The Universal Penman by George Bickham
As an artist who learns from watching videos and looking thru pictures on Instagram, Pinterest and many other social media platforms. Picking up a book is not really something I do on a regular basis.
That is until I stumbled across a book called The Universal Penman.
Is this book a manual? Well, not really….
This book is filled with various writing samples from many Master Penman and in no way does it teach you how to improve your penmanship.
Instead each page of this book can act as a source of inspiration, from the stunning artwork to the beautiful calligraphy. The Master Penman show how well Blackletter, my favorite script, and the Round Hand script work perfectly together if done correctly.
I often flip thru pages only to find new and interesting ways to write a certain word or a new way to start and finish a flourish.
Flourishes
One of the best things about this book is the amount of flourishes scattered throughout every page. Each flourish has such balance that you begin to question how one can have control to create such intricate line work.
How do I learn from pictures and videos?
When I first started to practice calligraphy I knew that reading was going to slow my process, but for you it might be a different story.
Whenever I watch a calligraphy video I will follow his/her hand movement and try my best to replicate it from start to finish.
After I find the rhythm I will find ways to create my own version of that flourish or ligature.
The same goes for pictures but since you are unable to see how it was made I would begin to problem solve. I ask myself questions like how was this letter constructed? and what makes this letter feel balanced?
You will be surprised as too what can be learned from just looking, at least from my experience.
Thank you so much for reading, if you have any book recommendations of any genre please let me know in the comments down below.