Busting The Biggest Calligraphy Myth

If you’ve ever thought of dabbling into calligraphy, it’s very natural that the first thought that pops in your mind is “OMG, I need to have really good handwriting to learn calligraphy or no way can I do calligraphy because my handwriting is too bad”

Stop right there, my friend. Let me bust that myth for you right away…

I’ll take you through the key differences between handwriting and calligraphy and by the end of this blog, I’m sure you’re gonna want to grab some calligraphy supplies and dive into this artform.

Handwriting is what we use for day-to-day life with the sole intention of noting down information whereas calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing.

1. Tools and Supplies: Specific tools and supplies are used to do calligraphy such as holder, nib, ink, and specific paper but almost any basic stationery can be used for day-to-day writing.

2. Understanding the WHY: Handwriting is solely done for the purpose of noting down information whereas calligraphy is done to beautify and enhance the look of the written text.

3. Let’s dive into the nitty gritties: Calligraphy is a very technical art form. I like to think of it as drawing shapes while following rules of the script and is a relatively slower process as we have to keep lifting our hand after every stroke whereas handwriting on the other hand is done in a more continuous manner without really lifting the pen.

If you've never done calligraphy and this is the reason why - hope it brought you some clarity.

If you've been doing calligraphy for a while and agree with me - share a picture of your handwriting VS calligraphy (like the one above) on your Instagram stories with the hashtag #MyHandwritingVsCalligraphy, don't forget to tag us @bombaylettering.

This will immensely help and encourage others who want to learn calligraphy but are worried about their handwriting ❤️