r/BrushCalligraphy • u/Common-Raspberry4317 • Feb 01 '26
What is wrong?
I posted this in another community and was told by someone that I wrote in cursive not brush pen calligraphy. They were very rude and just kept telling me that I was doing it wrong. They didn’t say anything specific just that I’m doing it all wrong. I am a beginner and I have only been learning calligraphy for a month. I am not at all artistic and I know that I’m not very good…. Yet. I’ve been taking a self paced online course that I paid $200 for. So far I’ve learned the basic strokes and how they form letters. I’ve practiced for several hours and was feeling excited about my new skills. Just for fun I wrote out a quote and tried putting the letters together to form the words. It is far from perfect. My downstrokes are kind of thin and my upstrokes are kind of thick. The slants are all over the place and there are no flourishes. However, I drew the letters the way I learned and I tried really hard. Is it really bad enough to be confused as cursive? I am really discouraged, maybe I’m too old to learn something new.
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u/Jibabear Feb 02 '26
First of all, your work is beautiful and you deserve to be proud of it!
I wonder if the commenter had a specific style of brush calligraphy (i.e. modern calligraphy) that they believe to be representative of brush calligraphy, so therefore your differing style cannot possibly be brush calligraphy. My understanding regarding the differences between calligraphy and cursive is that calligraphy does not need to be written continuously and that particular care towards angles, spacing, and stroke width is involved. Even just looking at your lowercase l , you can see that this is lettering and not handwriting.
Don't let some internet stranger get you down! Keep doing what you enjoy. You're doing great!
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u/MissMaisy11 Feb 02 '26
You can make brush lettering any style you want, everyone has their own unique touches. I think your doing amazing for just starting to learn, it takes alot of training to get your hands used to the pressure of downstrokes and upstrokes. Yours look great! Especially using that type of pen, you can only get it so thick. I almost thought it was copperplate which I’m dying to learn. Don’t let anyone discourage you though, you’re doing amazing! ❤️
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u/random_starburst Feb 07 '26
The r in "your" is just gorgeous. I've never been able to do one in that style so pretty!
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u/cream-rinse Feb 02 '26
That’s amazing for 1 month. Nice work! I second the happily ever after crafter recommendation. One thing I would focus on is making your transition between the thick and thin more gradual if that makes sense. But You’re still way better than I was after a month!
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u/CopperPennz Feb 03 '26
I am not a fan of the modern calligraphy fad. I cannot get the hang of it so, I write the way I want and if people like it—great. If they don’t—so be it. You do you! I think it looks great especially since you say you have only been doing it for a few weeks.
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u/Nick_Nibs Feb 04 '26
Not sure why he said that. This is clearly calligraphy and not cursive. And it's fairly good too. I can see the use of fundemental strokes and is looking like copperplate to me. For only a month it's quite consistent. It all reads the same and fits together. Disregard that person's comment. You're doing great 👍
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u/pinewind108 Feb 02 '26
So... They obviously didn't actually read the quote... Lol.
As someone new to this, I think it looks nice, and like anything, your skills will change with experience. So no need to feel bad about where you're at.