. 7) and rustic * (Fig. 8). Many capitals of the first type are close to square in proportions. It is a slow, solemn and very beautiful letter. Rustica is characterized by thin long stems **, bold horizontal strokes and compactness. Both options became part of the life of the code.
For documents and everyday purposes Romans in the 1st 3rd centuries
used lining *** italics **** (capital characters) Gradually, out of a desire to save time, they wrote faster, more broadly, more solidly. The main elements, as a rule, were drawn from top to bottom, and the pen, picking up speed, sometimes skipped the bottom line of the line. Over time, they probably noticed: the protruding parts of the letters serve as a kind of eye catch and make it easier to read. Descenders have developed. Expanders were invented later, perhaps to balance the bottoms and to accentuate the rhythm of the string.
* From lat. rusticus rustic.
** Stamp is a vertical stroke of a letter.
*** From lat. majusculus is somewhat larger.
**** From lat. cursivus running.
These elements are characteristic of the minuscule * italics (lowercase characters), formed by the 3rd century (Fig. 9, 10)
The square and the rustic in the code are gradually being replaced by the uncial that formed in the 3rd century. ** This letter contains external elements, but they are few in number and inexpressive.
Uncial 3-6 centuries sans serif *** (Fig. 11) The corners are rounded. The pen was held at an angle of 30 ° to the line. Thin serifs and zero angle of writing **** are characteristic features of the uncial of the 6-8 centuries (Fig. 12)
In the semi-uncial (another type of writing from Roman antiquity), the external elements became more, they noticeably lengthened and acquired graphic expressiveness (Fig. 13) "Semi-uncial" does not at all mean that it is equal to half the height of the uncial. The name reflects the qualitative changes.
5th century. The great Roman Empire fell. Regional types of writing developed on the basis of Roman italics: Irish and Anglo-Saxon, Merovingian, Visigothic, Old Italian.
In the empire of Charlemagne in the 9th century, a new font was introduced that is beautiful, readable and fast enough minuscule. Later it was called Carolingian (Fig. 14). Initially, the same minuscules acted as capital letters in the Carolingian minuscule, but increased in size. In the 11th century, they were replaced by the Lombard script (Lombard versailles), which developed from the letters of the Roman capital and uncial letters (Fig. 15)
Slavic writing developed along a different path. We know of two ancient Slavic alphabets: Cyrillic and Glagolitic (ill. 16, 17) The creation of one of them is associated with the names of Cyril (826 / 27-869) and his older brother Methodius (805 / 815-885), who were born in the family of a Byzantine military leader in the port city of Thessaloniki. Methodius chose a military career and at one time even ruled one of the Greco-Slavic regions, but then left the service and took up the sciences. Constantine (in the monastic life of Cyril) received a good education in the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, having mastered many sciences and showing an outstanding ability for languages.
The Moravians asked the Byzantine emperor to send teachers to interpret what they had in Greek and Latin books and sermons in plain language. Michael did not refuse, called on the learned men of Cyril and Methodius and blessed him for a good deed. Missionaries began to develop Slavic alphabet in 862.
* From lat. minusculus is very small, tiny.
** Possibly from lat. uncus hook.
*** Serif is the finishing stroke.
**** The writing angle is the angle of the pen in relation to the horizontal line of the line.
Chernorizets the Brave told about its creation at the end of the 9th century in the legend “On the Writings”: “Before the Slavs did not have books, but they read and divined with the help of lines and cuts, being pagans. When they were baptized, without adaptation, it was difficult for them to write in the Slavic language in Roman and Greek letters ... and so it was for many years ... Then the philanthropist God sent them Saint Constantine the Philosopher, called Cyril, a righteous and faithful man, and he created them thirty letters and eight, some of which are modeled on the Greek letters, others in accordance with the [needs of] the Slavic language "2
Now the majority of researchers believe that the Glagolitic alphabet arose earlier than the Cyrillic alphabet and that Cyril was its author.
The complexity and originality of the graphic forms is distinguished by the glagolic alphabet.
The alphabet, later called Cyrillic, was based on the Greek statutory letter. The transmission of special sounds of Slavic speech was achieved by newly invented letters, the use of ligatures and borrowed from the Hebrew alphabet C, Sh.
Cyril died on February 14, 869 in Rome. Methodius lived a long life full of vicissitudes of fate. He was ordained a bishop, was kidnapped by the Latin clergy and spent three years in prison, then continued his educational activities again.
In Russia, they used the Cyrillic alphabet, two of its types: from the 11th century the charter (for example: the famous Ostromirovo Gospel, executed by the hands of talented masters, 1056-1057) and from the 14th century the semi-ustav.
In a charter, fully capitalized, the letters are perpendicular to the line of the line; there are no abbreviations in it. Semi-Ustav is smaller than the Charter; top and bottom descenders appear; different styles of the same letters are allowed. This letter is pretty quick, with a lot of abbreviations.
In the Latin world of the 12th century, Gothic * writing is spread (probably originated in northern France around the middle of the 11th century, that is, 100 years before the corresponding style in architecture)
* Gothic from it. gotico (Gothic) This term was introduced by the Italian humanists in the 15th century, trying to connect the barbarian, in their opinion, art of the Middle Ages with the Germanic tribe of the Goths.
The letter, densely and evenly covering the pages of the book, was called texture *
Gothic italics appeared at the end of the 12th century, and in the 13-14th centuries New Year's became the favorite handwriting of the offices of many Western European countries. Gothic writing, both book and italic, has had many variations throughout its finite nibs.
Rotunda ** (ill. 20), which appeared in the 13th century in Italy, is distinguished by pleasant roundness, the absence of breaks in the lower part of the lines, readability and speed of the outline.
In the 14th century, with the interaction of book writing and clerical italics, a bastarda *** arose (Fig. 19, 21), which spread to many European countries.
During the late Gothic period, many types of writing were formed in Germany. The Swabian letter resembled the spaciousness of a rotunda. Kantslei **** was born and nurtured in the court offices, where beauty
* From lat. textura fabric.
** From it. rotonda is round.
*** From fr. batard side, mixed.
**** From him. Kanzlei Chancery.
handwriting was of paramount importance (Fig. 23) Fraktura * was especially famous in the 17-18 centuries (Fig. 22). She has not lost
attractiveness for the artists of our time. “I hope that even now the last word on Fractur has not yet been said,” said Jan Tschichold.
Having lost its position only by the end of the Second World War, the Gothic font is regaining popularity. In our country, many calligraphers of the Baltic States are willing to use it in decoration works.
Renaissance. The time of the flourishing of science and art. Leading thinkers called themselves humanists ** The Renaissance Titans Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Petrarch, Cervantes, Shakespeare sang the beauty and greatness of man. That glorious time was characterized by an increased interest in antiquity.
* From him. Fraktur break, break. The term "fracture" is used as a general
the name of the Gothic script, and sometimes to designate a variety of Gothic book type.
** From lat. humanus human, human.
Calligraphers selflessly copied manuscripts performed in Carolingian minuscule, mistaking them for originals of the culture of Greco-Roman antiquity. However, in the process of copying, they made a number of changes to the letter. The new font was named Antiqua *
In Italian business circles, a fluent "trade" letter was used, a humanistic italic, which is also based on the Carolingian minuscule. Most of his letters were performed with one stroke of the pen.
Lodovico Arrigi, Giovanni Antonio Tagiente, Giambattista Palatino in Italy, Juan de Isiar, Francisco Lucas in Spain, Gerard de Mercator in the Netherlands and others, along with architects, sculptors, painters, glorified their time with outstanding calligraphic works and treatises on the art of writing.
The first handwritten calligraphy textbooks in Europe appeared by the middle of the 14th century. They contained instructions and advice on various issues of skill, so necessary for a person who ventured to comprehend the secrets of the art of writing. Were in use and copybooks with numerous variants of calligraphic styles without an explanatory text. Here the student had to rely on his own ingenuity or use the advice of a teacher.
In the East, statements about the art of writing have been beautifully known since the 1st century BC (China, Japan). Since the 7th century AD, handwritten textbooks appear (for example, "A Guide to Calligraphy" by Sun Guoting)
A rare master would risk adapting the graphic features of the Chinese, Japanese or Arabic writing systems, for example, to the Latin alphabet or the Russian alphabet. Yet the advice of the scribes of the East is instructive for any artist.
Yakut Mustasimi ** taught: “The perfection of writing lies in the correct pedagogical education, repeated exercise and purity of the soul "4
A famous calligrapher of the late 15th - early 16th centuries was Sultan-Ali Mashhadi *** The master left us the famous "Discourse on writing and the laws of teaching" (Mashhad, 1514), rich in interesting observations and recommendations. Sultan Ali considered it possible to rewrite the manuscript when the graphics of the signs, the methods of their connection and other features are carefully studied. The author believed that the comprehension of mastery is led by constant examination and copying of handwriting.
* From lat. antiquus is ancient.
** A native of Abyssinia, Yakut Mustasimi lived for over a hundred years, died in Baghdad in 1296.
*** Sultan Ali Mashhadi was born and died in Mashhad.
Later, at the end of the 16th century, Mir-Imad Qazvini proposed another method of teaching fantasy. It develops creativity.
It is not easy to properly copy the original work. Ibn-Bawwab * for many years tried to master the handwriting of the famous Ibn-Mukla **, but he felt powerless in this occupation. It is not easy to adopt the manner of writing of a famous master, but it is much more difficult to come to your own handwriting. Some ancient scribes, having learned to “exactly” to imitate great teachers, became famous. They were praised. But the constant copying did not refresh the ancient art. The true masters understood this and created it, “inventing and finding”.
The reflection of Mir-Ali Khoravi *** from the Iranian capital city of Herat sounds like a kind of parting words for the calligrapher. “There are five virtues; if they are not in the letter, being a master in writing according to reason is a hopeless business: accuracy, knowledge in writing, good hand, patience in the transfer of labor and the perfection of writing equipment. If one of these five lacks, there will be no benefit, even if you try for a hundred years. ”6 All five“ virtues ”are indispensable companions of success and a modern calligrapher.
* Ibn Bawwab died in 1022 in Baghdad.
** Ibi-Mukla was born and lived in Baghdad (886-939 / 40)
*** Mir-Ali Khoravi died in 1558 in Bukhara.
Oriental authors attached great importance to teaching. You can learn calligraphy on your own, using textbooks, but manuals cannot completely replace an experienced master-teacher. Visual demonstration of a variety of techniques speeds up the learning process. Better to see once than hear ten times. Fair proverb. "... Teaching handwriting ... you must not give it behind the eye ... the science of writing is secret," Sultan-Ali Mashhadi confidedly reported. "Until your teacher speaks the language, you cannot write this easily ..."
The teachers of the letter were distrustful of textbooks, they knew: for greater effectiveness, the authors sometimes use unlawful tricks and tricks. This is confusing for newbies.
And yet, history knows the names of brilliant self-taught people who learned only from books. Among our contemporaries, this is primarily Edward Johnston, who rediscovered calligraphy at the beginning of the 20th century. Herman Zapf, Villa Toots, Gunnlaugur Braim and others were mastering the heights of type culture independently, from books, albums and ancient codes.
V Western Europe During the Renaissance, calligraphy prints were widespread.
1522 year. Rome. Writer of the papal chancellery, former bookseller of Arrigi published the treatise "La operina" (Little book) a source of inspiration for many generations of masters of beautiful type (Fig. 25) Arrigi explains the reasons for writing "La operina": "Begged, even urged by many friends ... I am , my dear reader, I would like to give some examples of writing letters of the correct construction (which are now called clerical ones), their characteristic features and peculiarities "
A calligrapher addresses a book to anyone who wants to learn how to write beautifully. Arrigi is benevolently considerate in advice. Suggesting to observe the distance between words equal to the width of the letter "l", he will stipulate: "Maybe you will find it impossible to observe this rule, then try to ask your eye for advice and satisfy it, so you will achieve the best composition" 9 Or: "Distance from line to line in clerical letters should be not too large and not too small, but average "
The treatise ends with samples for hand exercises. Here is the text of one of them: “Everything will be done on time, if the time is allocated correctly and if every day the exact hours are given to the letters, without being distracted by other matters” It is useful for every calligrapher to remember this.
La operina is a masterpiece of cursive writing. The temptation to make a better book led to curiosities. Palatino could not find a better way to outmaneuver the great compatriot, how to write his book of samples "Libro nuovo" (New book. Rome, 1561) backwards. Perhaps the artist's hurt pride was trying to call for help from "otherworldly forces"? In those days, they believed it is worth, for example, to read a prayer from the end and you enlisted the support of an unclean ...
The author of several German printed collections of font samples (Fig. 26) Johann Neudörfer the Elder was born in Nuremberg. He refused to become, like his father, a furrier and devoted himself to the art of writing. At the age of twenty-two, the energetic Johann published the book "Fundament" (Fundament. Nuremberg, 1519), where eleven type tests were printed. Later published his "Anweisung einer gemeinen Hands-chrift" (Guide to ordinary writing. Nuremberg, 1538) and a work dedicated to the shaving of a bird's feather.
Wolfgang Fugger, a student of Neudörfer the Elder, became famous for writing "Ein nutzlich und wohlgegrundt Formular mancherlei schoner Schriften"
Notable calligraphers of the 16th century were the Spaniards Juan de Isiar and Francisco Lucas. Juan de Isiar was known as a fanatical engraver-virtuoso and contributed to the popularization of the creativity of Italian and German masters. The skill of the engraver led him to such a passion for decorative elements that he sometimes forgot about the letters themselves.
The work of the Spaniard Pedro Diaz Moranto is characteristic of the 17th century. He loved to weave into letters fancifully ornamental images of birds, sea monsters, and sometimes entire mythological scenes (Fig. 28). As an outstanding talent, they started talking about Moranto in the early 1590s. The young calligrapher was a masterly pen and wrote at a speed that amazed the imagination of his contemporaries. “The devil himself leads him with his hand,” the envious people used to say. Do not be among the admirers of the artist himself King Philip II, who gave him his son for training, such fame could cost dearly. At that time, they did not hesitate for long, sending another victim to the fire. Around 1616 Moranto published in Madrid the first part of the book "Nueva arte de escrevir" (New art of writing) The last, fourth part appeared 15 years later. Almost all the tables (100) were engraved by the master himself and his son. Unrestrained imagination, artistry, compositional perfection, characteristic of Moranto's works, delight the modern viewer as well.
"Exemplaires des plusieurs sortes des lettres" (Samples of many types of letters. Paris, 1569) by Jacques Delarue is one of the first printed treatises on calligraphy in France.
Collection of words "Le tresor d'ecriture ..." (The treasure of the letter ...)
published in Lyon in 1580 by Jean Boshen. It provides font samples for headings, titles, and examples of fluent italics.
The textbook "La technographie" (Technography) was published in Paris in 1599 by Guillaume Leganeur. Its letters are close in proportion to the square and have a rounded shape.
In 1608, in Avignon, a collection of writings by Luc Matro "Les oeuvres" (Works) was published. Contemporaries admired the creations of the Avignon man: "The hand of a mortal cannot draw these lines so accurately" (Fig. 27) Unknown poet: "They say that perfection shuns extremes, but these rare beauties prove the opposite to me. Are these beautiful, in no way imitated flourishes filled with an extreme degree of extreme, delightful perfection? " 12 Light, impetuous, rich in musical plastics, Luc Matro's strokes sang with inspiration the beauty of the amazing creation of the human mind - the letter, the alphabet.
A talented French calligrapher of the 16th century - a member of the corporation of teachers of writing Louis Barbedor. He was one of the authors of reference samples for offices and considered them better not only any previous letter, but any other that may appear in the future. Addressing the recipes to experienced scribes who have undergone a certain training, the French calligrapher gives examples of the execution of various types of documents in the appropriate handwriting.
A famous master in the 16th century in the Netherlands was Gerard Mercator, and in the 17th century Jan van de Velde, author of the treatise "Spieghel der Schrijfkonste" (Mirror of font art. Rotterdam, 1605)
The firstborn of this kind of literature in England belongs to J. Boshen and D. Baledon. This is "A book containing divers sortes of hands" (A book containing different types of handwriting. London, 1571)
In England, from the last quarter of the 17th century to the middle of the 18th century, about fifty albums and books devoted to calligraphy were published. The reason is the growing importance of British commercial enterprises and the increased demand for clerks who knew how to run an office.
In 1733, George Bickham decided to publish the book "Universal penman" (Universal Writer. London, 1743). Master engraved more than 1000 samples of handwriting used in business correspondence. The jewelry work progressed slowly. Ten years have passed before this edition finally fell into the hands of happy connoisseurs.
In Russia, until the beginning of the 18th century, handwritten books of writing samples were created. Since the 13th century, they have used the so-called ABC books. They were not accompanied by any information on calligraphy.
The parchment list "The ABC of the Slavic language and cursive writing to learn to write ..." (1652/53) by the calligrapher Ileyka (Fig. 29) is magnificent. , and the daring recklessness of the Russian character. A great master was the "sinful Ileyka"! A masterpiece of world calligraphy, the more than eight-meter scroll “Slavonic Initial Caps” (17th century) is an inexhaustible treasure of inspiration for a calligrapher. Jewelery perfection, richness of writing techniques are combined here with magnificent ornamentation (Fig. 30)
In the 18th century, the owner of a private Moscow printing house A.G. Reshetnikov created a textbook "New Russian alphabet for teaching children to read" (Moscow, 1795). At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, samples of calligraphic scripts with instructions "How to write letters to different persons" appeared in Russia.
Typography and later the typewriter supplanted calligraphy. The fastest hand could not keep up with the machine-gun speed of an experienced typist. It took years to comprehend all the subtleties of beautiful writing. A typewriter can be mastered in a few months. Inspired and spurred on by the achievements of civilization, people did not immediately understand WHAT they had lost. Art of great artistic value fell into decay and died out. Fortunately, there were enthusiasts who were able to look back in the flow of feverish and impetuous run of time, carefully shake off the dust of oblivion that covered the masterpieces of the great masters of the past, and rediscover their unfading beauty to people.
England was destined to become the birthplace of modern calligraphy. Its origins were William Morris (1834-1896). Nature did not stint generously to endow this man. A publisher, writer, artist, art theorist and a prominent figure in the labor movement, all were happily combined in one person. While still a student, he began to study medieval manuscripts and incunabula and subsequently completed several richly ornamented manuscripts. In 1893, Morris published the most important theoretical work "The ideal book" (Ideal book. London), which had a beneficial effect on calligraphers and typographers around the world. Success has always accompanied the artist, and since the early 90s his name has been known throughout the continent.
Edward Johnston. Fascinated by the beauty and perfection of manuscripts, the impressionable young man left the medical profession and devoted his life to calligraphy.
Morris's former secretary, Sydney Cockerell, drew the young Johnston's attention to the best codes of the British Museum (London). The old uncial and semi-uncial fonts especially liked the "father of modern calligraphy" (as Johnston was later called). The artist, fascinated by the power of handwritten masterpieces, worked hard and selflessly.
By that time, the theory and practice of handwriting were almost forgotten. Many thought: in medieval manuscripts, the outlines of letters were drawn with a thin steel pen and filled with paint. Careful study of the manuscripts helped Johnston rediscover the basic principles of calligraphy: the shape and character of letters largely depend on the pen, the width of the stroke is determined by the angle at which the instrument is located to the line, the oblique cut of the pen allows you to make not only wide, but also the thinnest strokes. A tireless researcher, Johnston recovered how to properly prepare bird and reed feathers for writing, gave recipes for the preparation of lightfast ink, and conducted experiments on processing leather for writing. Many forgotten techniques and facts have again become the property of calligraphers.
In 1889, Johnston gave lessons in fine writing at London's Central School of Arts and Crafts. Seven to eight students attend classes. The popularity of lessons is growing. In 1901, the auditorium of the Royal College of Art barely accommodates everyone. Anna Simons, later a famous calligrapher and teacher, also came from Germany to “Look into the Kingdom of Good Writing”. It was unthinkable to pay attention to each student, and Johnston decided to teach different working techniques right on the board. "His letters and initials, freely written in chalk," Simons recalled, "have always carried the stamp of originality and naturalness, and at the International Congress of Drawing and Drafting in Dresden in 1912 they caused a sensation and aroused boundless admiration."
And much later Johnston, when his health allowed, lectured at King's College. These rare days were a holiday for students. The demonstration lessons really presented a very vivid sight. Renowned English graphic artist, calligrapher, author of several books on the art of typeface John Bigs: “When I was a student at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, he gave several lectures and demonstrations in the 1930s. The light and fluid writing with white chalk on a black board was amazing. ”As a true artist, Johnston experimented with many historical writing styles until he fully mastered the sum of techniques. He taught students at first uncial and semi-uncial, but soon he added Carolingian minuscule, which later became his "main font" in practice and teaching.
1906 year. London. The experience of the practitioner and lecturer Johnston summarized in the textbook "Writing and illuminating and lettering" The book won him numerous followers and admirers.
Johnston's creative credo can be considered the words from the author's foreword: “The evolution of letters was a completely natural process during which individual and characteristic types (letters) developed, and knowing how this happened will help us understand their anatomy and distinguish good from bad »15 The conclusions of the artist and the scientist are typical for modern calligraphy. V. V. Lazursky: "Johnston's work showed the way, following which a modern type artist can achieve a lot if he has talent and hard work" 16
1921 year. In London, the Society of Scribes and Portholes (OPI) was organized "The production of books and documents entirely by hand" - the main task of the association. Edward Johnston was elected as the first honorary member. The Society's activities had a beneficial effect on the practice of type in many countries, and above all, of course, in England itself, the recognized leader of the art of beautiful writing.
1956 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book "Writing and illuminating and lettering" "Calligraphic Bible", as it is still called. The Society has organized a number of exhibitions in Europe and America. In honor of the anniversary, the former Honorary Treasurer of the Society, K. M. Lamb, published The calligraphers handbook (London, 1956) a collection of essays by members of the OPI, devoted to various issues of calligraphy and handwritten books.
The centenary of Johnston's birth was marked by an exhibition of his work at the Royal College of Art and lectures at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London).
Nowadays OPI unites highly professional scribes. Many of them learned the craft from Johnston himself or his students. But in recent years in England and especially outside of it, artists have been reluctant to follow the style of the pioneer of modern calligraphy. This is natural. Johnston himself believed that the rules were only a step towards improving the craft.
This position is also taken by Soviet masters. Villu Toots: “We cannot say that classical wide-pen calligraphy has outlived its purpose, but in no case it reigns supreme. In the hands of numerous performers, the academic foundation has undergone changes, [became] sometimes barely noticeable, acquired a modern coloration. ”It is important, however, to remember Johnston's warning: before breaking any rules, you need to be sure that you understand them correctly.
The desire to come up with their own font leads the inexperienced to eccentricities: there are unjustified disproportions in the ratio of thin and thick strokes, gross distortions of letter graphemes and other "innovations". Villu Toots accurately noted: “Extreme does not mean progressiveness, although sometimes it makes such an impression.” But it is difficult to imagine the future of our type without constant search. Only a bold, proactive artist capable of creative risk can add a zest to a time-honored craft. An indispensable condition for a healthy creative endeavor: it must be based on a solid classical foundation. “Only tireless scientific research of the perfect monuments of the past can lead forward,” taught Jan Tschichold.
Interest in ancient manuscripts has swept not only England. Rudolf von Larisch (Austria) and Rudolf Koch (Germany) gave a lot of strength and talent to calligraphy
Rudolph von Larisch made a significant impact on the art of type, especially in the countries of the German language. Johnston was primarily concerned with the revival of historical writing styles. A feature of Rudolf von Larisch's teaching is a constant desire to raise the spirit of experimentation, develop ingenuity and artistic taste, and awaken the creative abilities of students. He strove to instill in his students the understanding that the character of the letters depends on the tools and materials used. Students worked not only with pens, but also with stylus, pens, brushes. Letters were carved and painted on clay, plaster, wood, minted on metal, engraved on glass and cut out of paper. The artist himself successfully worked on the invention of new feathers. Rudolph von Larisch strove for the coherence of the calligraphic work as a whole: the character of letters and lines, a general compositional solution, everything should create emotional unity.
Complementing each other, the methods of Edward Johnston and Rudolph von Larisch opened up prospects for a multifaceted approach to the problems of type graphics.
Anna Simons (Germany), one of Johnston's first students, was a talented teacher of calligraphy in Europe. In 1910 she translated Johnston's book "Writing and illuminating and lettering" into German. The textbook became widely known in Germany and provided invaluable assistance in the design of typographic types to Rudolf Koch, Walter Thiemann, Emil Weiss and others.
Anna Simons owned a rich collection of calligraphy masterpieces. The entire collection, unfortunately, died in the Second World War from a direct bomb hit.
German master Rudolf Koch is recognized as one of the best calligraphers. Koch was born in Nuremberg in 1876. The young man wanted to become an artist, but the financial situation of the family did not even allow him to dream of a higher education. After three semesters of art school, a long and unsuccessful search for work in the specialty began. If something suitable was turned up, the customers tried to quickly part with the newcomer. More than modest successes of the young man shocked employers.
Fritz Kredel * recalls Rudolf Koch's attempt to make a poster for a bicycle firm: “The sketch was put on a chair. After a while, a chubby man entered with a gold watch chain that had crossed his waistcoat across. He threw one cursory glance at the composition and burst into uncontrollable laughter. ”20. The disgraced poster artist gave vent to tears.
* Pupil and associate of R. Koch.
After painful disappointments and setbacks, Koch managed to get a job in a bookbinder. Here he first tried to write with a wide nib. The results were encouraging. A little time passed, and, to the happy surprise of the aspiring calligrapher, his efforts were noticed by the publishers.
Since 1906, Koch has been living in Offenbach, taking a job as a graphic artist in a type foundry (later known as the Klingspor type foundry). Having successfully developed several typographic types, Koch improved his material affairs and, opening a small type workshop, became a freelance artist. Here, among the students devoted to the common cause, many future celebrities worked: Fritz Kredel, Berthold Wolpe, Herbert Post and others. The teaching activity especially impressed Koch “I am no other than an educator. And, of course, I want to educate not just calligraphers, but people "
In 1908, the art school in Offenbach invited him to teach type and calligraphy. Expanding the scope of beautiful letters, Koch transferred calligraphy to embroidery and weaving. The tapestries were a success.
In 1934, the publishing house "Insel" (Leipzig) published his "Das ABC Btichlein". Illustrations by Rudolf Koch and Berthold Wolpe. His son Paul later printed 100 copies of the book by hand. One of them was used for the reissue of "Das ABC Buchlein" in 1976 (USA), when the 100th anniversary of the birth of the remarkable artist was celebrated. The album once again created a sensation and captivates the new generation of calligraphers with the freshness of feelings and ideas.
Hermann Zapf was born in 1918 in Nuremberg. The seventeen-year-old boy, who dreamed of the profession of an electrical engineer, was suddenly carried away by the art of writing. Zapf was quick to succeed. At the age of twenty, he became the artistic director of the printing house and taught calligraphy at the Offenbach School of Art and Industry, replacing Rudolf Koch himself in this position. Tsapf is not only an internationally renowned calligrapher, but also an outstanding creator of typographic fonts, book designer, and an outstanding master of words. He is the author of the famous book "Uber Alphabete" (On the Alphabets. Frankfurt am Main, 1960)
Zapf is a great self-taught person. Copying samples from the books of Edward Johnston, Rudolf Koch, direct acquaintance with the originals of ancient Roman inscriptions, careful study of ancient manuscripts in the libraries of Florence and Rome, natural talent and infallibly good taste led the German master to outstanding results.
Surprising fact: calligraphy, the artist's well-known dedication, saved his life. At the end of World War II, Zapf, who worked as a surveyor, fell ill and was hospitalized. Without abandoning calligraphic exercises and making friends with an Arab here, he immediately set to work on an unfamiliar script and memorized, by the way, one phrase from the Koran. Something like: it's not good when one person kills another. The hospital was soon occupied by the British and French. The allies sent Zapf home. On the way to Nuremberg, he was captured by two French soldiers of Arab origin. He was threatened with death. A few moments before the inevitable death Zapf was found and quoted the memorable lines. It sounded like a bolt from the blue. The stunned "servants of Allah" let the artist go in peace. Many years later, a new typeface of Arabic script came out from the hands of the famous calligrapher.
1950 year. Hermann Zapf published the unsurpassed beauty book "Feder und Stichel" (Pen and chisel. Frankfurt am Main, 1950) All tables are engraved on lead boards by August Rosenberg.
1955 year. Dresden. It was here that Albert Capra's first book, Deutsche Schriftkunst (German Type Art), was published, which was the beginning of a series of his fundamental works in this field of art. Among them are "ABC - Fundament zum rechten Schreiben" (ABC basics of correct writing. Leipzig, 1958), "Schriftkunst" (The art of type. Dresden, 1971, 1976), "Schriftkunst und Buchkunst" (Type and art of the book. Leipzig, 1982)
Albert Kapr was born in 1918 in Stuttgart, where he studied the art of beautiful writing with Ernst Schneidler at the Academy of Arts. Since 1951, Capr has lived and worked in Leipzig, where until 1976 he led a special class in type at the Higher School of Book Art and Graphics. Subsequently, the artist becomes its rector, founds the Institute for Book Design at the Higher School and directs it.
In all of Capra's works, a subtle handwritten
the beginning, for, in his own words, "only those branches on the font tree that are saturated with the living sap of handwritten forms are capable of bearing fruit"
The art of calligraphy is extremely popular to this day in England. "A good master of the type always has a lot of work," said John Shyvers, a member of the Society of Scribes and Portholes. "They constantly order texts that require more of the artist's hand than a typewriter."
Back in 1950, the British decided to supplement the school curriculum with the subject of type art, and the Society of Scribes and Portholes developed courses for summer and Sunday classes. Foreign students also study at them. In big cities, training of novice calligraphers is run by advanced training institutes. Many, making their old dream come true, turn to art already at retirement age in order, according to John Shivers, “to create something with their own hands, and often their choice falls on the type. The art of type is not only popular, it is super popular ”24
Albert Capr: “Calligraphy in England has become one of the most beloved graphic forms, and the best calligraphy comes to us from England” 25
In 1976, the classic work of the English scientist and artist Heather Child "Calligraphy today" was published (d. Calligraphy today) Collaborating with many scribes of the world, Child was able to give a capacious and vivid overview of the state of calligraphy in Europe and America. The book pleases with an abundance of illustrations: pages of manuscripts, certificates, congratulatory addresses, bookplates, headings and inscriptions, invitations, menus, announcements, posters are reproduced here. There are examples of alphabets, study charts, experimental and abstract calligraphy samples. All this, undoubtedly, stimulated both mature masters and novice scribes to creativity, fired with enthusiasm people who had not previously thought about the craft of a calligrapher.
In 1984, the Society of Scribes and Portholes organized the Calligraphy-84 exhibition. It was attended by members of the OPI from Belgium, Iceland, France, Yugoslavia and, of course, England. After England, the exposition was watched in the United States. Calligraphy-84 included everything that was shown in 1981 when they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the OPI, plus the best work over the next five years. In addition to the traditional school, they were attracted by a variety of modern trends, calligraphy in ceramics, glass, inscriptions carved on stone and wood.
Over the past two to three decades, interest in manuscript art has sharply increased in the United States of America (primarily under the influence of England)
Outstanding Event calligraphic life was the exhibition of Latin writing samples "2000 Years of Calligraphy" (USA, 1965). The grandiose exhibition covered the period from the 1st century AD to 1965. The suppliers of the exhibits were not only museums and libraries different countries, but also numerous owners of private collections. The exhibition turned out to be fabulously rich. And here, as usual in many fairy tales, there was a queen. Elizabeth II presented two old manuscripts for the display.
A beautifully illustrated catalog with detailed information about each work was released for the opening.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS
A refined reed or reed stick (kalam *) is one of the most ancient writing instruments. The tongue ** was split for greater plasticity shortly before our era. Nobody knows how it happened. Perhaps, for the sake of curiosity, an unknown master tasted an accidentally split reed blank and realized what benefits an unexpected discovery promises ... Later, at the end of the split, they began to burn a thin hole so that the reed would not be pricked further.
The great calligrapher of the 13th century Yakut Mustasimi lengthened the tip of a reed feather and cut it obliquely so that a “voice” could be heard, like the voice of a Mashriqi blade. Sultan-Ali Mashhadi: “And this Mash-riki, they say, was a man who worked blades of extraordinary quality and grace; anyone who tested his blade struck against anything, cut it in two, but if he set the blade in motion, he hesitated, and a voice of extreme subtlety was heard. So, it is better that the end of the kalem be long and fleshy, and when you put it on a leaf, it would start moving and a voice would be heard. "
* In the countries of the East, kalem or kalam.
** Sometimes this part of the kalam is called "legs".
The reed is plastic. In the working position, with light pressure, the tongues of the kalama diverge, and a characteristic creak is heard.
In ancient times, kalam was moistened with saliva before starting work. The saliva helped hold more ink. A thin mesh was placed in the inkwell, the ink protruding through it was touched with the tool and wrote. Things moved on slowly.
Then they invented - it would seem, what is simpler - the extinguisher. This small record saves a lot of time; one filling is enough for a few letters. The ink holder is filled with a special stick or brush. Remember to wet the inside of the tool tongue. This prevents the drying ink from clogging the nib cleavage, and it flows to the paper consistently and evenly. If you write by dipping the pen directly into the ink, then some letters turn out to be bold, others, when the optimal amount of ink in the ink holder is established, thinner. Some modern masters achieve certain graphic effects with this: they find expressive rhythm in the alternation of thick and thin letters. You can keep the pen full at all times. Then the beginning and end of the strokes, the transition from the main stroke to the connecting stroke, are soft and round.
Many craftsmen (Zhovik Velyevich, David Green, Evgeny Dobrovinsky, Corina Meister, Charles Pierce, Paul Shaw, Jean Evans, etc.) prefer homemade reed nibs to the best branded instruments. Fertile material! A sharp knife and a little patience are all it takes to make a good feather. The reed is not durable, but it is rich in possibilities and always at hand create, invent, try ...
You can, for example, disconnect the calamus tongue to get a double stroke (fig. 82)
The nib with an asymmetrical split gives a kind of serif, left-handed or right-handed. Two splits enhance the plasticity, softness of the pen, which, according to Giambattista Palatino, is especially useful for a beginner * and the ink flows freely, and there is no need to press the instrument. Slow and heavy handwriting could be produced with pressure.
Since ancient times, instruments have been made from feathers of birds: a goose, an eagle, a swan, a bustard, a hawk, a crow, and a wild duck. Feathers are collected during the birds' molt. Five in each wing, especially the second and third, with large and round trunks, are considered the best. Without preliminary preparation, due to the greasy trunk and soft core, the bird's pen is unsuitable for writing: the ink does not flow from the pen, and the tongues sluggishly disperse even from light pressure. Take the feather of the left wing (it is more comfortable for the hand), cut off the end and remove the barb so that it does not interfere with your work. Moistening with water, rub the barrel vigorously with a piece of leather and, scraping off the top layer, put it in boiling water with alum for 10-15 minutes (a teaspoon of alum in a glass of water) Now you need to place it in sand heated to 60 ° or gently roll it with an iron of the same temperature ... The trunk softened by heat can be immediately sharpened, but the splitting is done after hardening, otherwise it will turn out to be uneven. A bird's feather, even if it is sharply cut, glides freely in any direction without disturbing the paper.
The writing brethren always vigilantly monitored the serviceability of their belongings. With a razor-sharp knife, the master sharpened the instrument with its inherent personality. The favorite pen was jealously guarded by the scribe. Tired of rewriting the text, Russian calligraphers reported on the margins of the manuscript: "I am the Psalm with a feather pen" or "The perdition of this feather."
In 1548, Johann Neudörfer the Elder from Nuremberg used a metal nib. Quite quickly, it won the sympathy of calligraphers, but it was expensive. In Russia, by the middle of the 17th century, they paid 27 rubles for a hundred pieces. The price for that time is serious. That kind of money could buy a bull and a ram.
An experienced calligrapher sometimes uses the most unexpected tool. Pointed pens are now almost out of use, but calligraphers still use them, and sometimes in a completely original way. When S. B. Telingater was in Leipzig, the students High school graphic and art books asked him how one of the most interesting works of the artist was made. Without wasting words, Solomon Benediktovich took a sharp pen and, tightly pressing the non-working side edge to the paper, wrote several letters (Fig. 95)
Yakut Mustasimi, hiding from the Mongol troops plundering Baghdad, found himself without tools and materials. This did not bother the master. Tormented by forced idleness, he dipped his index finger into the ink and wrote on a towel so that everyone was amazed.
Nizam Bukharsky worked with his finger with "such thoroughness and subtlety that the pen is powerless to describe it."
Donald Jackson, a scribe in the Office of Queen Elizabeth II and the House of Lords, wanting to provoke his American colleagues, dipped a spoon in a cup of coffee during friendly conversation and wrote on the tablecloth in impeccable italics: "It is impossible to form a calligraphic group in New York." Paul Freeman, one of the future organizers of such a group, then took the tablecloth home, vowing that he would make Jackson take back his words.
I could not understand how one of the best sheets of Villa Tootsa was made (Fig. 96). I turned to the author for an explanation. Villa Karlovich showed me something completely unusable from the point of view of classical calligraphy - an old, long-worn and broken-off bird feather.
Such experiments will only bring harm to a beginner. In awkward hands, an experiment can become an empty trick. Later, when the basics of calligraphy are firmly mastered, an inquisitive scribe looks for new tools and materials, achieves their most favorable combination and interaction, which expands his technical capabilities in attempts to comprehend the essence of beautiful writing. Great calligraphers of all times and peoples have strived for this all their lives.
Modern craftsmen have a wide selection of wide-end branded instruments: Speedball, Mitchell, Ato nibs from Blanccurts (located in Frankfurt am Main) and others. The English Osmiroid (ink) pen has several replaceable nibs with great nibs. German pen "Grafos" is filled with ink; After use, the canals of the stylus and the reservoir should be thoroughly rinsed. Both tools are convenient in that the nibs are easy to replace during operation.
A complete set of broad-nib pens can be prepared from a set of drawing pens of the "Radish" type by chopping off the writing discs in half with a sharp chisel. To make the nib thinner, remove with a thin file (needle file) part of the metal along the entire length of the tongue and enlarge the hole in the body for greater plasticity. It remains to grind the working surface on a soft touchstone, and then with GOI paste * The writing end must be absolutely precise.
* The paste developed by the State Optical Institute (GOI) is used for lapping and finishing work.
When the blade of the pen is evenly against the paper, this is the correct position of the tool. If you hold the pen “incorrectly” (the disc at an angle to the plane of the sheet) and put a soft lining, such as felt, under the paper, you can achieve interesting nuances in the design of the strokes.
For large letters, poster pens are good. I know well-known typographers who, with a full arsenal of calligraphic tools, prefer a poster pen. Getting it ready for work is not too much of a hassle. Having placed a hacksaw blade between the tongues, you need to grab them with pliers and gently squeeze to the thickness of the insert. Do the same again, replacing the blade with a razor blade. It remains to sharpen the pen on the touchstone, and the tool is ready.
A regular fountain pen is suitable for small letters. The bulge at the end of the feather is chopped off or bitten off with side cutters and sanded. Such a wide-nib pen was invented by John Howard Benson when he copied Arriga's "La operina" in English.
The tool must be protected, rinsed often in water, and wiped dry after use. Byron McDonald: "Remember, good work can only be done with clean tools."
You will often hear from beginners: "The pen does not write" or: "Writes poorly." A few words about the possible "whims" of the instrument: 1) the tongues are at an angle to each other (try to straighten them, seizing them alternately with pliers), 2) the tongues are thin, sharp, cut or tear the paper (carefully round the corners of the pen) Sometimes the pen is working properly, but writes bad: 1) the ink holder is raised too high, and ink slowly flows to the paper (lower the ink holder), 2) the paper is oily (wipe it with an eraser or wet sponge), ink or paint is too thick (dilute them with boiled water), 3) the ink dries out and clogs the split (when refueling the extinguisher, do not forget to moisten the inner part of the split, rinse the feather often in water), 4) the feather is covered with a greasy film (hold it over the flame of a match for a fraction of a second or wipe it with a piece of gauze soaked in saliva)
I am not in vain meticulous in the little things. A lot of time is wasted until you comprehend them yourself. Sometimes such problems discourage an impatient student for a long time.
A wide-end felt-tip pen with a solid porous core is easy to use. Remove the nib from a regular pointed felt-tip pen. After pulling out the rod, grind it with a spatula and replace all parts in their original places. Such a tool walks nicely on paper, gives a clear stroke, allows you to perform a complex stroke in one continuous movement.
Sometimes they connect two markers: wide and thin, black and green, brown and red, etc. They also resort to this technique: they write with twin tools, and then paint over the background with a brush. Fasten the vertically cut halves of the pencils together. A simple trick, but sometimes it brings benefits - you can write letters in small sizes.
A kind of handwritten fonts are created with brushes: flat, blunt-pointed, pointed, round-pointed. The brushes, especially the last three, are extremely mobile. It is difficult for them to write graphically identical letters, and it is not always necessary to strive for that. Painterly, especially in fast writing, is as pleasing to the eye as crisp, meticulously executed letters. It’s clear: a polished, readable font is necessary, for example, in the text of a handwritten book, and a catchy inscription is more appropriate on the advertising cover of a magazine. Everything has its place.
It is not difficult to make a blunt or round-pointed brush from a pointed one. In the first case, its end is cut with a sharp knife, in the second, it is carefully trimmed with small scissors or treated with a lighted cigarette. They hold the brush like a type pen or in the Chinese way, that is, strictly vertically. When the Japanese or Chinese write small hieroglyphs, clarify the details, their right hand rests on the back of the left hand.
The brushes are washed with warm water and soap, carefully "driving" the hair into the palm of the hand. Hot water the rosin in the tube, which binds the hairs, is contraindicated, will dissolve, and they will fall out.
Chinese artists use a wide variety of materials to make brushes. The wool of a sheep, a goat, a bear and even a mouse is popular. The famous Chinese calligrapher and painter Qi Baishi preferred a brush made from a rat's whiskers wrapped in sheep's wool, but it takes many years to comprehend such subtleties.
The thickness of the tool is a matter of taste. Tall, heroic build, Villa Yarmouth prefers a thin bird feather. To Rein Mägar, even a stationery pen seems puny: “This is not for a man’s hand,” and wraps several layers of electrical tape around it. Yet most artists and educators consider the 7-10mm pen to be the best. A beginner should work with such a tool. For a thin bird feather, if necessary, it is easy to make a special reed or bamboo holder of the desired thickness.
When it comes to drawing tools, both calligraphers and many type designers rarely use them. "Do you use a compass?" once asked I. F. Rerberg. “I have it, but I don’t know where it lies,” the master replied *
A good, flowing, uniform black ink can be made by yourself based on an ancient recipe from special growths of light green color on oak leaves. They need to be placed in a two-layer gauze, squeeze the juice into a glass, add a little iron sulfate for greater saturation and stand in the light for 7-10 days. This ink is suitable for bird and reed feathers. Metallic ones deteriorate from the action of vitriol.
In Russia, black ink was distinguished by a brown tint. They were prepared from rusty iron (especially old nails were used) and gums. In Siberia (Krasnoyarsk Territory, 1930s) they painted with soot. They extracted it from the chimney of a Russian stove, diluted it with boiled water, added a little sugar and it worked well!
American calligrapher Teresa Fisher, in order to prepare the so-called Indian ink, recommends putting several lighted wicks in oil and "collecting" the smoke by placing a convex dish over the "fire". Soot is gently swept away with a feather and mixed with liquid gum 34
Modern Rainbow ink is fluid, does not clog the nib, but is poorly waterproof. This excludes editing the text with whitewash. You need to work for sure. In antiquity, it was different. If the scribe was wrong, it doesn't matter: the letters were easily washed off the papyrus with a wet sponge. Sometimes this was done in a more extravagant way. In ancient Rome, mediocre poets were forced to lick their poems with their tongue.
In addition to black ink * and ink, calligraphers paint with gouache, watercolors, oils and other paints.
Get the hang of preparing paint for writing the desired thickness. Let it easily run off the pen, but reliably overlap the surface of the paper, then there is almost no need to refine the letters with a brush. Before writing with gouache, it is thoroughly mixed so that the glue is evenly distributed (it collects in the top layer), otherwise the letters will turn out to be transparent and sticky. Densely rubbed paints must be filtered through nylon or gauze folded in two or three layers, then small grains will not clog the pen. In the process of work, the paint in the vessel is periodically stirred so that it is the same in density.
In ancient times, from about 3 millennium BC, papyrus was the writing material. The swampy banks of the Nile are the birthplace of the amazing
* Black ink can be mixed with watercolors such as brown or ultramarine to create the desired warm or cool shade.
plants. From its stems, shuttles were made, baskets and mats were woven, and excellent fabrics were produced. Even the bark did not disappear on the sandals, and the rhizomes of the plants were a favorite dish of the Egyptians and a delicacy for hippos.
To prepare papyrus for writing, the soft core of the reed was cut into thin strips, laid tightly in two perpendicular layers, beaten off with a wooden mallet, moistened with Nile water, beaten again, pressed, dried, glued, and the face polished with ivory or shell. The finished sheets were glued and rolled up into scrolls, sometimes up to 100 meters long. They wrote on one side of the sheet, where the reed strips were oriented horizontally and did not interfere with the movement of the pen.
Papyrus has become a rarity these days. All the more surprisingly, the report flashed in the press about a small plantation cultivated in Egypt by just one person. And this is not idle entertainment. Revived papyrus is used to make paper! She goes to documents for the most solemn occasions and snapped up by artists.
Parchment was probably invented in the 1st century BC in the Pergamon kingdom. The skins of animals were placed in lime, cleaned of hair and meat, pulled on a special frame, scraper was used to scrape off the remnants of hair and meat, dried, polished, bleached ... This durable, elastic material gained universal recognition already in the 3rd century. They wrote on parchment on both sides.
In special cases, parchment is still used today. This material, rare in our time, is made, for example, by the Konrad company in Altenburg (GDR)
Paper appeared in the 2nd century in China. Over time, it penetrates the West. In ancient times, paper did not differ in quality. Writing on it was one torment: the pen got stuck, the ink blurred. In Europe, new writing material began to supplant parchment from the 14th century. It was then made from cotton rags by hand. The washed and crushed rags were soaked in a solution of slaked lime for bleaching, wrung out, soaked in water and rinsed. The gelatinous mass was scooped up with a special metal sieve. Part of the water left through the holes of the sieve, the remaining paper pulp was shaken out, pressed and dried, glued with gelatin.
In Russia, until the 14th century, birch bark and parchment were used. To increase its softness, birch bark was boiled in water and dried. The letters were squeezed out with bone or metal writing. Almost no ink was used.
A modern calligrapher has many types of paper at his disposal: Whatman, laid, coated, torchon ...
It is difficult to write on rough, grainy paper (for example, torchon) from habit. The textured surface is characterized by discontinuity, picturesque strokes. Quite clear writing is also possible, if, using a stiff pen, carefully "climb" on each tubercle and also slowly go down.
Smooth, coated paper is good because small errors in writing on it can be easily removed by scraping. In general, they try to avoid corrections.
Calligraphers of the East ruled letters in exceptional cases, and only with a pen. Cleaning with a knife was considered sacrilege: "Calligraphers are not surgeons!" A badly formed letter can no longer be corrected; it looks fake.
Once, having made a mistake in the text, the Dutch master Herrit Nordzei, without further ado, simply crossed out the unnecessary, but he did it so gracefully, exquisitely that the correction adorned the manuscript (Fig. 118)
Do not seek to immediately get expensive paper Many modern calligraphers, even very famous ones, did not shy away from the simplest materials. Qi Baishi sometimes wrote on brown paper, Hermann Zapf on the back of cheap wall wallpaper.
Text on a colored surface looks attractive. True, the pen strives to break the paint layer by mixing the background color with the letters, but this can be avoided by properly tinted paper Dissolve the gouache on a plate. Test the glue smear (dry paint should not be smeared with a dry finger) If necessary, add fine dextrin or polyvinyl acetate emulsion (PVA). Be careful: the re-glued gouache is sticky and shiny. Paint over the paper with a flat brush or cotton wool dipped in paint, changing the direction of movement from horizontal to vertical and vice versa. Beware of completing this operation prematurely imperceptible at first glance puddles dry out in spots or stripes. If you don't stop in time, the brush tears off particles of drying paint from one place and transfers them to another.
They also use colored printing paper. You should first wipe it with an eraser, sprinkle with talcum powder or add a little bile to the gouache you will write with. * By eating the fatty film typical of printing ink, bile ensures an even coverage of each letter. A bold surface is also used for certain graphic effects. Then the stroke loses its clarity and the paint falls into an intricate pattern.
The imagination and fantasy of the calligrapher are largely due to the material in which he works Goethe: "Only those artists are worthy of our respect, who do not want to do anything beyond what the material allows them, but that is why they do so much."
* A bovine or pork bile preparation made by the medical industry is used. and also a special wetting agent for watercolors produced by art paint factories.

CALLIGRAPHY PRACTICE, BROADFINED PEN WORK

The old masters argued: whoever does not learn to sit and hold the instrument correctly can give up on himself, he will never write well.
The first lesson in calligraphy: bowed heads in excessive zeal, bent backs, an instrument convulsively clutched in the hand, all this negates the efforts of beginners.
Control yourself constantly: the back is straight, the left hand forms a fulcrum, taking part of the body's weight, and at the same time holding the paper. Wrong left hand position often ruins the whole business. Lower it, say, the body will find support in the right hand and the freedom of movement of the writer will be violated. The right hand should barely touch the table! An experienced craftsman can afford to work and not according to the rules, for example, putting paper on his knee and sitting comfortably in a chair. This is how the handwritten book "Handwriting Today" by the contemporary Scottish artist Tom Gurdy was made. It is clear that such a practice would only do harm to a beginner.
The working posture of calligraphers of different countries and peoples can be different. The Egyptians "performed sacraments" sitting on the floor, laying
papyrus on a special stand resting on the knee of the right leg. The modern Japanese calligrapher prefers to kneel with the paper in front of him on the mat.
It is not recommended to work while standing, bent over the table - it is tiring, and there is nothing to count on success. Our ancestors acted wisely when they wrote at a music stand or desk.
It is desirable for the type designer to have a special music stand, at least a sheet of plywood or thick cardboard, one edge of which should rest on a small stand. The tilt of the music stand adjusts the rate at which ink runs off the pen. Do not forget to put a sheet of paper under your arm, otherwise the original will get greasy - all the work will go down the drain.
The handle is held like this: the thumb presses it against the middle nail, and the slightly bent index finger holds the middle finger from above Closer to the pen, followed by the index and thumb. Hold the writing instrument lightly, loosely. Tension usually comes from pressing unoccupied fingers against the palm of the hand. Unclench them and the index finger will relax. There is no need to firmly grip the handle with three fingers if it is easily held in two: between the thumb and middle or thumb and forefinger (as, for example, it was written in 16th century Italy) Check yourself: if you stop working unexpectedly, try to pull out the tool with your left hand by the upper end it should slide freely. Look: is there a mark (indentation) on the middle finger from a writing instrument? So you haven't learned how to hold the pen correctly!
For a beginner, it is best to use a pen that is at least 5 mm wide. Draw on paper, observing a constant writing angle of 30 °, the most varied lines that your imagination will suggest. Do it freely and at ease. Have fun; draw a sun, a human figurine, a house. Likewise, it is easier to feel the logic of a wide-nibbled tool: the thickness and shape of a stroke change depending on the direction of movement of the pen. Repeat the exercise, keeping the writing angle at 45 ° and then at 0 ° (the working plane of the pen coincides with the horizontal direction of the line) It is important to immediately learn how to vary the writing angle. This will help in the future to master the techniques of manipulating a wide-end instrument.
One of the first difficulties is being able to draw strictly vertical strokes. Do not try to automatically execute them parallel to each other * a small mistake, and all the text "falls" to the side. That is why each subsequent stroke must be written, “forgetting” about the previous one, trying to re-orientate correctly in the plane of the sheet. Don't fixate on the pen. Look at the end point of the movement. Are the strokes not perpendicular to the line of the line? Try to correct this flaw by changing the slope of the paper. Its most successful position is developed individually, in the process of practice.
Performing a downward stroke, the entire arm with the elbow is moved downward, fixing the hand in one position. "Drag" the feather straight towards you, leaning back slightly with the whole body. Draw long lines often to eliminate the possibility of a fixed position of the elbow. Watch your breathing. Exhale the strokes. Do not strain, allow yourself a little carelessness. Fixation is the enemy of the calligrapher.
After the first exercises, try to increase the speed of work in order to finally get rid of the stiffness of movements. Back in the 16th century, Jean Lemoine advised those who want to learn the art of calligraphy to write letters decisively. Heather Child: “A certain speed gives the work rhythm and liveliness. A tortured letter will lack these qualities, no matter how carefully each letter is drawn. "
And here are other opinions. Alfred Furbank: “The letters and words that the calligrapher writes, giving style, shape and grace to the lettering, are done at a slow pace in order to make it possible to achieve precise design, since the appearance of the letter is more important than the speed of execution. A calligrapher, when writing an official script *, will naturally strive to move forward at a satisfactory speed, but still will not move faster than what is needed to carefully complete the strokes. ”L7 Villa Toots:
* In an official letter, each letter is assembled from several strokes and a strict sequence. In semi-formal, some letters are drawn with one continuous movement of the pen. The writing loses its clarity slightly, but it adds speed and is more individual. In everyday handwriting, sometimes whole elephants are scribbled without lifting the instrument from the paper. These are informal (free) and the most individual models.
“The exercises should be done carefully and methodically, although the stroke is still uneven due to the slow movement of the pen. Speed, if it is appropriate to talk about it when making a font, comes later, as if by itself, along with the stability of the hand. "
Old calligraphy textbooks advised to avoid both fast and very slow movements in the beginning. Both were considered harmful.
Particular attention should be paid to overly hasty students: at first they act with some success, but without a strong foundation they quickly “fizzle out”.
If you are slow, try to work lightly and freely without worrying about the results. This does not threaten you with constant negligence in the font, but it will help you to be liberated
So the appearance of the stroke is more important than the speed of execution. A beautiful writing nevertheless requires determination and a certain speed of movement of the pen from the performer, but these qualities are not an end in itself. They are the result of persistent training and come with hand stability.
It is best to start learning calligraphy with a simplified version of the Trajan's Column (fig. 130). It is ideal in proportion, relatively simple to perform and perfectly suited for wide-tip instruments. You can also give preference to the Latin alphabet for the following reasons: the student, quickly believing that the graphic features of the letters have already been mastered, writes two or three words each without looking at the sample; therefore, it is useful to start with a text in a foreign language: willy-nilly, you have to sequentially copy each letter.
The letter "O" is the most difficult and important in the alphabet.
An insufficient understanding of the anatomy of "O" and its constructive similarity with "B", "3", "C" and other signs is the main reason for the distortion of letters, the graphics of which are fully or partially built on the basis of a circle (Fig. 128, 129)
Describe the "O" around the rectangle b e e, clearly aware of all the components of the hand movement when performing the left side of the circle (arc from a to b, from b to c, from c to d) and, accordingly, the right (from a to e, etc.). This exercise will help to avoid a typical and difficult-to-correct mistake: beginners lead the stroke of the letter "O" directly downward or strongly lead to the side, and it must be simultaneously directed to the side and downward. Write the left and right semicircles smoothly, sending the pen onto the paper and tearing it off the paper gradually, as if planning, like an airplane during takeoff and landing.
Inscribe "O" in the ABCG square, trying to bring its outer contour closer to the ideal circle. Having coped with this task, write the letter without the corrective square, mentally tracing all the points on which its left and right strokes are built. The center line will help to control the identity of the semicircles. Finally, write "O" without the center line. Don't get used to the letter "O" of the same size. Change line height and pen width.
Usually, letters learn to write, dividing signs with similar elements into groups (H, T, P, G, for example), but it is better to unite them into families on the basis of width, proportions are comprehended faster and, as practice shows, beginners write different ones with great desire and success. types of strokes.
On silt. 130, 131 tables, invented by the modern English educator Ralph Douglas. The alphabet is arranged in a nest of columns, each of which contains letters of the same width. Note: in this font, the width of the pen slice fits 8 times in the height of uppercase letters, 5 in lowercase (excluding descenders) * The writing angle is constant 30 °, but in uppercase "M" (first stroke), "N" (first and third strokes) it increases to 60 °
As you master the character of the typeface, it is helpful to tracing the pattern. John Bigs: “To be of any use, the tracing must be careful, careful, critical. You need to follow the contours, and you will discover a refined sophistication of forms that would almost certainly be hidden from you just by looking at it ... ”k9 This educational work is performed with a thin feather, ink or a hard, sharpened pencil.
Having well mastered the configuration of the letters, you can begin to write with a wide-end instrument uppercase and then lowercase characters in alphabetical order, adhering to the parameters of the sample. Periodically check the proportions with a standard on tracing paper, aligning the contours of the letters and analyzing errors. In this case, mascara is easy to smudge,
* In practice, the ratio between pen width and line height varies freely.
it is convenient to use a pencil or felt-tip pen sharpened with a spatula.
Complete the Douglas table with Russian letters. An attempt to solve the Latin and Russian alphabets in one graphic way develops a constructive and logical thinking... Pay attention: the horizontal strokes at "E", "U", "E", "B", "H", etc. are just above the optical middle; "R" is a mirror image of "I"; the writing angle remains constant, and only in "F", "I", achieving the desired thickness of the strokes, it is changed if desired (the pen is turned when writing left-sided diagonal strokes)
Latin and Russian letters are ennobled by serifs. Serifs were used by the ancient Romans when they cut into stone. The scribes also liked the innovation: it facilitates the flow of ink at the beginning of the stroke and serves as a good decoration.
Try writing uppercase and lowercase letters with 45 ° and 0 ° writing angles, observing the change in the proportions of thick and thin strokes and the shape of the letters themselves.
Now you can start copying the text, respecting the original dimensions. This is how Sultan-Ali Mashhadi taught40 Many modern specialists have the same opinion. Jacqueline Swaren: “It is very helpful to have samples the same size as your own work. Letters come out much slower if you use a different nib size than the model used. ”41 When the original and the copy are identical, the nib width acts as a modulus. And it is easy to check the proportions of the letters with a standard on tracing paper. After completing the text in Latin letters, write any passage in Russian. Leave the font parameters the same.
Another type of writing to be mastered is italics. Cursiveness in calligraphy is determined, first of all, by the continuity of movement, the "running of the pen", and its fundamental characteristic is precisely that the letters (oblique or straight, uppercase or lowercase) are connected together or suggest the possibility of connection. The flourishing of italics began in 16th century Italy thanks to Arriga's "La operina" treatise.
The art of the great Italian became truly accessible since 1951, when Benson rewrote Arriga's book in English, achieving full resemblance to the appearance of the original (Fig. 132). simulate only Arriga's font. But it is the English pages that should be copied. Originally printed from wooden planks. This introduced certain violations in the ratio of thick and thin strokes. Arrigi: "I ask you to forgive me, as the abs cannot completely replace a living hand."
Benson's work makes it possible to take advantage of the advice of the great master to a wide range of readers. It is important. Due to the lack of specialized literature, beginners are often guided by "trendy" italic fonts, which sometimes hide a lack of understanding of the basics of beautiful writing or deliberate disregard for them.
The shapes of various letters in Arriga have a lot in common: "l" and "y" start almost the same, "a", "c", "d", "g" are obtained from "o" and form an oblong, elongated parallelogram. Arrigi: "... cursive, or clerical, letters should have something of a long, not round" 43.
Methods of rational connection of letters in writing have always been of concern to masters. Arrigi does not bypass this question either: (...) The master does not advise adding the remaining characters of the alphabet to the next letter, although he does not give a final solution to the question: "But to tie or not to tie, I leave it to your discretion." When studying the italics "La operina", it is useful to study the shape of the letters by tracing and write them with a wide-nib pen. Writing angle 45 °
It is necessary to carefully and repeatedly copy at least one of the pages of the book (English version) A self-confident student sometimes thinks that he writes letters, if not better, then at least not worse than in the studied sample. Make sure to keep copies. The time will come to get them and correct the mistakes. “Do not approve of self-righteousness in yourself! Sultan-Ali Mashhadi warned. - Strive not to become careless in your letter of transmission, whether you do a lot or a little. The transmission should be done with full diligence. "
Qi Baishi saw the purpose of copying not in slavish imitation of the original, but in the ability to grasp the essence of the handwriting and remain himself. You can be sure this advice is not for a beginner. The student must copy in the most diligent manner and go to his own decisions gradually. The beginner, according to Heather Child, must first fully follow the instructor, especially when manual dexterity is required. Until you possess sufficient skill, it is impossible to experiment freely.
“Those who do not want to be a student are unlikely to achieve mastery,” 46 Jan Tschichold warned.
Ideally, you need to get to know each font so that you can use it with unconscious ease.
One of the pages of "La operina" in Russian sounds like this: "Then understand that not only the five above-mentioned letters" a "," c "," d "y" # "," q ", but almost all others are formed like this the same elongated parallelogram, and not a perfect square, since, in my opinion, cursive, or clerical, letters should have something of a long, and not of a round; the roundness will emerge from the square, not from the elongated parallelogram. ”Rewrite this text, retaining the composition and calligraphic features of the English version. The task is not easy, but exciting and rewarding.
In our font tutorials, we recommend that you only stroke from top to bottom and from left to right, which is true at the initial stage of training, but in the future you need to get acquainted with other methods of working. Arrigi, for example, carried out a horizontal stroke not only from left to right, but also from right to left. Of course, this somewhat awkward nib is braked by paper and bouncing. But if, having barely started to the right, then lead a stroke along the same line in the opposite direction along a fresh ink trail, the pen gets a run-up and glides more freely.
A well-prepared instrument, controlled by the sensitive hand of a trained artist, glides easily, like an experienced skater on ice, in any direction. The execution of individual letters in a continuous movement and a reasonable reduction in the separation of the nib from the paper increases the speed of the calligrapher, giving liveliness and originality to the writing.
I intercepted a leaf with a composition of letters by Villa Tootsa "Pen test" (Fig. 141) "on the way": the table was a waste basket. Villa Karlovic works fast. I was unable to notice how many times the tool was torn off the paper. Six or seven, I think, no more.
Small letters are easier to learn to do in one go. It is much more difficult to write them out in large size. With the known experience it succeeds.
Arriga says about uppercase characters: “Note, my dear reader, when I said that all letters should be tilted forward, you should understand that this refers to lowercase characters, and I wanted your capital letters to always be drawn straight, and the strokes should be firm and without hesitation, otherwise, it seems to me, they will not have beauty "
Sometimes the "wobble" of the stroke adorns calligraphy. When the Estonian master Paul Lukhtein worked on the handwritten text of the book "The Estonian Liberation Struggle on St. George's Night of 1343", his hand was "so trained, the letters were so precise and clear that they could compete with the typographic ones. This did not suit the calligrapher, and before grab a pen, he went to the barn to chop wood. “The hand will get tired,” the artist smiles, “then he began to write (Fig. 226) A slight tremor did not interfere - the letters became more alive.” I saw the pages written by Professor Lukhtein at the age of 75. The precision of the eye and the firmness of the hand are admirable.
One of the most popular typefaces that flourished at the beginning of the 20th century is chopped, or grotesque. In our country, he received the most vivid expression in the works of the constructivists Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky. The masculine rough letters challenged the artsy fonts of the past, vividly reflecting the revolutionary pathos of the 1920s. “We didn’t lick the muzzles of the eaten bourgeoisie with our brushes,” Rodchenko was proud. Sliced ​​type "took over" exhibitions, building facades, filled book covers, penetrated newspapers and magazines.
Nowadays, chopped type (especially one of its varieties - a narrow grotesque) is often the only one in the arsenal of an amateur graphic designer. The reason for this one-sidedness is, first of all, a certain ease of implementation. Initial pen manipulation skills make it easy to transition to chopped shapes. In addition, it is generally accepted that grotesque, if not organic, then, in any case, painlessly interacts with any kind of image, be it applique or line drawing, you just have to adjust the letters accordingly in weight, height, etc. a more original drawing expands the creative possibilities of the designer, but requires more tact, taste, and the ability to fluently use a pen and a brush. This, perhaps, partly explains the reason for the abuse of the "font of the century" *
The type is intended to create an emotional background even before the words are read, and, in any case, not to contradict the theme of the material being designed. The sophistication of Italian italics, appropriate for a story about the elegance of jewelry, is absurd for advertising a boxing match, and hardly anyone would think of to decorate poems by A. Pushkin, E. Po or S. A. Yesenin with grotesque.
The more fonts there are in the designer's arsenal, the richer his possibilities are. Considerable possibilities lie in the degree of finishing of the letters. In one case, the artist, not content with the clarity of the strokes, corrects them with whitewash, in the other he uses a coarse brush.
Each calligrapher has a personal relationship to a particular font as a whole and to the graphic image of each letter separately. In the well-known typeface of S. M. Pozharsky (ill. 168) "C" - blessing
* This is sometimes referred to as a chopped font.
native elder, resting in a chair, "3" beautiful woman, "M" is an elegant, somewhat self-confident young man ...
Let us recall in Pablo Neruda: "The numbers are anchor-shaped, the aldine fonts are fine, like the bearing of a sailor in Venice ... like a heeled sail, italic floats, the alphabet tilting to the right ..." 51 The poet's letter "V" belongs to the most glorious of the words "Victoria", " E "step to climb into the sky. "Z" - looks like a lightning bolt.
N. V. Gogol described the work of a clerk-clerk in the following way: “There, in this rewriting, he saw his own varied and pleasant world. Pleasure was expressed on his face; some letters he had favorites, to which if he got there, he was not himself: he laughed, and winked, and helped with his lips, so that in his face, it seemed, it was possible to read every letter that was drawn by his pen ”52
The letters of one of the sheets of Villa Tootsa, bright as a fire at night, resurrect the spectacle that amazed me in my childhood: clouds of flame blown by the wind, hotly burning thatched and reed roofs of huts And it’s terrible, and I cannot take my eyes off.
Jacqueline Swaren has amazing powers of observation. About the lowercase letter "a" Svaren writes: "Imagine a little penguin with a straight back ... and a tail moving to the right and up." You, of course, may have other, perhaps more accurate associations.
A novice artist is sometimes impatient to show all the studied fonts in almost every work, but it is difficult to bring them to stylistic unity, to assemble them into a coherent composition.
The main thing in our business is compositional flair, ingenuity, the ability to avoid clichés and “good” decisions. Sluggishness of thinking deprives the artist of creativity, turns him into a craftsman, “... leads, - said Telingater, - to the desire to use ready-made, previously established solutions or straightforward analogies (May Day invitation card - blossoming tree branch, red flag, number one; invitation ticket to a literary evening (image of a book) Of course, the use of such analogies cannot be considered shameful, but in each such case, a creative invention that would interpret these elements in a new way is much more desirable. ”54 That is why a good artist, according to the German calligrapher H. Korger , immediately rushes in search of the original.
To an inexperienced designer, all parts of the text he writes (for example, an ad, a poster) may seem equally important. Often he tries by all means to achieve an enhanced sounding of each line, and the result is a boring, inexpressive work. In such announcements, “nothing strikes, attracts attention.” 55 It is as difficult to perceive such a text as listening to a bad speaker a lecture is not saved even by interesting content. Here it is appropriate to recall the character of Mark Twain: a priest who read a sermon so monotonously and boringly that “soon many were pecking with their noses, despite the fact that it was about eternal fire and boiling sulfur ...” 56
A competent composition is like a well-functioning choir. Everyone strives to perform their part in the best possible way, but obey the leading melody. What if everyone tries to sing louder than the others? Likewise, in type work, unjustified competing centers divert attention from the main thing and are capable of distorting the meaning of information. Once I was shocked by the packaging of cookies: next to the mellowingly simple-minded name "Hello", it was just as active: "From flour of the highest grade."
It is important to learn to highlight the main thing, to be able to understand the subordination of parts of the secondary material (both among themselves and in relation to the main one). Achieve the correct accents in the text, using the font of some parameters, only by varying the amount of line spacing. If the option failed, cut it into separate lines, put the words all over again, paste them on a piece of paper, and rewrite them cleanly. Again, go back to the ad, the type poster, solving the same problems, but in a different way, changing the font for lightness * and density **, and let the line spacing remain the same. Write the text again using both techniques.
* The lightness of the font is determined by the ratio of the width of the main stroke of the letter to its intra-letter clearance.
** The ratio of the letter's width to its height.
Even before our era, the Romans placed the so-called albums in strictly defined places. One could often see a warning: “It is forbidden to write here. Woe to him whose name will be mentioned here. May there be no luck for him. " Nowadays, information posters are also not hung out to anyone where they like, so it is easy to do without the word "announcement". Vladimir Mayakovsky was indignant: “What bureaucracy informs, informs, announces! And who will go to these appeals? " 57 Let's abolish some pretexts, let's give up the set on edge "will take place" and "agenda". As far as possible, let us bring our text closer to the sparsely businesslike tone of the telegram: “December 20, 16.00. Assembly Hall. Trade union meeting ", etc. The overlapping words, stereotyped expressions reduce the effectiveness of information. Laconic, if necessary, the originally composed text is perceived faster, saves the time of others.
When performing the text, sometimes you have to make hyphenations in words. A grammatically correct hyphenation may be unacceptable to an artist. Breaks in words in slogans look bad, you cannot (especially in the main lines) when transferring, break, for example, MOSCOW into MOS and KVA, LOMONOSOV into LOMO and NOSOV, etc. But it happens that the artist deliberately breaks all the rules. CI writes, and RK transfers, turns any letter upside down and puts it in an unusual place for the reader in a circus, everything is possible!
Knowledge of the basic techniques of compositional construction helps you to work faster, more efficiently and find your own creative solutions.
1. Symmetrical composition: the centers of the horizontal lines are strung on one vertical axis, on both sides of which the letters are equal in size, configuration, color, and have the same “weight”.
2. In an asymmetric composition, multiple axes are possible. Row groups snap to them with the left, right, or middle edges. In complex constructions, the lines sometimes do not adjoin the axes at all, and integrity, completeness is achieved by the ability to find a kind of center of gravity, balanced by the complex interaction of various fonts. In the "flag" composition, all lines adjoin one common vertical and end arbitrarily. This ingenuous technique was loved even in antiquity. And now it is giving good results. It is difficult to bind all lines to the axis with the right margin (reverse "flag" composition) This is achieved by various methods:
1) preliminary marking of the text (the width of the letters and the distance between them are marked with a pencil) - this method is most suitable for simple fonts (for example, a narrow sans serif); 2) you can sketch the words on a separate sheet and, by placing them above the top line of the line, focus on the draft; 3) the use of decorative inserts at the beginning, end of the line or between words, the use of strokes that help, if necessary, to stretch the line to the desired length; 4) the introduction of callouts of letters from one line to another; 5) right-sided letter (write from right to left, starting each letter with the last main stroke)
In practice, several techniques are often used at once.
Do not artificially stretch or shrink the letters, trying to align the right edge of the text in one line - the natural layout is lost. If necessary, however, even experienced craftsmen still write more freely or more chilly, but very skillfully distortions do not hurt the eyes.
Interesting effects are achieved by the peculiar arrangement of the lines. In regular business text, lines are usually laid out horizontally. Sometimes the text is arranged both vertically and diagonally, in a circle and a spiral, portraits, figures of people are executed with letters, and everything should carry a certain semantic load. "A knowledgeable artist will present it differently, since the Chinese have switched to writing horizontally - from left to right.
It happens that the original composition drastically reduces readability. However, this is also permissible. Not regretting the time spent, we enjoy tracing the lace pattern of the lines invented by Irina Guseva, admire the artist's technical skill and emotional flair (Fig. 151) This is a kind of illustration for the poem, an independent work of art.
The letter-to-letter gaps, line spacing and the size of the fields are in a certain relationship with respect to each other. The condensed letter (the convergence of letters and lines) involves a reduction in the descenders, a reduction in the gaps between words. In this case, the fields are perceived as wider. With an increase in line-to-line lengths, extension elements are often lengthened, and here large margins are required. Changing the size, shape of a remote element or a stroke, it happens, entails the need to revise the entire work or its individual parts.
In the art of composition, there are no ready-made recipes that can be completely relied on. Artists work in different ways. Some carefully think over the structure of the text, work it out in pencil and, strictly adhering to the solution found, use a pen. Others write on the fly, with a minimum of compositional calculations or without them at all, bravely throwing themselves into the jungle of compositional surprises, improvising, inventing and finding. Japanese and Chinese masters never resort to marking: this could inhibit the natural movement of the brush. They sometimes rewrite the simplest thing ten fifteen times, and choose only one option. It is distinguished by magical lightness, ease of execution, which cannot be achieved by tracing previously prepared lines. EA Gannushkin believes that “everything happens subconsciously in type, when the artist moves his hand over the paper, in accordance with thoughts that run far ahead” 58 Improvisation has always been a good assistant to many artists, scientists, and poets. Pushkin, while working on Eugene Onegin, wrote with surprise to a friend * "Imagine what a joke Tatyana played with me when she married a prince." Marietta Shahinyan did not even know how the fate of the heroes of the novel "Mess-Mend" would turn out. Every morning she hurried to sit down at the manuscript as soon as possible, tormented by a greedy curiosity: what will happen next?
Improvisation sharpens the compositional flair, develops and liberates the imagination. The world of spontaneously arranged letters sometimes gives unexpected results and stimulates new creative solutions.
Significant effects in calligraphy are achieved with the use of color. A novice type designer, when he wants to make a bright, festive thing, sometimes uses all the colors that are at hand. There is no trace of the expected elegance. It is better to limit yourself to two or three colors, but choose them flawlessly.
A prerequisite for a multicolor composition is the presence of a dominant color, associatively emphasizing the theme of the work.
As it was said, the font looks impressive on a tinted surface. The type designer needs to know the table of optimal color combinations, where the clarity of perception of letters on a colored background is given in descending order: black on yellow, green on white, blue on white, white on blue, black on white, yellow on black, white on red, white on black , red on yellow, green on red, red on green.
To highlight the text and enhance its emotional sound, calligraphers also use the initial, ornament and flourish.
The initial * (or drop cap) appeared in manuscripts even before our era as a decoration to draw attention to the initial parts of the text.
Modern calligraphers begin with initials a heading, a paragraph, or a sentence. It is “drowned” in the text, displayed in the upper or side field, placed in the center of the composition, sometimes as a kind of illustration, highlighted with its original configuration, size, color, frame, stroke, etc. The competent use of the initial requires knowledge of the history of font art. emotional instinct. The Old Russian initial letter is unjustified in the text of modern content, and the font of S. Pozharsky, in harmony with the lyrics of S. Yesenin, is not in tune with the work of V. Mayakovsky.
The ornament * originated a long time ago. Even primitive people, performing various rituals, were painted with earthen paint and plant sap, denoting belonging to a particular tribe. Tattooing began in childhood. The ornament, covering a person from head to toe, was a primitive story about the main events of the past.
Ornament in type work (poster, honorary address, handwritten book, etc.) is not only decoration, but also a means of creating an artistic image. It should not contradict the theme of the material being designed. An ornament is used to decorate a drop cap, a frame, it is placed inside the text, between words and letters, it is framed with page numbering, etc.
The stroke has a special place in calligraphy. The desire to write beautifully slumbers in any person, even in someone like a certain Lazarus Norman (a character in A. Green's novel The Golden Chain),
* From lat. ogpage decorate.
who painted the book with twenty-four paintings “with tails and all-embracing strokes” 59 This, like any other expressive means of calligraphy, has many requirements. "A stroke," says H. Korger, "must not only look beautiful and impressive, but must also be filled with movement, vitality, thought and poignancy that are put into this work" fi0
A good flourish lives on quiveringly on paper. This is not a curved line drawn by the indifferent hand of a draftsman, but the mood, the soul of the artist, "who creates, - as Yu. Ya. Gerchuk said, - at the tip of his pen there is capricious and fragile beauty"
This decoration has a wonderful and pronounced ability to interact with the space around it, therefore, they often completed a chapter in old handwritten books if it ended at the beginning of the next page.
A good stroke is sometimes an overly playful, but generally obedient child of the letter. The nature of the lines, connections should have an organic connection with the drawing of the font. This is often neglected by beginners, forgetting that any decoration without proper relationship with the surrounding elements will only ruin the work.
193.
J. Pillsbury. Initial. Paper, gouache, broad-nib nib, polished gold
Prince Myshkin (character of the novel by FM Dostoevsky "The Idiot") "... a flourish is the most dangerous thing!., Requires extraordinary taste, but if only it succeeded, if a proportion is found, then such a font cannot be compared with anything, so even that you can fall in love with him "62
Many modern masters have moved away from classical calligraphy in search of new graphic effects. New letter graphics require their own stroke. A wonderful example of such a correspondence is the leaves of the "Old Estonian Calendar", written by Villa Yarmut (fig. 206)
Do not overuse decorative elements. Place them exactly where you find them. The basis of a good typeface is, first of all, in the right form. A poorly written letter with the foam of calligraphic excesses is "not sugar-coated." However, for example, Celtic scribes and decorators, flooding manuscripts with decorations, reached perfection. “But no scientist can tell exactly how to turn the surplus into great art,” 63 American scientist and calligrapher Donald Anderson remarked in this regard.
The stroke is usually made the same thickness as the letter, or thinner, in order to avoid competition between them. A knowledgeable artist usually avoids the intersection of wide elements (otherwise dark spots are formed), controls rounding, transitions from a thin line to a thick one and vice versa.
A stroke consists of the following parts: a trunk (a qualitatively new continuation of the body of the letter or its extension) and branches (decorations emanating from the trunk of a stroke). Additional stroke is an independent decoration. It is not directly related to the letter, but enhances its decorative qualities. The components of the stroke are performed in a certain sequence or without lifting the pen. Both methods of work are also combined.
It is very convenient to practice with a pencil sharpened in the manner of a wide-pointed instrument. Many good examples need to be studied and reworked until fine art is subdued to the writer. Experience is gradually accumulating, the stock of independently found solutions is growing. A trained, intuitive artist is able to find the right play of lines on the move. Quite often, this option turns out to be the most successful. But let the reader not get the impression that everything is always easy and simple for a professional.
... well past midnight. A calligrapher is sitting at a music stand by the light of a table lamp. A bird's feather glides rapidly across the paper. More and more new sheets lay on the table, on the floor, so they filled the whole room ... The master carefully revises everything that has been done. Most of them are mercilessly destroyed. Armed with scissors, he carefully cuts out individual letters and lines and pastes them again ... Thus, one of the most brilliant calligraphic studies by Villa Toots, sparkling with ease and freedom, was born. Such a work is performed often and in one breath, without corrections, but the price of magical lightness is the years of constant, selfless work.
Once an unknown connoisseur of painting approached Claude Monet, who quickly painted a landscape from life, and asked to sell the sketch. The artist named a significant amount "But you worked for only half an hour!" cried the surprised gentleman. “Plus 37 years of daily exercise,” said Monet.
When you have mastered the basics of calligraphy, you definitely need to get acquainted with the special techniques of manipulating the instrument (Fig. 198). They expand the creative possibilities of the type artist.

I. Simultaneity of translational and rotational movement of the tool.
1 Rotate the pen away from acute angle letters to zero (flat) a) the imaginary axis of the stroke passes through its middle (starting the rotation of the pen from point A, we get a double-sided serif), b) one of the sides of the stroke is oriented vertically
2. Smooth increase in stroke width.
3. Rotation of the pen from the zero angle of the letter to the sharp one and beyond.
4. Smooth transition of the pen from the zero angle of writing to the sharp one in the middle of the stroke and again to zero at the end.
5. Repeating the manipulations of the previous paragraph, but in reverse order (from an acute angle to zero and again to an acute one)
When manipulating, the handle is held almost perpendicular to the plane of the sheet, rotating it with the index and thumb or index, middle and thumb.

II. Application of the "ink wedge". I call the ink wedge the triangle of liquid paint formed between the paper and the workpiece.
the surface of the feather when its angle is raised. By raising or lowering the edge of the nib, that is, by decreasing or increasing the ink wedge, you can change the thickness and angle of completion of the stroke (if the required amount of ink is supported in the ink holder and it is sufficiently fluid)
coquid pen
1. Translating a stroke from a sharp corner of a letter to a zero. Starting at point A, lift the left corner of the pen while continuing downward until the right corner reaches the bottom line of the line. Try to lay the paint in such a way as to complete the stroke perfectly horizontally.
2. Transferring the stroke from the zero angle of the letter to the sharp one Starting from point A, “turn on the work” the ink wedge, lifting the right corner of the pen.
3. Translation of a stroke from a zero angle to a blunt one. Starting at point A, lift the left corner of the pen until the right one reaches the line of the line.
In all the examples considered, the speed of the translational and rotational movements, starting from the moment the ink wedge is turned on, is approximately the same.
4. Connecting strokes. Interesting nuances in the transition of the main stroke to the connecting one are obtained by transferring the pen, smoothly (a) or sharply (b), to the left or right corner.
5. Execution of a stroke with gradual thinning or thickening. The movement begins simultaneously with the inclusion of the ink wedge. The speed of the forward movement of the pen is much higher than its rotational speed.
Shown here are the most typical and exaggerated types of strokes for greater clarity. Virtuosos operate the pen more sophisticated and subtle. Having mastered the "rules of the game" well and having filled your hand, you will find your combinations of techniques and move on to creative solutions.
What are the basic principles of beautiful writing? They were most clearly and succinctly formulated by the “father of modern calligraphy” Edward Johnston: “Clarity, beauty, specificity. Simplicity, originality, proportionality. Unity, refinement, freedom "64" The problem facing us is extremely simple, - the master believed, - to make good letters and arrange them well "65" Be faithful to the clarity, beauty of writing and the author "66
Describing the work of the outstanding German master Hermann Zapf, he convincingly defines one of the highest levels of calligraphy
V. V. Lazursky: “Zapf achieves virtuosity in his calligraphic sheets, which makes one recall the works of calligraphers of the Renaissance, when this art was at its zenith ... to the hearing, but to the eye. But never ... the beauty of a stroke does not turn into an end in itself for Zapf, does not overshadow those thoughts and images that he wants to convey to people ”67
The gradations in the assessment of calligraphy among the Chinese are peculiar and instructive. A good font is called "bony" (each letter has a strong skeleton and is well built anatomically; the artist was able to "give strength to his strokes") The most appreciated is the "muscular" letter (strong skeleton, no "extra meat") Letter "with a weak skeleton" ( few "bones" and an abundance of "meat") is considered "pig-like".
Note: even very tall and thin, but structurally weak letters cannot be called "bony". They are "piglets": shapeless, sluggish, anemic. And on the contrary, the fattest letters are "bony" if anatomically built flawlessly.
Any typeface, depending on the perfection of its execution, is capable of performing in any of these qualities, and in inept hands it easily degrades into a "pig".
The disadvantages include excessive smoothness of writing, softness of the line, tension in the movement of the brush, excessive pressure on the paper with the tool, carelessness and randomness of movements.
Appreciated by connoisseurs of work, where there is a delicate correspondence between skill in the design of each stroke of the letter and seemingly inadvertent inaccuracies and "inaccuracies". Agree, another sketch evokes more feelings than a scrupulously written work. Such a thing, if skillfully done, shows both a subtle understanding of form and the taste of a calligrapher. A beautiful surprise in art is always pleasing to the eye.
Individuality is perhaps the most valuable quality of an artist.
A true artist is not looking for the beaten track. Sergei Yesenin: “A canary from the voice of a stranger is a pitiful, funny trinket. The world needs a song word to sing in its own way, even like a frog "68
Much can be learned from the study of outstanding writing patterns, but the goal is one to master the skill and come up with your own handwriting.

MODERN MANUSCRIPT
The first "books" written on clay tablets appeared in Mesopotamia and were kept in large, well-organized libraries. The repository of written monuments, discovered in 1852 on the banks of the Tigris, contained 27 thousand tablets from the collection of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (7th century BC)
The works of famous authors were “replicated” in a peculiar way in Ancient Greece and Rome. Several dozen scribes were comfortable in the bright room. One person, sitting on a dais, dictated the text slowly and clearly, the rest wrote.
The work of the scribe has always been respected. The mighty of this world also found time to improve in this art. The Byzantine emperor Theodosius II (5th century), resting from state concerns, copied Greek and Latin manuscripts at night.
The medieval scriptorium was a large, bright room. In deep silence, copyist monks worked for many hours in a row. No conversation was allowed. Making books was sometimes equated with fighting the devil, only with the help of a pen and ink. But if he made a mistake or with punctuation is out of tune, it means that he pleased the evil one, be kind to atone for the sin.
Many of the books were prohibitively expensive. And no wonder. The pages were decorated with miniatures and ornaments, and the bindings were embossed, carved, and sometimes with precious stones, enamels, gold or silver. Clasps, often made of precious metals, were attached to the binding. They took care of luxurious manuscripts like the apple of an eye, and, so as not to tempt their neighbors, chained them to the shelf of the library cabinet.
After the invention of printing, the ancient art ceased to be a vital necessity, and people hastened to turn away from it.
Nowadays, a handwritten book (first of all, printed) is slowly, very slowly, but comes back to life, and a calligrapher has many opportunities here.
Let me remind you that the design of F. Touglas' poem "The Sea" (calligrapher Villu Toots, illustrator Evald Okas) won the highest award at the All-Union competition of book art in 1966 - a diploma by Ivan Fedorov. Isn't it significant: the diploma of the first printer - for achievements in handwritten work.
K. Msyistr. A spread of a handwritten book. Gouache on paper, broad-nib pens
"O" of different widths in the same text. “What caused this by the norms of spelling or the peculiarities of the handwritten original has not yet been sufficiently studied,” noted A. Shitsgal69 “O” is the most common letter in the Russian language, “the most common”, according to the writer Boris Zhitkov. It is well known that most of the mistakes and errors occur precisely on frequently repeated and graphically inexpressive characters. It seems that Russian calligraphers understood this, “diluting” in a certain rhythmic sequence a string of narrow “O” letters with wide “O” letters *
Accelerate the reading process used in ancient handwritten
* Perhaps also, in this way the most astute scribes lengthened or shortened the lines, achieving an even margin on the right on the page.
ligature book. NI Piskarev dreamed of using them even in typographic fonts.
They are attracted by the mobility, liveliness of handwritten forms, which make it possible to vary the graphics of the letters and at the same time achieve a single ornamental rhythm for each line and the text as a whole; individuality, the novelty of a handwritten book, refreshing the eye (remember that the path from a typographic type project to typesetting boxes takes us years, sometimes decades) And finally, I am far from advising you to rewrite the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Modern calligraphers turn to short stories, fairy tales, collections of proverbs and sayings.
An excerpt from "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by A. Pushkin was rewritten with a broad-nib pen by I. A. Gusev (Fig. 210) Compare it with any typesetting page of the poem. Do you have to doubt what choice the reader will make?
Readability in our time is not always the only and main function of calligraphy. Sometimes it is relegated to secondary roles, if the figurative interpretation of the text is in the foreground. Then we are talking about written graphics, type illustration. This, it seems to me, can be seen in the example of sheets for the works of E. Poe "Sleeping" (Fig. 212) and "The Raven" (Fig. 213) Reusable, as sounding in a dream, the repetition of the same words, so characteristic of the poet's lyrics , - an attempt at a kind of emotional accompaniment to poems.
In many countries, a trend that is completely surprising for our time is gradually gaining strength: a calligrapher creates a completely hand-made work (up to independent paper making), without even thinking about replicating. Such exquisite things are made by order of lovers of rare books, given to friends or kept in their library to please both guests and oneself, or for an exhibition.
The handwritten book is impressive even in the layman's mind. In the 1920s, it happened that writers and poets stood behind the counter offering books of their poems, copied with their own hands.
A handwritten book is a great practice for a calligrapher. After making the choice of a literary work, you need to think about the format of the book. Here are poems about high-rise buildings, about a new building, and this, say, about a hippopotamus. Of the two options: elongated vertically and elongated horizontally - the latter is clearly preferable for a story about a clumsy animal.
The most pleasant and simple proportions of the page are: 1 2; 2 3; 3 4; 5: 8; 5 9.
One of the main elements of the book is the title page. The name of the author, the title of the book, place and year of publication are placed on it. A title occupies one page (one-page) or two adjacent (two-page) A two-page title can be a double-page or double-page title. In the swinging version, all the material is placed on two pages so that the right side serves as a continuation of the left.
Avant-title (a sheet in front of the title) most often duplicates the name of the work in small print, is occupied with decorative elements, a slogan or dedication, and is almost always desirable. A book without a title is like an apartment without a hallway: from the corridor you get directly into the bedroom or kitchen, bypassing the hallway.
The first page, on which the text begins, is highlighted with a drop cap, headband, or drawn down. To determine the margins, the larger side of the page is divided into 16 sections. Two parts are left on top, three on the right, one and a half on the left, and four on the bottom. On a spread of the book, the margins of two adjacent pages are three units. If you need to increase the area for the text, the same page is split into 20 parts.
Jan Tschichold spoke about the harmonious relationship between page and text sizes in a handwritten book in the study "Free from arbitrariness the ratio of book page and typesetting strips."
Correctly found fields adorn the book. If they are small, the text is “stuffy,” cramped in the sheet; great - the text drowns in them.
When the last page of the book is not completely filled with text, it is good to end it with a decorative element or drawing. In the old days, they acted even easier: they wrote "the end" or built a joke like a triangle like: "And I was there, drinking honey beer ..." This was how the semantic and graphic completeness of the story was achieved.
It is convenient to fold a homemade book like an accordion. It's simple and beautiful. Cover the block with a thicker and more color-matched paper, and the cover is ready. If your book is folded with a notebook, it is good to dress it in a super or make a double cover due to special flaps (bent ends) Do not fasten the sheets with wire staples, a needle and thread will do this job much better. Special
effects are achieved by special preparation of the trim. Tear off each sheet of the block separately by size, pressing it to the table with a metal ruler. Such a technique, of course, does not give the paper the illusion of hand-made, but emphasizes the handicraft, the uniqueness of the work. A smooth edge can be painted over on three or two sides with a suitable color or rubbed with "gold" powder.
Effectively beat the paper cover with an imitation of relief embossing * The monogram, the author's initials, for example, is appropriate here. Use a wide-pointed tool to write the letters on heavy cardboard. Cut them out with a sharp knife and, placing them under the cover, carefully pull the paper along the shape of the relief using a metal, well-sanded tool of a suitable size. If you soften the edges of the template with a knife beforehand, the embossing will be rounded.
It is customary to begin prototyping with preparatory sketches. After you have found the total masses of text, individual lines, headings, illustrations, drop caps, thoroughly study everything in a miniature layout. When the whole work is "folded", they develop in detail the composition of each page, estimate the font by weight, contrast, height, etc. It is useful to cut the text into separate lines, words, find the best layout option and glue the layout in full size.
Before lining up the sheets, prepare a ruler from a strip of paper, where the distance to the first line and all subsequent page layout are indicated. Lines are drawn with a pen (for example, a blunt awl) or a medium-hard pencil. Initially, for lowercase letters, four lines are required, showing the height of the body and the boundaries of the extension elements (upper and lower). Experienced scribes sometimes completely neglect the markup or get along with one line.
The ornament lives comfortably in the handwritten book. The wide nib provides a harmonious balance of thick and thin lines. For a long time, artists have shown a lot of invention and ingenuity in graphic decorations, achieving a holistic artistic appearance of the book.
It is tempting to illustrate the book yourself, but you can use the services of a graphic artist.
Hide your workpiece for a few days. If after a week or two there is no desire to make adjustments to the layout: change the spacing, the layout of the drop caps, decorative elements, revise the font parameters, etc., start writing cleanly.
* Embossing invented by the English engineer William Congreve.

CALLIGRAPHY IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Calligraphy, according to Hermann Zapf, is the most intimate, personal, spontaneous form of expression. Like a fingerprint or a voice, it is unique to each person.
The sparkling flourish of A.S. Pushkin, the morbidly refined handwriting of F.M.Dostoevsky, the impetuous, full of inner energy and strength of V.I.Lenin's manuscript will tell us about the personality of the writer and the state of mind at the moment of the creative process.
The letters exchanged between representatives of science and creativity of the Renaissance are now perceived as genuine works of art. An example of this is the autographs of Michelangelo, Petrarch ...
Handwriting, personal font is a kind of diagram, graphical formula of each person, "the geometry of the soul," as Plato said.
Beautiful, clear and legible writing is an essential feature of a culture of communication. Even during an ordinary conversation, we try to speak, if not beautifully, then at least understandably, moderately quickly, without whispering, without swallowing words and sounds. Alfred Fairbank's statement is often quoted, and it is so good that I turn to him again: “People want to speak not only clearly, but also with a sophisticated and
euphonious grace. In the same way, you need to write: the letter should be beautiful. In other words, writing should be treated as art ”72
K. Unfortunately, many suffer from graphic tongue-tied. Albert Capr believes that many letters remain unwritten because we are ashamed of our handwriting. In this sad confession (maybe subconsciously) there are also major notes. It's good to be shy. It is much worse when, with obvious pleasure, they give out such dashing scribbles.
The author of the famous Alice in Wonderland, writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll, in his little masterpiece Eight or Nine Tips on How to Write Letters, argued: “Most of the illegible writing around the world is simply too rushed. Of course, you answer: "I am in a hurry to save time." The goal, to be sure, is very worthy, but do you have the right to achieve it at the expense of your friend? Isn't his time as valuable as yours? " 73
Once, in a conversation with V.V. Lazursky, I expressed my admiration for his handwriting. “I write rather slowly, I am in no hurry,” the artist simply explained.
Other letters or business papers are completely unthinkable to read. They are trying to decipher them collectively, passing them from hand to hand, trying to make out each letter, guess word by word, by meaning. But Sultan-Ali Mashhadi taught: “Handwriting, which is known as clear, is an indication of good handwriting. A letter exists for the sake of being read, not for being helpless in reading it. ”74
People with good handwriting tend to work at their optimal speed. Having crossed the threshold of the maximum speed, anyone runs the risk of turning the letters into doodles. It is believed that a reasonable writing speed to aim for is around ninety characters per minute.
I'll tell you a case. A well-known foreign calligrapher spoke at the international symposium. The translator began to translate the report from the manuscript, but began to make mistakes, stammer and warned: "Don't expect an exact translation, the text is written anticlygraphically." The audience perked up. The speaker, apparently deciding that he had made some good joke, also smiled ... Later I became convinced that his handwriting is excellent, and the misunderstanding that occurred was precisely the result of the prohibitive speed of writing.
Many masters and teachers see the root of evil in a sharp feather. Even John Howard Benson strongly advocated the use of a wide-nib instrument, for with a sharp nib we "... write quickly, can be legible, but almost accurately, without enjoying the perfection of writing." ...
Founded in 1952 under the chairmanship of Alfred Fehrbank, the Italic Society attempted to introduce the use of a broad-nib pen in schools.
John Shyvers, Fellow of the Society of Type Designers and Portholes of England: “The Society is confident, and I share this opinion, that teaching Italian Italics from childhood can limit the deterioration in handwriting standards that we see today and instill respect for the art of type.” 76
But time goes on. The inkwell and its inseparable companion, the pen, have fallen into oblivion, are perceived as almost eccentricity. Resolutely displaced by a ballpoint pen, they found shelter in post offices. Of course, the possibilities of a wide and even sharp nib are not available to a ballpoint pen. There is no need to strive for this either. "Ball" is not a hindrance to beautiful handwriting. It all depends not on the instrument, but on whose hands it is! The graphics of the letters must correspond to the characteristics of the tool used.
Now calligraphers have split into two camps: some advocate a wide pen in everyday life, others (most of them) for a “disgraced ball”. And there's nothing you can do about it. Just as a balloon cannot replace a modern airliner, a wide or sharp pen cannot compete with a ballpoint pen in everyday life. Representatives of each of these directions have examples of both excellent and very mediocre writing patterns. How to be? There is no unequivocal solution to the issue here. As often happens, there is a golden mean in two seemingly mutually exclusive positions.
The formation of handwriting begins at school, and it would be important to start with the calligraphy, or rather, with the spelling: to study the letter forms and the patterns of their formation with a ballpoint pen. Calligraphy in schools canceled the "ball" does not stain, ink stains and blotting paper have sunk into oblivion
And the blots were so picturesque! Note: sometimes the pen vibrates - only splashes fly, and the calligrapher of the old leaven is in no hurry to scold the instrument. Moreover, he will aim well and a spot or two will also be specially planted. One thing distinguishes such a master from a student of my school years: he knows in what place, where and when and under what circumstances the blot will be appropriate. This small digression is aptly illustrated by the sketch of a diploma for graduates of the Tallinn font school, designed by Willa Yarmut (Fig. 245)
It is advisable to introduce the subject of font science into the school curriculum, to acquaint students with the main types of font, to give the first writing skills in the technique of a wide-end instrument.
The renowned artist and teacher Herrit Nordzei taught calligraphy to children between the ages of eight and ten. Nordzay noticed with what pleasure beginners write with a stick of white chalk (in the manner of a wide pen) on a black board, and this became one of the teaching methods. In the end, anything that is done willingly brings good results.
It so happened that there were two or three left-handers in the group, and this is a difficulty for the calligrapher. The Dutch teacher, a great enthusiast in his field, learned to write with his left hand, and only then, having won the trust of the children, he allowed himself to convince the left-hander of the success of his training.
In the exercises, the children's attention was focused on the problems, not the calligraphy. They did not require impeccably clear strokes from the children, but controlled the angle and inclination of the letter; allowed blots, but strictly followed the proportions of the letters, achieved an understanding of the logic of the broad-end instrument. This is also the method of John Biggs of England. During his apprenticeship, he believes, "the method of work, the process of thinking is more important than the finished work." 77
“We don’t know,” says Herrit Nordzay frankly, “if our children will write well when they grow up, but we are sure they will never forget that calligraphy contains very attractive features.”
The practice of a wide pen will facilitate the transition to calligraphic writing in design work in the future (how many schoolchildren can write an advertisement in a graphic and compositionally competent manner? higher education?)
In the GDR, England and some other countries, beautiful writing contests are held for schoolchildren. An example worthy of emulation.
Beautiful handwriting in everyday life is not the lot of every master of writing: you can perfectly master official or semi-official calligraphy and remain quite helpless when you need to clearly and quickly record the necessary information. And this is understandable: if the scribe, for some reason, did not have sufficient practice, such as taking notes, and did not develop fine coordination of small finger movements, where does good handwriting come from? And it also happens: the handwriting is a feast for the eyes, but a man will take up a poster pen and show a stunning bad taste
In any case, you should strive to follow the following tips:
1. Hold the handle correctly. Much depends on this, as in official calligraphy. In a small manual from the middle of our century, it is said that the handle should not be held tightly, but confidently and freely, like a living bird, which they are afraid to release and do not want to hurt. It is effectively said, but the word “afraid” is alarming. It indicates enslavement. The master holds the “bird” easily and confidently, without timidity, as if he was born with it in his hand.
2. Everyday handwriting involves linking letters in words, but this does not mean that all characters must be connected. Tearing the tool away from the paper makes it easier to move the hand horizontally, reduces fatigue, and makes writing easier to read.
3. One of the prerequisites for clear and legible handwriting is maintaining optimal writing speed.
The working handwriting is individual creativity, and here any experiments are legitimate. Most of the font innovations, it has long been known, were born under the feathers of ordinary clerks. Official calligraphy is conservative and adheres to the exact shape, rules and techniques of each letter. This is a rather slow and laborious craft. In ordinary handwriting, speed has always been a desirable quality, and accidental finds (take at least external elements) have become the property of not only handwritten, but also typographic type.
The passion for literary creation still exists. They write, for example, instead of "I" or "3" something reminiscent of Latin "S", "V" instead of "Ж", etc.
After the reform of 1918, in the Russian alphabet of three characters corresponding to the sound "and" ("...", "m", "* y"), "and" remained as the most often used according to the old spelling norms. Russian and Bulgarian, the only alphabets built on Greek and Latin graphic bases, have lost the letter "...". Perhaps we did not act in the best way, abandoning a kind of "indivisible brick" that is part of the overwhelming number of letters of the alphabet.
Albrecht Durer: "I will take as the first letter" i "for the reason that almost all letters can be made from it ...".
The use of "..." instead of "n" could have a beneficial effect on the readability of our everyday writing, where a kind of "palisade" is formed from "i", "t", "n" and elements of other letters, complicating the recognition of individual signs and making it difficult to read. This forces us to resort to special identification marks (superscripts or subscripts). They help to distinguish "t" from "silt".
The problem of "and decimal" ("...") is not new, and it is tempting to return it to the "state" of the Russian alphabet. The writer Lev Uspensky is still, by his own admission, tempted to sign with "...". Such is the strength of the habit of a good letter. True, the appearance of a single single-stamped letter is not logical. The legalized "..." would have dragged along at least one more one-stamped one, for example "..." (however, typographic fonts have already appeared where the lowercase "t" resembles the Latin "..." (g)
Promises to improve readability and speed up writing one more replacement ("l" for "...") This technique is often found in the manuscripts of V. Ts. Lenin.
For the purpose of experiment, I tried to use "...", "..." and "..." in everyday handwriting. I don’t think this is a bad example, but it turned out to be contagious. Students, especially in lectures, began to do the same. Attempts to read such notes by a wide variety of audiences, including schoolchildren, were successful. There were no difficulties or they disappeared after the first explanation.
Most professional scribes pay enough attention to everyday handwriting, seeing in it not only a way of fixing speech, but also an excellent tool for training the hand and eye. Many collect and analyze samples, transferring the most interesting finds into their works. Some type sheets by Hermann Zapf, Villa Toots, Gunnlaugur Brim, Herrit Nordsee and others are nothing more than everyday calligraphy, sometimes enlarged.
Household handwriting, with due respect, can turn into the most widespread form of graphic art.

NOTES
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INDEX OF NAMES OF EUROPEAN, AMERICAN CALLIGRAPHS
Alexander I (Canada) 147 (ill.), 152 (ill.)
Alexander R (Canada) 99 (ill.), 186 (ill.)
Anderson D (USA) 243
Ankere K. (Sweden) 58 (ill.), 146 (ill.), 228 (ill.)
Arrigi J1 (Italy) 23, 24 (ill.), 26, 89, 129-132, 243
Barbedor L (France) 29
A. Becker (USA) 193 (ill.)
Benson J. X (USA) 89, 129, 130 (ill.), 131, 225, 227, 243, 244 Berry K. (USA) 53 (ill.)
Bigs J. (England) 7, 33, 58 (ill.), 63, 128, 233, 242-244
Bickham J. (England) 29
Blazhei B. (Czechoslovakia), 155 (ill.)
Bogdesko I (USSR) 66 (ill.), 67, 105 (ill.), 136 (ill.), 206 (ill.), 209 (ill.)
Bosenko G. (USSR) 196 (ill.)
Bowden D (Belgium) 59 (ill.), 63, 134 (ill.), 135 (ill.), 153 (ill.)
Bowden P (Belgium) 53 (ill.), 117 (ill.), 240 (ill.)
Beauchen J. (France) 29
Brim G (Iceland) 7, 26, 48, 63, 119 (ill.), 177 (ill.), 185 (ill.), 198 (ill.), 241
Brand K. (Netherlands) 59 (ill.), 63, 72 (ill.), 133 (ill.), 163 (ill.), 178 (ill.)
Breeze K. (England) 47 (ill.), 119 (ill.)
Bayldon D. (England) 29
Vagin V. (USSR) 67, 207 (ill.), 208 (ill.)
Weiss E (Germany) 35
Velde J. van de (Netherlands)
Velyevich J. (Yugoslavia)
Wolpe B. (Germany) 36 Wolf A. (USA) 94-95 (ill.)
Wood D (Australia) 63, 167 (ill.), 168 (ill.), 172 (ill.)
Woodcock J. (England) 48, 105 (ill.), 107 (ill.), 136 (ill.), 154 (ill.), 157 (ill.) Gannushkin E. (USSR) * 01, 175, 243
Girwin T (USA) 170-171 (ill.), 181 (ill.), 195 (ill.)
Gray M (Canada) 220 (ill.)
Green D (USA) 78, 80, 176 (ill.), 211 (ill.), 236 (ill.)
Gulak V. (USSR) 67
Gurdi T (Scotland) 122 Gurskas A. (USSR) 67
Guseva I (USSR) 67, 145 (ill.), 175, 199 (ill.), 217, 222 (ill.)
Day S. (England) 48, 151 (ill.), 179 (ill.), 235 (ill.)
Delarue J. (France) 28
Deteric K. (Peru) 63, 144 (ill.), 150 (ill.)
Jackson D (England) 48, 63, 83, 230 (ill.)
Jackson M (Canada) 57 (ill.), 102 (ill.), 234 (ill.)
Johnston E (England) 26, 31, 32 (ill.), 32-36, 189, 242, 243 Dobrovinsky E 64-65 (ill.), 67, 78, 120 (ill.) (USSR)
Douglas R (USA) 126 (ill.), 127 (ill.), 128, 129
Duke E van (Netherlands) (ill.), 87 (ill.)
Isiar X de (Spain) 23, 28
Jonsson T (Iceland) 114 (ill.), 115 (ill.)
Kaasik A. (USSR) 67
Capr A. (Germany) 12, 39, 40 (ill.), 40, 44 (ill.), 73 (ill.), 139 (ill.), 225, 242,244
P. Kennedy (USA) 134 (ill.)
Kersna H. (USSR) 67
Kivikhal X (USSR) 67
E. Kogan (USSR) 67
Corger X (Germany) 154, 182, 243
Koh R (Germany) 34-36, 37 (ill.), 68 (ill.), 242
Kratki L (Czechoslovakia) (ill.), 180 (ill.), 185 (ill.)
Credel F. (Germany) 35, 36
Kusik R (USA) 50 (ill.), 51 (ill.), 203 (ill.), 204-205 (ill.), 231 (ill.)
Lazursky V. (USSR) 7, 33, 71, 74 (ill.), 75, 189, 225, 242, 243
Larish R (Austria) 34, 35 (ill.), 35
Larcher J. (France) 10 (ill.), 63, 138 (ill.), 140 (ill.), 172, 173 (ill.), 219 (ill.)
Laurenti L. (Sweden) 166 (ill.)
Lausmäe E (USSR) 16-17 (ill.), 62 (ill.), 67
Leganer G. (France) 29
Lemoine J. (France) 124
Liiberg S. (USSR) 67
Lindegren E. (Shvetsir) 63, 242, 243
Lucas F. (Spain) 23, 28
Lukhtein P (USSR) 7, 61 (ill.), 67, 132, 137, 208 (ill.), 212 (ill.),
214-215 (ill.), 242
Mavrina T. (USSR) 86 (ill.), 97 (ill.), 110-111 (ill.)
Macdonald B. (Ang- 7, 89, 243 lia)
Maltin V. (USSR) 218 ​​(ill.)
Mantoa R (USSR) 67
Mardersteig J. 14, 71, 75 (ill.) (Italy)
Matro J1 (France) 27 (ill.), 29
Meister K. (Austria) 78, 82 (ill.), 191 (ill.), 200 (ill.)
Mengart O. (Czechoslovakia) (ill.), 71, 76
Mercator G de (Nieder-23, 29 lanes)
Missant F. (Belgium) 100 (ill.)
Moranto P D 27 (ill.), 28 (Spain)
Morris W (England) 31, 61
Myagar R. (USSR) 67, 96 (ill.), 101, 108 (ill.)
Neugebauer F. 48, 52 (ill.), 63, 135 (ill.), 158 (ill.), 221 (ill.) (Austria)
Joyderfer I Elder 25 (ill.), 28, 80 (Germany)
Nordsey X (Netherlands), 112 (ill.), IZ, 226 (ill.), 233, 241, 244
Palatino J. 23, 26, 79 (Italy)
Palmiste E (USSR) 67
Pao D. (Hong Kong) 96 (ill.), 190 (ill.)
V. Pertsov (USSR) 67, 213 (ill.)
Pillsbury J. 43 (ill.), 183 (ill.) (England)
Ch. Pierce (England) 48, 59 (ill.), 63, 78, 234 (ill.)
Pozharsky S. (USSR) 137, 162 (ill.), 178
Pronenko L (USSR) 83 (ill.), 88 (ill.), 117 (ill.), 118 (ill.), 141 (ill.), 201 (ill.), 202 (ill.), 216 (ill.) .), 243
Purik V. (USSR) 67
Reeveer P (USSR) 67
Rice I (England) 48
Salnikova I (USSR) 67, 90 (ill.), 116 (ill.)
Saltz I (USA) 112 (ill.), 179 (ill.)
J. Welden (USA) 129, 147, 243
Semchenko P. (USSR) 67, 164 (ill.), 182 (ill.), 184 (ill.), 185, 239 (ill.) Simons A. (Germany) 32, 35, 242 Smirnov S. (USSR) 71, 98 (ill.), 242
Stevens J. (USA) 152 (ill.), 156 (ill.), 166 (ill.), 191 (ill.), 193 (ill.) Stutman N (USA) 44 (ill.), 47 (ill.) )
Tagliente J.A. 23, 71 (Italy)
Telingater S. (USSR) 67, 80, 91 (ill.), 147, 243 Timan V. (Germany) 35, 67
Toots V. (USSR) 7, 20 (ill.), 22 (ill.), 26, 34, 48, 60 (ill.), 63, 83, 92 (ill.), 124, 132, 138 (ill.) ), 143 (ill.), 146, 161 (ill.), 174 (ill.), 187, 192 (ill.), 200, 210 (ill.), 241-243
Toast R (Germany) 63, 160 (ill.), 169 (ill.)
Waters W (USA) 41 (ill.), 44 (ill.), 46 (ill.), 61
U. Waters (USA) 56 (ill.), 86 (ill.)
Fatekhov V. (USSR) 67, 178 (ill.)
Furbank A. (England) 92, 93 (ill.), 124, 224, 227
Fisher T (USA) 101, 243
Fleus G (England) 192 (ill.)
Folsom R. (USA) 51 (ill.), 238 (ill.)
Forsberg K.-E 68, 69 (ill.), 71, 76 (Sweden)
Francesco da Bologna 71 (Francesco Griffo) (Italy)
Freeman P. (USA) 83 Fugger W. (Germany) 28 Hechl E (England) 45 (ill.)
Holiday P (England) 153 (ill.), 172, 173 (ill.)
Horlbeck-Köppler I 54-55 (ill.), 63 (Germany)
Hofer K. (Germany) 48, 71, 73 (ill.), 76, 94-95 (ill.), 106 (ill.), 229 (ill.) Zapf G. (Germany) 26, 36, 38 (ill.) .), 39, 48, 72 (ill.), 76, 113, 148-149 (ill.),
189, 224, 241-244 Child X. (England) 40, 42 (ill.), 124, 131, 243 Chobitko P. (USSR) 67 Shyvers J. (England) 39, 40, 227, 242, 244 Schindler B . (Czechoslovakia)
Schneider V. (Germany) 48, 102, 103 (ill.), 104 (ill.), 142 (ill.)
Schneidler E (Germany) 39, 70 (ill.), 71, 76
Show P (USA) 7, 50 (ill.), 53 (ill.), 63, 78, 139 (ill.), 181 (ill.), 216 (ill.), 232 (ill.)
Schumann G (Germany) 63, 84 (ill.), 109 (ill.)
Evans J. (USA) 48-49 (ill.), 78, 81 (ill.), 86 (ill.)
Yager N J. (USA) 242 Yakovlev Al-dr (USSR) 144 (ill.)
Yakovlev Anat. (USSR) 66 (ill.), 67
Yarmut V. (USSR) 67, 99 (ill.), 101, 183, 194 (ill.), 227, 238 (ill.)

Tyk, tyk, tyk ... Do you hear? These are our fingers tapping on the keyboard of a laptop or smartphone. We are typing SMS, typing a post and, it seems, are completely banishing handwritten letters from our lives. But handwriting is great exercise. Develops concentration, attention and relieves stress.

It's so good that we have calligraphy. Beautiful letters. Refined lines. Delightful lettering. You can master it yourself. We have just released a copybook for calligraphy and cursive writing in Cyrillic. "A" and "B" in all their glory.

Think your handwriting is not good enough? Time to fix it →

Cyrillic beauty

Yes, it's easy to get your phone out and fill in a note. But calligraphy is more than just writing down information. It's art therapy and fun. Let's not deny ourselves it.

For some, calligraphy is a meditation that helps to find peace of mind. For some - creative recharging. And for some it is a way to multiply design forces. An inexhaustible source of beauty and self-improvement.

P.S .: Subscribe to our creative books mailing list. Be the first to know about discounts and get the best excerpts from the books. We send only the most interesting.

Evgeniy

A team of teachers - activists of the public organization "Parent All-Russian Resistance" (RVS) - at the request of parents dissatisfied with the existing teaching methods in elementary school, adapted to modern realities and republished in 2016 the textbook "Arithmetic" for grade 1 by the authors A.S. Pchelko and G.B. Pole.

Why Pchelko's textbook? Read the review that we, the Vladimir branch of the RVS, received from a highly qualified primary school teacher - Raikova Larisa Nikolaevna, and which we publish today with her kind permission, and you will immediately understand why. + Textbook "Arithmetic" for grade 1 in 2- x parts / - "New edition" / RVS, 2016 Before me lies the textbook "Arithmetic" for the 1st grade by the authors A.S. Pchelko and G.B. Pole. I turn over the pages and feel: it blows with something dear, kind and very familiar. I catch myself thinking that this is the smell of childhood, and vivid pictures of the wonderful school life of a Soviet first-grader pop up in my memory. I don’t remember which mathematics textbooks we studied in grade 1 in 1976, but for some reason the pictures from “Arithmetic” create the feeling that I saw it once upon a time ... + As a teacher with 29 years of experience in teaching in elementary school I can say that the textbook "Arithmetic" by A.S. Pchelko (hereinafter TEXTBOOK) is sustained in the best traditions of the Soviet classical school and is aimed at ensuring that children form a solid arithmetic base, which would further contribute to the development of a child's successful mathematical education. The secret of the textbook is not in simplicity, but in accessibility, gradual presentation of the material. Someone will say that this textbook is primitive for modern children. I can argue about this: who said that our children require difficulties, into which we plunge them from the first days of school life, pronouncing abstruse words and introducing the child into an incomprehensible world of abstract terminology for him? We, adults, for some reason decided for the children that the more a new child learns in a lesson, the smarter he will become? Is this so? ... + It is no secret that sometimes, in order to achieve high results, elementary means and techniques are required, and not something "above and beyond." So this TEXTBOOK is able to help children achieve significant success in the study of mathematical sciences, because learning in it is based on the existing experience of children and in accordance with the mental and physiological development of children. It is also very literate that the authors skillfully use the visual-figurative thinking of first-graders and place an emphasis not only on the clarity of the textbook, but also on the objects and phenomena that surround the child in everyday life. And tasks of the type: "Show as many sticks as drawn sacks", "Put as many circles as drawn cucumbers", "Draw as many as ...", "Make such a figure out of sticks ..." not only diversify the lesson, but make it active and activity, increase the motivational aspect of learning, reduce the threshold of fatigue in younger students. + THE TEXTBOOK is quite saturated with tasks that from lesson to lesson become more complicated from simple to complex, which allows in practice to implement the principle of accessibility “from simple to complex”. All task texts are based on the child's life experience and contain great potential for the implementation of the educational side in lesson activities, for example: "Brother helped his sister make sticks for counting ..." - mutual assistance, help to a friend, cooperation, friendship, etc., or “There were 4 birches in the clearing, the same number were planted in the fall…” - ecology, hard work, gardening, respect for nature, etc. Students gradually learn to solve problems, reason, prove the correctness of a solution, compose inverse problems, abstract and explain help with mathematical terms. The TEXTBOOK is a really good tool and in the hands of an experienced teacher can make a serious breakthrough in the formation of mathematical education of primary schoolchildren and become a worthy competitor for other textbooks in mathematics, but ... there is one point that may worry some: how will the geometric base of younger students be formed? After all, all kinds of control, independent and verification work include geometric material? For myself, I would certainly find the answer, because it is possible to form the geometric component of mathematical education not only in the classroom, but also in extracurricular activities, which is an integral part of the implementation of the Federal State Educational Standard of the LEO, therefore, I would gladly offer the children the optional "Visual Geometry" by T.V. Zhiltsova and A.A. Obukhova. + In conclusion, I would like to say: + "Dear" ARITHMETIC "! Welcome to modern school! " L.N. Raikova, teacher of the highest qualification category MBOU "Secondary School No. 1 named after Hero of the Soviet Union N.P. Kamanin " Melenki Vladimir region+ Listen also to what those who worked on the revival of "Arithmetic", with the goal of reviving classical education in our country, told about this textbook at a presentation seminar held on 20.10.2016 in Dubna. The video can be viewed at this link.

And to read the speech of one of the project participants - according to this. + Of course, the RVS enthusiasts, who dream of returning classical domestic education to the Russian school, are not going to dwell on one textbook. At present, intensive work is underway to prepare for the publication of the entire range of textbooks for primary schools. Its results can be found on the RVS website. As V.V. Mayakovsky, "the work of hell will be done and is already being done." If you are heartbroken for the education of our children, join us. The work is carried out on a voluntary basis. + Galina Solovyova, RVS