Day 15: Getting Comfortable With the Basics | Upstrokes & Downstrokes
(Left) Upstroke & Downstroke Practice Sheet (Right) Second week practice sheet. (Credit Becca C. Rafter) @ The Happily Every Crafter for both practice sheets.
Going on my third week of learning calligraphy. I'm going to make a video about the class I'm taking shortly and review the 30-day free class, which I'm loving more and more each day. You can see above the practice sheets has intensified from WEEK 2 to WEEK 3. The tracing part is less and the freehand is more prominent. This practice session went really well. The Upstroke and Downstroke combination for the past 2 weeks literally had me in tears.
The last line is the Upstroke and Downstroke combination. The strokes that are checked show that I did them correctly. Last week, I had my meltdown. I had been trying to get that stroke to stop looking like baby cobras and became overwhelmed and took my frustration out on my pen and paper.
Well, this week, there is a change in the air. In the pictures below, you can see from last week to this week, I was able to finally get a few of the Upstroke and Downstroke combinations correctly. I am so happy. It took patience, meltdown, and a lot of practice.
For me, what made the difference to doing the stroke correctly was to go slow. I mean break it down to a sloth, moving in action slow. I didn't use tracing. I did it all freehand. The 45-degree angle here is very important. It's what gives your pen the flexibility to do this difficult stroke.
Also, I printed out the blank practice sheets that came with the book. So, I can really improve my calligraphy. I want to wean myself from tracing by the end of the week or sooner. I also have been switching back and forth between the soft tip green brush pen and the blue hard tip brush pen. As Becca, my instructor said, it's always good to know both pens and I agree.
I hope you're enjoying the blog. If there's anything you want to write about or any questions please let me know in the comments section. I will end this post with this. If no one has told you this today, I'm proud of you for sticking with something that's challenging. Whether it's learning calligraphy, writing, ceramics or painting takes patience, persistence, and courage. Keep practicing, keep believing, and keep creating. Your best creative days are still ahead of you.