In an age of myriad computer fonts and instant communication, your handwriting style is increasingly a very personal creation. In this book, Margaret Shepherd, America's premier calligrapher, shows you that calligraphy is not simply a craft you can learn, but an elegant art form that you can make your own.
Calligraphy remains perennially popular, often adorning wedding invitations, diplomas, and commercial signs. Whether it is Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Bookhand, or Italic style, calligraphy conveys class and elegance. Margaret Shepherd makes this ancient art form accessible in a completely hand-lettered technical guide that will:
* Provide context for calligraphy as an art, exploring the rich tradition of hand-lettering and mapping the evolution of the most popular styles.
* Give detailed technical advice on choosing pens, paper, and inks, setting up your workspace, mastering various pen angles, along with step-by-step illustrations to guide you as you practice.
* Explain which alphabets are appropriate for different forms of writing. For example, the Roman alphabet works well for short, unpunctuated passages, while the Italic alphabet is more suited to informal everyday communication.
* Encourage you to personalize your lettering by using variant strokes and interpreting how you would like the words to look on the page.
* Inspire you with carefully chosen illustrations and examples, which bring letters to life.
In Margaret Shepherd's own words, "Calligraphy trains not only your eye and hand, but your mind as well."
Learn Calligraphy is the authoritative primer for this age-old craft, and will help develop a new appreciation for lettering as you discover your creative personality.
To Margaret Shepherd, handwriting is much more than a tool for communication and record keeping; it's an expression of your personality, and in the case of calligraphy, a way to create art. So while computer fonts streamline our signage and correspondence, calligraphy is re-emerging as a cherished technique that gives the ultimate personal touch. Shepherd's classic, but now out-of-print 1978 primer, Learning Calligraphy, sold more than 250,000 copies and introduced thousands of people to this elegant art form. Now, with Learn Calligraphy, she brings a fresh and modern sensibility to the world of calligraphy, inviting a whole new generation to master the techniques. She has also refined her Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Italic, and Bookhand. Through gorgeous hand-lettering, Learn Calligraphy guides readers step-by-step in the subtle movements required to perfect each letter. Offering comprehensive lessons and advice for choosing alphabets appropriate for different moods, messages, and media, Shepherd encourages variant strokes to personalise lettering and create true art. She describes everything from choosing the correct pen nib to finding an angle that is both comfortable and graceful.
Along the way, she discusses intriguing details about calligraphers throughout the ages, from ancient Rome to the Renaissance. Accessible and inspiring, Learn Calligraphy opens a creative new world of beauty through typography to novices and experts alike. With an impressive roster of high-profile clients, calligrapher Margaret Shepherd is the author of thirteen books for calligraphers of all levels. She is also a researcher and teacher, and her work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries. Shepherd lives in Boston.
