The Ultimate Calligraphy Course

The course is made for absolute beginners with no prior knowledge at all as I’ll be covering everything from the ground up. Even though this course is beginner friendly, it doesn’t stop as just a basics class. The lessons are progressive ie. we’ll be acquiring more theoretical knowledge over the weeks and tackling increasingly advanced topics. Lessons are bite-sized and systematic, so as it gets harder, you’re in safe hands as I’ll guide you step by step along the way so that the learning curve for you is gradual (but never plateauing). Intermediate practitioners are welcomed to take this course as well; I’ve had calligraphy workshop teachers learn from my classes and they picked up a lot of new and valuable info too!

As an artist myself, there's no such thing as "enough supplies" cause I want to try everything and anything new that's launching! But, primarily, we'll be using the Pentel Touch (fine tip) brush pen for this course and I'll also provide a PDF resource checklist (with clickable product links) that showcases a list of all the supplies you can possibly get (from brush pens, calligraphy inks, paper, other handy tools of various brands), along with its individual info as the answer to "what is the best tool?" really depends on the type of project you're working on (don't worry, I'll explain this in class!) Essentially, one fine tip brush pen (e.g. Pentel Touch/ Tombow Fude/ Zig Mangaka Flexible), writing pad + access to a printer to print out all the worksheets - and you're good to go. Anything extra is up to the individual! Materials are not provided along with this course purchase. However, if you'd like me to prepare and send a kit to you, please purchase the optional add-on.

While the proposed course completion is 6 weeks and students have seen success in the course after just 1-2 weeks of lessons, there's absolutely no rush to complete the course ASAP. Creative endeavours should be seen as a marathon, not a sprint. So I encourage you to go at your own pace, even if that means an hour a week. The speed for completing the course is irrelevant, what's more important here is CONSISTENCY! This helps in building momentum in our learning journey. Once you're enrolled, you'll get INSTANT FULL ACCESS to all lessons. You may watch and rewatch lessons as many times as you’d like in future.

If you’re someone who’s a self-motivated learner, the full course would suffice. After teaching for many years, I’ve seen and provided solutions for various common problems my students face. So in all the video lessons, common mistakes are always addressed with accompanying solutions so you’d know how to spot and rectify mistakes in your work. If you’re unsure of anything, feel free to ask in the Facebook group and I’d be readily available to help! If you’re someone who needs more hand-holding, especially if you’d like eyes on your work and practice, I’d recommend the one-to-one coaching tier. I’ll provide in-depth feedback on your work and suggest actionable steps so you know what to improve and work on. If you're still unsure, you may opt for without coaching first and if you'd like coaching sessions halfway through or anytime in the future, you may sign up for the coaching upgrade as an add-on arrangement.

This is a very valid question but to me, as calligraphy itself is a skill, whether you're using a dip pen or brush pen - it’s just a matter of the tools used. You can achieve formal script (e.g. copperplate) and freestyle writing (e.g. modern calligraphy) with either of the two mediums/ tools - dip pen or brush pen, though the former is more commonly associated with formal script and the latter with freestyle writing. I’ve no objections to learning dip pen calligraphy before brush calligraphy, as that was how I started as well. Given my experience, it’ll be a lot easier to make a transition from brush calligraphy to pointed pen calligraphy as the latter requires juggling 2 things at a time - learning the tools AND the writing itself. You’ll experience a steeper learning curve that way. That said, in this course, you’ll be learning BOTH formal script and freestyle and all notes given in class can be used with BOTH dip pen and brush pen. Pre-course resources include information on pointed pen calligraphy inks and types too. In the video lessons, though I'll be demonstrating using the brush pen - whenever there's a difference in *execution* between a brush pen vs dip pen, I'll point them out in that individual lesson/ scenario so that you know what the specific differences are e.g. I'll show you how to get square cut offs with both pointed pen and brush pen (yes it's not impossible!). After mastering the brush pen, you can absolutely venture into pointed pen and implement all the lessons learnt with the current course curriculum.

Nice handwriting is a nice plus to have, but not a requirement at all. If you’re someone who is worried that bad handwriting = possibly bad calligraphy, this is a huge misconception! For me, I’ve terrible handwriting and can “switch” via muscle memory to execute a beautiful script regardless. Calligraphy is very systematic, and I break it all down to straightforward, easy to digest concepts for easy implementation. With clarity and practice, you'll get it in no time.

Have no worries, there's some pointers that apply to left-handers only and that would be covered in class! I have taught several left-handed students before who have found success in rectifying past concerns after gaining clarity from the lessons, so you'll be in good hands!

I've always believed in working smart over working hard. By learning the why behind the how, and how to engage in purposeful observation, you'll be able to tell what is right from wrong, so that you can train your eyes to study form and structure critically with clear understanding. So that when you actually start practising, it is deliberate and intentional, even if it's in a limited timeframe. There's no point in practising one letter 1,000 times incorrectly; it just reinforces bad habits and you end up wasting your invaluable time! Now that we understand that – from here, the amount of time you wish to spend on deliberate practice is honestly... as much time as you want! You can practise anytime on the weekends or weekdays before or after work/school whenever you're free, even if its just 10 mins.

For me, I don’t believe in teaching ‘one style of modern calligraphy’, there’s no fun in that if everyone’s doing the same style! My approach to teaching modern calligraphy starts with copperplate - reason being: you can’t break the rules if you don’t know the rules. So, only after learning traditional script (copperplate in this case, I’m not teaching Spencerian here tho Spencerian capitals will be referenced and flourishing variations may be included), then we’ll venture into modern calligraphy as we are now more well-informed. Style wise - Lessons will include studying individual features that make each style unique. You can think of this as: why are there so many fonts out there already but there are always more fonts being released? This is because of individual characteristics that make em distinct from each other. So for modern calligraphy, we don’t do ‘one style’. We do many so you’d understand how they’re constructed. Then the fun part: your turn to make your own unique style!