Have you ever found yourself saying or thinking these things while writing?

🖋 "Why do my letters look so clumsy and ugly?"

🖋 "How is it so difficult to move my hand to where I want it to?"

🖋 "Can't my upstrokes be thinner?!"

🖋 "Why does calligraphy look easy for other people but not for me?"

🖋 "I don't know what is wrong!"

If so, I say this with so much love but...

You don't need to practise your letters 1,000 times to get it right.

Sometimes the solution isn't "more practice", it's *clarity before execution*.

Remember, train your eyes before you train your hands!

Let me share on one of the most common mistakes that beginners often face: Pressure control.

Rule #1

Calligraphy looks elegant because of *visual contrast* ie. we've thin strokes and we also have thick strokes.

The next natural question you may ask is: "How do I know when to write a thin stroke and when to write a thick stroke?"

Rule #2

Easy!

If you're writing a downstroke, where you're bringing the pen towards you: apply pressure.

If you're writing an upstroke, where you're bringing the pen away from you: release pressure.

If you're saying... "Hold on, Leah, I know this already but my letters still look bad!"

Gotcha!

Rule #3

Should you try a brush pen and not be able to control the upstrokes and downstrokes well, I highly highly highly recommend scaling back to something even more basic: the pencil!

Remember: form always come first. Once your form is good and ready, you can tackle the brush pen next.

Especially if you're someone who's pretty heavy-handed in nature (aka when you write on paper with a pencil, and the pencil marks can be seen on the other side of the paper), then pressure control and grip are things you want to take note of.

So today's action step: try applying heavy and light pressure on the pencil instead of the brush pen.

If you're not sure what this means, feel free to check out this video below. It's only 1 minute so it won't take too much of your time.

Let me know if this is helpful. Feel free to comment below if you've questions!

Pssst. Interested to learn more about calligraphy? Check out my online course: The Ultimate Calligraphy Course and watch a free preview lesson today!