Calligraphy

[colrehogan]

I just looked at caliken's website and that looks quite well done. My only experience with 'calligraphy' is in my Chinese ink painting class. That was done with a brush and ink ground from a stick. I need a lot of practice with that.

 

Diane

[Struthious]

.....my handwriting is quite hideous and often illegible many times, yet I also do formal calligraphy, and see it as an entirely different form of expression.

If an individual's handwriting is "hideous and often illegible", then he/she is incapable of formal calligraphy.

 

The two disciplines are inextricably linked.

 

caliken

 

I think I'd have to temper that a little; I imagine someone who has poor everyday writing may well practise calligraphy - they will perhaps do it far more slowly than they write, and the results may not be up to professional standard, but they are doing it all the same, and good for them in attempting the task in the first place. beak.

 

Hey Caliken and Beak,

I'll agree on that in terms of roundhand, ornamental flourishes, etc. but if you look closely at what's involved with medieval calligraphy, the strokes and their relationship to one another, wouldn't you say it's more about drawing (primarily) straight and often simple linear shapes albeit in a complex arrangement?

 

I'm going to think about that. I mean, all of it requires fine motor skills and eye/hand coordination, but certainly some styles of calligraphy are less challenging in terms of motor skills than others.

 

Hey everyone,

What do you think?

[Belles-lettres]

Good to see the side discussion - I no longer feel like a freak. My daily handwriting is slightly below horrible, my formal writing passable and medieval calligraphy not too bad. Delighted to see that I am not alone.

[Raiche58]

For what it's worth, I like seeing the spectrum cheek-by-jowl in the same forum. Penmanship seems broad enough to keep everything under one tent.

[kenmc]

There doesn't seem to be enough posts in this forum much less seperate it. Plus, I'd suspect that some posts would end up being in the wrong place - or both! I get email notifications of posts here and I'm surely not overwhelmed.

I'm sure wanting a Calligraphy sub forum is "working on a dead horse" considering there are probably more Lamy users on FPN than any other makes, and there doesn't seem to be a need for a Lamy forum. :bonk: But I gues I digress!

[Ghost Plane]

Argh! Not the Lamy dead horse! Don't make the mods don their kilts and come in here.

[Skyclad]

Calligraphy is a form of penmanship so it should have a subform.

I agree with this

 

 

However if a designated Calligraphy forum would attract more people to the forum to share their work then I would be all for it.

I think that would be very possible if it went in that direction.

[MrMGWard]

If I wanted to post a picture of some calligraphy I created, I would post it in the Penmanship forum... Being a poster/lurker/huge fan of the FPN for a few years tells me that a sub-forum is pointless.

[Skyclad]

I don't understand why people say a Calligraphy sub-forum would be pointless. It is a very specific form and style of penmanship. It would be an extremely useful sub-forum and make finding anything Calligraphy based very easy to find instead of having to search through pages and pages of the penmanship forum or having to use search.

[Maurizio]

I first voted yes for calligraphy, but after reading Caliken's comments, I've been persuaded to agree with him. I agree that for those of us who enjoy and appreciate the spectrum of handwriting from "nice" handwriting up through formal calligraphy, it is better to try to spread appreciation for these arts by lumping them under the broad umbrella of "Penmanship" within which we can also discuss the fine points of calligraphy. I'm not sure that the elitist element - to the extent that that phenomena exists - would repel more people than it would attract, some people like exclusive clubs, but I agree with what I think is Caliken's main point that we should try to increase general appreciation for writing in all its forms from everyday handwriting through calligraphy by being as inclusive as possible so that the curious, the casual user, the dabbler may decide to jump in and join the conversation, buy a fountain pen and maybe a calligraphy pen, and start on the path to enjoyment of a lifelong hobby or more and thus becoming another member of the ranks of pen, ink & paper lovers. I thus changed my vote to no.

 

"He who practices the art of calligraphy will never be bored."

 

Herman Zapf

Edited February 16, 2011 by Maurizio

[Bronze]

There is also the possibility of keeping one forum and calling it the:

 

Penmanship/Calligraphy forum.

 

 

The name of this forum isn't of any great importance to me, but I do think that the word calligraphy is the better known word, maybe especially for beginners. And I would like to see as many people as possible come here and share their work.

[Miranda]

There is also the possibility of keeping one forum and calling it the:

 

Penmanship/Calligraphy forum.

 

 

ah, yes! The simple solution to the complex problem.

 

I would prefer Penmanship & Calligraphy. Better still if we can get one of those flashy ampersands!

[beak]

There is also the possibility of keeping one forum and calling it the:

 

Penmanship/Calligraphy forum.

 

 

ah, yes! The simple solution to the complex problem.

 

I would prefer Penmanship & Calligraphy. Better still if we can get one of those flashy ampersands!

(my emphasis)

+1

Magic! This is it for me.

[epo]

It's a vocabulary issue, if the reader doesn't understand that penmanship is where calligraphy topics are most likely to be found then they have other issues. The *first* pinned topic even mentions the word calligraphy

 

What next? Call it "Penmanship/calligraphy/joined up writing" for those who don't recognise the first 2 terms?

Edited February 21, 2011 by epo

[beak]

Sorry, changing my mind; penmanship & calligraphy could imply that they are two different things, penmanship / calligraphy avoids that issue.

[Skyclad]

I'm still a very firm believer that Calligraphy should have its own sub-forum here. Calligraphy is a very specific form and style of handwriting. So much so that it even has it's own type of writing instruments for it.

 

With Calligraphy being just lumped in with the general penmanship topic's, one has to go through the hassle of doing a search, and very possibly resurrecting old threads. The bad thing of having to do a search is that said person may find a thread that has noting to do with Calligraphy with the exception that someone may have said somewhere in one post "..and calligraphy is also nice as well.."

 

I also believe that with having a Calligraphy sub-forum, it will draw in more interest to the craft as well as keeping Calligraphy topic's neat, organized and easy to find.

[ewhipple]

I am a beginner, and it has seemed to me so far that the terms "handwriting" and "calligraphy" may have a clear, formal difference in meaning (one is written, the other is drawn, right?), but the forum topics aren't so readily classified. They seem to overlap extensively in intent, application, and inspiration.

 

To me, both arts are interesting to read about and pleasing to look at. I can always just skip a topic if it doesn't grab me. It would be too bad if I missed something because it was in "that other forum".

 

I am currently reading through Bickham's Universal Penman, and it appears that, although handwriting is the principal topic, there is a liberal sprinkling of calligraphy all through it. The best penmen of the day apparently didn't think the two needed to be held strictly separate, even in a teaching context.

 

If I were to post a new topic to ask whether those extra ornaments that stretch out some lines so the margin will be smooth are a good idea, which forum would it belong in, penmanship or calligraphy?

[Ann Finley]

If I were to post a new topic to ask whether those extra ornaments that stretch out some lines so the margin will be smooth are a good idea, which forum would it belong in, penmanship or calligraphy?

 

Good point!

 

I'm closing this poll now, as it's getting some age on it. Thanks, all for participating!

Ann