Can you do brush lettering or Calligraphy with bad handwriting
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You are wanting to get into calligraphy or any other type of lettering and you start to wonder but I have bad handwriting. Can you do calligraphy with bad handwriting?
You start to second guess yourself and thinking oh no I can’t do Calligraphy because of how bad my handwriting is.
Well…
That is a myth. There is no such thing. Calligraphy and all lettering is an art and everyone has their own style. Having bad handwriting doesn’t matter in lettering it is just about creating art with letter illustrations.
Now I am going to talk about:
- Is hand-lettering hard to learn with bad handwriting
- Can learning calligraphy improve handwriting
- How can I teach myself brush lettering with bad handwriting
Is Hand-Lettering Hard to Learn with Bad Handwriting
So I have told you that of course, you can create awesome beautiful lettering with bad handwriting. Now you might be wondering is it going to be harder than for someone who has nice handwriting.
Well in general if you have two people (one with bad handwriting and one with good handwriting) they are both are going to have to learn the same skills and they are both going to struggle. So, no having bad handwriting skills will not make it harder to master lettering than it already is.
You might not think about it but everyone is going to struggle with something that has to deal with lettering because it is different than how you would regularly write.
To be honest it is going to be hard for all people to be able to master the art of lettering. They will probably have different styles (in general everyone does) but they will both struggle to learn the basics because it is not like normal writing.
So don’t feel down if you are having a hard time learning calligraphy because someone is probably having the same struggles as you.
Can Learning Calligraphy Improve your Hand Writing?
So you read everything above and now your thinking so will I still be able to do Calligraphy but by any chance will it improve my handwriting.
Think About it?
Calligraphy is harder to master than regular handwriting skills. Imagine a runner training for a race. Some would put on weights on their ankles for training. Once they are used to this hardcore workout (you could say) it would be easier for them to win the race.
Same thing with calligraphy and your handwriting skills (to some extent). If you are challenging yourself to learning calligraphy it is going to be more challenging than improving your handwriting.
So if you get down your lettering fundamentals, of course, it is also somewhat going to improve your handwriting. But at the same time lettering is different than just writing with a pencil on paper. You are holding your utensils differently, using different papers, and etc.
Don’t be subjected to think that if you practice modern calligraphy that your handwriting is going to improve.
How can I teach myself Brush Lettering With Bad Handwriting
You have read everything wondering if I could really learn how to letter and become a master at it. So right now I am just going to go through the basics of brush lettering with Bad hand writhing (to be honest I would give this advice even if you had beautiful handwriting).
Let’s get started…
The first thing I would like for you to do is to practice the fundamental strokes. Here is a link to another post on How Long it takes to master Calligraphy. At the end of the post, I share the fundamentals strokes of lettering.
But here is a quick overview of what they are:
- Upstrokes
- Down strokes
- Under turn
- Overturn
- Compound Curve
- Ascending Loop
- Descending Loop
- Oval
If you have no idea how to do these things, you are going to struggle. If you start practicing without these fundamentals you are doing calligraphy wrong. That is just how it is.
So practice the way you’re supposed to practice. Don’t just go off everything that comes into your head, learn the fundamentals.
That is literally my number one pro tip but let me just get onto some other things.
Materials:
In brush lettering, there is the number one thing you might be thinking of using A BRUSH PEN.
Just want to put out there is that you don’t have to have a brush pen or a dip pen to do calligraphy.
Here are two of the main articles that shows you how to do exactly just that.
Any way for beginners hear the top brush pens I would recommend you to use
I have just come out with full tutorials on how to use both of these brush pens.
This is the tombow dual brush pen.
And this one is the tutorial on the fudenosuke.
Quick Tip: Use smooth paper when doing calligraphy. I really recommend using any type of marker pad. I explained a little bit more in this tutorial.
Why Are Your Brush Pens Fraying.
Also, get a ruler and a pencil it is great for just drawing out simple guidelines.
Conclusion
So now you know that even if you have the worst handwriting on this earth, you will still be able to create amazing lettering art.
It is about creating your own lettering illustrations and having your own unique style.
If people tell you that you can’t ever become a lettering artist because you have bad handwriting don’t listen to them. Just practice, come up with your own style, and you will get there.