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  • Category: Miscellaneous
    Points:5

    Hobby after retirement: Calligraphic handwriting

    One of the brothers of my grandfather was very famous for his beautiful handwriting. His handwriting was famous in the entire district. Not only that, he used to write very fast in two or three different ways, all of which were very pleasing to eyes. He used different types of ink for writing. I haven't had good fortune to meet him, but I have seen his handwriting in different books. During my childhood, I used to look at these enchantingly beautiful handwritings for hours.

    My father's handwriting was also excellent. His writing was very small but beautiful and clear. He used to fill the postcards with his small words but nobody used to have any difficulty to read these small words (both English and Bengali).

    When I came to Delhi, I worked with a very senior IAS officer who was a Tamil Brahmin. His handwriting using green ink is discussed even after 30 years in our Whatsapp group (among those who were his juniors in that Ministry).

    All of these three could write in straight lines on plain, white papers.

    Compared to them, my handwriting is terrible although no one has any difficulty to read my handwriting. Furthermore, I cannot write in straight lines; my writing always moves upwards.

    Nowadays, I have started thinking about old days (which were not always golden). I have also started planning for my retirement, which is still 3 years 9 months away.

    I have been seriously planning to do something interesting, to develop some extraordinary hobbies after my retirement. In this connection, I am planning to learn calligraphy and to make an effort to write like my departed grandfather, father and the IAS officer (about whom I wrote in the first few paras of this post).

    I request members of ISC to give useful suggestions in this regard. I want to have calligraphic handwriting and at the same time want to write very fast. How is it possible? What are the first steps in this direction?
  • #776118

    Points:5
    An interesting thought by the author. Hobbies are a great way of passing our time creatively and happily. They become more important when a person retires from active work life. Hobbies are generally developed from the student life itself but there are many people who adopt new hobbies with the passage of time in their lives.
    Calligraphy is a big art and who will not like a decorative writing on a piece of paper or drawing sheet? Some people are blessed with good handwriting and for them calligraphy becomes easier to learn. But others can also do it with some practice and sustained efforts.
    I remember in our school days we used to write on a four line row for improving our handwriting and I am not sure whether same practice is being done today or not. Those four lines drawn in a row on a blank page are generally helpful for learning calligraphy. One can try that option also.
    Today we are fortunate that every topic in subject is covered in great details in the internet and there are channels and sites like YouTube, Wikipedia, and many others where a lot of information on every topic is available. One can visit there and find basic guidelines and help in any matter.
    Knowledge is power.

  • #776137

    Points:4
    Great selection by the author. I hope that the author will learn calligraphy very easily. Writing legibly is very important but it is not a pre-condition for learning calligraphy, I feel. So the author will not face any problem in learning calligraphy. Interest is very important and the author has the inclination and interest to learn. So he will be successful.
    How much time one can spend on learning is very important and the more time you spend, the faster will be the learning. There are some interesting articles on this skill and the author can search for such articles and can go through them for a better understanding of the subject.
    drrao
    always confident

  • #776144

    Points:3
    I came to know about Calligraphy when I saw the university degree certificate of my senior collegemate. I was wondering about the beautiful, impressive artistic handwriting on the certificate. It was then that I came to know about calligraphy.
    As I very well knew that I do not have any artistic(drawing) talents, I did not bother about learning calligraphy and sat satisfied by appreciating others handwriting.

  • #776152

    Points:4
    I have joined an international science project to work after my graduation in late 80s where I have used calligraphy printing using plotter to produce posters to be presented in seminar/ conferences. We used to have different colored ball point pens to fix and there will be a small calculation to use these different pens which are used with small pieces. I was very much impressed with this calligraphy as I was having poor handwriting. Thanks to the author for making me to recall those charts and memories.
    shasthranaam Ganitham moordhanisthitham

  • #776159

    Points:4
    Calligraphy is the art of handwriting and a paper and a pencil is enough to practice. Practice makes perfect. Various free online videos are available to learn calligraphy. You may be aware that in primary classes, kids are given separate cursive handwriting notebooks to learn how to write neatly. The same is applicable in calligraphy as well. By practicing with pencil and paper initially you can develop good/beautiful handwriting. In my school days, as I am good at handwriting and drawing, I helped my brothers draw and mark diagrams in their record notebooks, especially my elder brother who studied medicine. However, my style of handwriting changed at present since I hardly used to write with gadgets usage, simply keying in.

  • #776309

      

    Points:5

    I remember mentioning in an old forum thread about receiving a set of pens and a book on calligraphy as a birthday gift some decades ago and using it for greeting cards and letters. I had a bottle of Camlin royal blue ink and one of red ink that I put in the pen and tried out the various nibs. Some of you will recall receiving letters that I sent some years back to express thanks and appreciation for contributing to ISC. I had used it for those letters as well.

    I am putting here an image of the gift, which contains various nibs that can be attached to the pen, with each nib providing a different kind of style. As you see, it was a well-used set! I tried to find the book as soon as this thread was posted, but unfortunately, to date, I could not locate it. It was easy to self-learn from it, and if I find it I will let you know the name.

    By the way, you do not need to wait till retirement to take up a hobby! When somebody wants to do something seriously, there is no time like the present.
    When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment you create trust! ~ John C. Maxwell

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  • #776310

      

    Points:2
    Sarojah,

    That was a fascinating thing to know, about the use of calculations for writing. Could you please elaborate on it further? That is, what kind of calculations?
    When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment you create trust! ~ John C. Maxwell

  • #776317

    Points:1
    I hope Vandana Madam would be able to locate that particular book on calligraphy and post an image of that book for my benefit.

    "you do not need to wait till retirement to take up a hobby!"----------Nowadays, I have been bogged down by official work which is increasing day by day. So, I am being forced to postpone my creative pursuit every day.

    I express my gratitude to other members who have read this post and furnished their valuable comments.
    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #782125

      

    Points:5

    Partha,

    I am happy to inform you that I found the book a couple of weeks ago. I thought of looking in the neatly packed pile of rangoli design books; indeed it was there! I have attached an image of the book. It is called 'Speedball Textbook for Pen and Brush Lettering'. It was originated by Ross F. George, and over the years, there have been various editions, with new contributors adding to it. It showcases various forms of lettering, including Roman, Gothic, Old English Text, Celtic letters, and even music composition lettering. There are bits of interesting information, such as the following-
    "Blackletter, characterized by heavy black verticals, is the script that was used at court and for liturgical purposes from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. Where dignity, elegance, and pomp were desirable, elaborate initials were used. At this time a dot over the i to distinguish it from j became common practice."

    At the beginning of the book is a page that gives information on the types of tools and materials used for lettering, namely, pens and brushes.

    I checked it online, and some new editions are now available if you are really keen on taking this up as a hobby.
    When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment you create trust! ~ John C. Maxwell

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  • #782131

    Points:0
    Noted, Madam. Thank you.
    (a) Those who have forgotten Noakhali, how can they protest Sandeshkhali?
    (b) Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ---------- Salvador Dali

  • #782135

    Points:5
    #776310 @Vandana. Sorry for the delayed response. The calculations are done on a programming lines of Fortran which are fed into punch cards of olden days which will be input to the macro computers and the output will be on the plotter. The calculations will be like where and when which color pen(ball point) nibs will be used and which letter is specified in the programming lines will be taken. When others use their handwriting for presentation I use this tedious input to get a neat calligraphy writing output but these are all scrapped now with an advancement of computers and printer but still those kind of print out is not possible now but we can only use print power point to produce in a monitor. Those print out charts we can use anywhere even offline but these are only in memories now.

    Thanks you have responded now to get the thread to come on top.
    shasthranaam Ganitham moordhanisthitham

  • #782149

      

    Points:4
    Sarojah,

    Thanks for sharing. That was tremendously interesting!

    I recently used my calligraphy hobby to create some personal albums for my nieces. I put actual photos in an art book with the pages separated by butter paper, and centered it around a creative story, with stickers, actual objects, etc and captions beneath each photo. Today people snap, save and swipe through photos on smartphones. Nobody bothers to take printouts and maintain albums for the next generation to browse. Everyone loved the two albums tremendously for their uniqueness and I was told by one and all to take this up professionally. Perhaps I'll do so...
    When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment you create trust! ~ John C. Maxwell

  • #782150

    Points:4
    Yes Vandana that is really interesting and we should keep albums.

    Your album reminds me of two things. I have made my son to prepare story telling in his childhood with photographs of himself his cousins and friends when the story is covering conversations of many. This idea I got when I received a letter from my room mate after we depart and went to our respective home towns with so many stickers and emoticons pasted in those days, I really admired the way she undertook and showed emotions and the letter goes to almost 5 to 6 pages.
    shasthranaam Ganitham moordhanisthitham


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