You’re Allowed To Learn Calligraphy Slowly
When I first started learning calligraphy, I think part of me expected my hand to already know what to do because my brain understood the instructions. Upstroke, light pressure. Downstroke, heavy pressure. Easy, I can do that. My hand apparently did not get the memo.
Holding the brush pen for the first time felt awkward. My hand was shaky and I was trying to remember everything at once, my instructor, Becca told us in the training video. Remember to hold the pen at a 45-degree angle. Eventually, I had to tell myself, “Felecia, breathe. Slow down.”
Maybe you've had that moment too. You understand what you're supposed to do. You can see exactly how the stroke or letter should look. But somehow your hand isn't doing what your brain is telling it to do. Give your hand time. It's learning too.
Some Things Take More Time
You may need extra practice sheets. You may need to re-watch the lesson. You might even have to go back to a foundational stroke you thought you already knew. That doesn't mean you're falling behind. I’m going on my second month of learning calligraphy. I wrote something in another blog post that I wholeheartedly believe, “My way of learning will probably be different than yours, and there's nothing wrong with that.”
Maybe you need one practice sheet. Maybe I need five. Someone else might need ten or like myself, I needed 20 to learn the letter “x”. Your pace is your pace. The goal isn't to learn calligraphy as quickly as possible. The goal is to learn.
One Good Stroke Still Counts
Have you ever looked at an entire practice sheet and immediately noticed everything single stroke or letter was wrong? That’s what happened to me with Ovals, the hardest foundational stroke to learn. Every single oval was wrong except for one.
My response? I'll take that win. A win is a win. Sometimes progress really is one good stroke on a messy practice sheet. Circle that, baby. That's your evidence that something is starting to click. If you can get one right, you can get two right and so on and so on.
Give Your Hand Time
Some letters will come easily to you. Others may have you wondering what in the hell is my hand doing? There isn't a magical moment when suddenly everything about calligraphy makes sense. Your hand needs time to learn what you're asking it to do. Take another day. Use another practice sheet. Go back to the foundational strokes. Put the pen down and come back tomorrow if you need to. None of those things mean you're bad at calligraphy. They're part of learning calligraphy.
There is no prize for learning the fastest. You don't have to keep up with another calligrapher. You don't have to reach the next lesson by a certain date. You don't have to rush your beginning just because you're excited to see the ending. Give it time. You're allowed to learn calligraphy slowly.
-Felecia