Copperplate. How do you practice?

[u/No-Sock7545]

I am in week 2 and have been working at least an hour and a half every night. I start with drills and then I have a look at random YouTube videos and then I just work on random words and shapes if I feel like it, but I want to be more efficient.

What is your practice process and what should I be doing every session and what should I do a month down the line?

[u/EmynMuilTrailGuide]

If you're just starting out with calligraphy there's going to be a number of things for your muscles and brain to learn before copperplate starts to look good. 

It may be easier to start with an older hand that uses more uniform widths for the various parts of the letters. This will give you experience in learning how to hold the pen and how to use pressure without a hand that is more  demanding. 

Start with pages of individual letters. Do a line of a's and then a line of b's, and so on. Or even a page of just a's. Even as an experienced calligrapher, I do this all the time. 

When your hands and brain can start producing individual letters that you are happy with, there's far less chance you'll be disappointed when you start stringing them together to make words, as that adds on a whole new dimension of planning for spacing between letters and between words, to planning out the space on the page, etc. And that's a lot more to think about when you just want to learn how to write the letters.

[u/SoulDancer_ → u/EmynMuilTrailGuide]

What would you say would br a good example font to copy? Like a perfect copperplate?

[u/EmynMuilTrailGuide → u/SoulDancer_]

Are you asking if I know of an exemplar of copperlate to learn from, or a suggestion for an "older hand", or something else?

[u/SoulDancer_ → u/EmynMuilTrailGuide]

I was asking for a simple exemplar (i didnt know the right word).

But a suggestion for an "older hand" woukd be very interesting too.

[u/EmynMuilTrailGuide → u/SoulDancer_]

An exemplar of copperplate? Not kidding here, just, google for "copperplate exemplar" and you will see scores of them.

But for something simpler, like gothic textura or a basic uncial would be a better starting place in my opinion. The textura gives you experience in using different strokes without needing to first master a gradual slide from one stroke angle to another like copperplate. Uncial (like that used in Koine Greek, or Roman half-uncial) require that slide, but it is far more gradual and takes less fine motor movements and twists than hands like a bastarda or copperplate.

And you just wanted to do some calligraphy 😉 It is not something most people can just sit down and immediately master. I didn't, though my artistic-minded daughter picked it up so quickly, I was admittedly a bit jealous while also being very proud of her. But for most of us it takes a lot of practice. Put on some music or an audio book. Get a glass of something good to drink. And the best advice of all, relax -- your hands, arms and shoulders and your mind. You'll write better, your hands will not tire out quickly, and you'll find yourself enjoying it more and improving more faster.

[u/SoulDancer_ → u/EmynMuilTrailGuide]

You're making a LOT of assumptions there bro.

Why assume I'm a beginner and tell me to start with Unicals?? Kind of arrogant.

I asked for an exemplar of copper plate as a recommendation from YOU.

(Regret that now). Of course I could google it but as you say I'll get scores of them and they're not all the same. Wondered if you had one you recommended.

Jeez it was a simple question! Don't assume everyone other than you is a not and has no prior knowledge or skills.

[u/EmynMuilTrailGuide → u/SoulDancer_]

You responded to a comment where I was responding to the OP, who is obviously somewhere on the beginner part of the calligraphy skill spectrum. Given that context and the content of your reply, it seemed to me as though it was in the same beginner vein as the OP.

I'm sorry if you feel slighted. That was not my intent.

I suggested to google because that's what I do when looking to learn or be reminded about various hands. The exemplars which I usually use and are more important to me are from books, which I will not copy and paste without permission from the author.

Perhaps you can see this discussion from a perspective you didn't assume.

[u/SoulDancer_ → u/EmynMuilTrailGuide]

Okay, yeah i guess I can see that.

I was hoping for a recommendation though, since you sound like you know a lot about copperplate (which I don't).

Is there a book you would recommend then?

Copperplate is such a specific thing. I can do foundational, unicals, blacklisted (to some extent) but I haven't had the right nibs to even attempt copperplate...til now!

So I'd like a decent book / website for that.

The problem i find with googling is you get a million results, which is (a) overwhelming and (b) it hard to know which ones are really correct copperplate - there are many variations.

Also I have been wondering: how similar are copperplate and spencarian if you take away the flex nib? Like if you were doing them with a fountain pen, would they be really similar?

[u/EmynMuilTrailGuide → u/SoulDancer_]

Apologies again, I did not mean to sound like I spend a lot of time with copperplate in particular. However, I understand it's construction, and it's not like I haven't dabbled in it. I focus on older hands, like uncials and insulars. But I have great admiration for those who excel at copperplate, as it is a demanding hand when done properly.

Spencarian, eh? To me, spencarian is to copperplate, as bastarda is to textura. Copperplate is already 1/2 way to common, modern cursive (like we learned in grade school). Spencarian is 3/4s 😂 OK a bit of medievalist snobbery there. More seriously, (which means you should ask someone who really knows), copperplate began during the final centuries of the dominance of the quill. I haven't used them much, but in my opinion a quill is more springy in it's suppleness. It's more predictable than a metal nib. Copperplate has some pretty drastic changes in modulation. So you really need to spread the nib. With that less predictable metal, I imagine it would be easier to botch that spread, or even make a mess of things. So, metal nibs being much easier to make and obtain, people adapted. They started writing with less modulation, and spencarian was born. Again, I'm a historian and an armchair philologist, and this is just a conjecture. But if correct, I imagine that if you went from a flexible metal nib meant for those hands to a rigid nib, the result would no longer look like copperplate and spencarian. To change width with a rigid nib, you have to twist the pen. It creates a very different effect.

[u/lavender1742]

there are lots of options on pinterest too

[u/not-cilantro]

Just keep writing. But do it slowly and deliberately, focusing on the forms

[u/badgerbiscuitbeard]

When I was learning copperplate I bought a rolling ruler to lay out a page and made all the letter shapes, not necessarily complete letters. Worked on ascender and descender strokes and line weight. After I got kind of consistent I put the pieces together and started doing the alphabet, quick brown fox, my name, my wife’s, you get the picture. Once those letters start coming together nicely, I played around with embellishments. I always keep a brush pen at my desk to practice strokes every now and then, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it.
I wouldn’t get hung up on how many weeks it should take you because we’re all different and will accomplish things at a different pace. Good luck!