Category: Uncategorized

Learning Calligraphy takes a lot of work

The art of learning how to do calligraphy is something that takes time. You have to be wiling to put the work in. Also you have to deal with the fact that you are going to fail over and over again. Then there are times when you will have to start over completely.

But you know what with this process you develop confidence in yourself and your work. The process of finding a hand (font) to learn and then get comfortable with you can then do it from memory. When that happens you can develop your own style of it. But style is something that will come the more you are doing calligraphy.

There are times when I think of how much calligraphy and brush lettering work I have done and it amazes me. The reason is before I was just playing around with calligraphy. In that sense I did not take it seriously. Also I did not think I would’ve gotten to where I am today. But I always know there is so far for me to go.

Whenever I pick up my pens I know its time to put in work. By that I mean its time to get to work and continue pushing myself. This is something you can apply to whatever your main focus is whether its business, building homes and etc.

And one major thing that got me interested in calligraphy was the history. The history of it is what inspired me. The beautifully written manuscripts and etc still gets me excited. Also how when I was in school we had homework for writing cursive. I’ve always been more of a person who has written in cursive compared to print.

Master the Moment

This is what many of us should focus on doing. Because the moment in what we are living is what will prepare us for what will come later. The need to focus on the moment is what will allow us to get closer to where we want to be.

I am guilty of focus on the future more than the present. Then that had an effect on my present being. But you know what this is a societal trait that was picked up many years ago. Also I believe you possibly suffer from this as well.

So from now on focus on the present and what it is that you are doing. If you know that what you are doing is not beneficial to helping you get to where you want to be stop doing it. Stop wasting the valuable time that you have.

Listen to your heart and do what feels right to you. Many people can give you advice on various topics but you know what is right for you. The people may get upset with you about not doing what they recommended but thats ok. Remember you are living your life for you not someone else.

How to work through depression periods as a graphic designer and calligrapher

Being depressed is a natural occurrence. When we experience depression we can feel as if the work that we are putting out is not as good as it can be. Another thing we can think that we will never get out of the rut that we are in. Well let me tell you depression is only a temporary setting.

When depression sets in it can utterly take away your desire to even pick up a pencil or anything of that nature. First you want to be honest with yourself and realize that you are depressed. This may seem a little strange but its part of the stage of being honest with yourself.

Then after you do that you want to understand why you are depressed. Ask yourself what did I do to become depressed? What could I do differently the next time?

After doing the little quick analysis do not hesitate move forward. By moving forward you will allow yourself to get started. You will get started with rekindling your fire. The fire that allowed you to be the person you were before depression paid you a visit.

Because we both know that you and me both know how the fire that was lit can be so strong. The effects of things not going your way is just a part of the process. Believe it or not if everything worked out the way it was supposed to life would be a lot different. The steps to get through depression are as follows

  1. Be honest with yourself
  2. Realize that you are depressed
  3. Ask yourself why am I depressed and what did I do to get in this state
  4. How could I avoid being depressed
  5. What are ways to avoid letting depression take such a strong hold over me

Depression is something that many creative people will experience. Whether you believe in your work 100% or not is determined by you. Everything that happens is based off of the actions you’ve made in cohesion with your thoughts behind those actions.

If you are taking action and doing what you know you should be doing instead of wasting time watching netflix or youtube videos on reddit you will lose. Because you should be creating to get out of the depressed state. Whenever I am feeling down and I pick up my pilot parallel pen I become a bit happier. The same also applies when I am designing a logo for a client.

Depression will Rob you of what you deserve do your best not to let it do so.

Being Creative helps free your mind

 

There are many things in my life that I had to learn to free my mind. Being a creative person we look at the world differently than others. We tend to see multiple opportunities and we can see beauty in the ugly. When you free your mind you will be more open to see things in a greater perspective.

I tend to want always have an open and free mind. Because if I was constantly focused on being like everyone else and not being a creative individual I would lose a part of who I am. Calligraphy is a skill that I tend to continue using and improving. Also never pre planning a piece.

The reason why I never pre plan a piece is because I want to force my mind to think free. You know its sort of like when you are trying to avoid repeating yourself over and over. Along the lines of the rinse and repeat scenario. Because when you try and start forcing work whether its calligraphy, graphic design, or whatever creative task it becomes difficult.

The way it becomes difficult is because of the lack of confidence you have in your ability to think. I want you to just relax and let it come naturally. Learn to take time to explore and free your mind. Whenever there is a situation that comes up look at it differently.

Instead of polluting your mind with what your family members, coworkers, significant others say do not let that control you mentally. Focusing on freeing your mind to be more in control of your creativity and life.

How broadcasting live on Meerkat has helped me as a graphic designer and calligrapher

If you are still knew and you have no idea what Meerkat is meerkat is a live streaming app. Meerkat is what periscopes competition is. The community on Meerkat is great and I love the interaction. At first I was a little nervous with my first stream.

Honestly I don’t even think it lasted for more than maybe 2 minutes because I was so nervous. I had the thought in the back of my mind of doing live streams of my calligraphy and graphic design work. Then one day I just said f it and went full force.

The first time I was a little overwhelmed. The reason being was because I did not even expect people to actually want to see me work. With all of the support I have received its allowed me to continue moving forward. At times before I would have thoughts of not really producing work of a higher quality.

But now Meerkat has allowed me to focus on setting a standard for myself.  One major thing is to not take myself so seriously. Then other things are trusting myself and being more comfortable with failing publicly. Being transparent with my work and process is how I come across.

When I do streams of my graphic design process I am a little nervous because what if I mess up. But I tend to let the accidents happen. Because I want them to reflect me and how I work.

Broadcasting live can be a terrifying thing for some to do. But you have to just do it and go for it. At first it will be scary. But you know what it will be something you will never experience.

When I first learned about meerkat I thought to myself you know what I may give it a try and see what happens. Then I have been enjoying the community more and more and becoming a part of it.

So before meerkat I was producing calligraphy work daily and no one would ever see me do it. The same thing applies for my graphic design work. Well now let me get into how its helped me as a designer/calligrapher

  1.  more confident
  2. I have more fun
  3. I enjoy the process more
  4. Pay attention to the details more
  5. welcome failure
  6. Keep going even if I fail
  7. Be open to criticism and welcome it
  8. Slow down and take your time

Well with all of this said if you ever want to see one of my meerkat streams you can follow me on Twitter or on

What calligraphy has taught me about graphic design

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Calligraphy has taught me many things about graphic design. One major thing is has taught me was how to be more detail oriented. Sometimes being so focused on details can cause a person to lose sight of the overall project. Possibly even so to go even further with ideas and not reach a point of being satisfied.

Calligraphy has also taught me the importance of not being satisfied with just putting out any quality work. Because I want my name to be attached to work that is of good quality and not crap. But when I first started doing calligraphy and posting them on my instagram I did not take this into consideration.

Putting out a piece of calligraphy work everyday was kind of difficult at first. But as time progressed it became easier. The discipline that calligraphy takes is not very easy to grasp immediately. The patience it takes to be a creative individual and to trust yourself I use it in my graphic design jobs.

1. calligraphy taught me that patience is key

Having patience to believe that what you are working on is going to turn out how you can envision.

2.  Trusting yourself

Being able to believe in what you are doing. If what you are creating you do not believe in it then it will be hard to continue progressing.

3. Fail until you get it right

The amount of times I have failed with something so simple as a letter taught me to not give up. Then to keep going no matter what.

4.  Continue to learn how to improve

Continuing to learn is the secret to many things in life. With calligraphy I have to constantly seek out knew styles, history, tools to use and etc. Then focus on developing new styles with my brush pen lettering.

 

So this is a few things that calligraphy has taught me and how to use them in my graphic design work.  There are many things that you can take from your hobbies and use them in your profession. The good thing about the skills you acquire in whatever it is you do you can combine them and use them effectively.