The Final Three Strokes

 Hello everyone! It feels like it has been a while since I made a post, but last week I was channeling my inner Steven Spielberg to create a movie trailer for "Calligraphy with Jacqueline". If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, just click the tab on my home page and it'll take you right to it. 

If I am honest, the past two weeks since we last chatted have been a whirlwind, so I was very excited to take a break from school work, practice some mindfulness and get back to what I enjoy - practicing my calligraphy strokes! To recap so far, I have learned the the upstroke, the downstroke, the upturn, the downturn, and the compound curve. Now, what if I told you that I have continued with my research and learned the final three basic strokes that make the basis for all modern calligraphy? Would you believe me? I hope so because I haven't led you astray ever (other than the original markers from blog post #1 but we don't need to talk about that one anymore). Just remember - Tombow pens are the best.

The final three strokes still follow the same principles discussed in my third blog post about the differences between amount of pressure put on the tip of the pen and the rule that when travelling in an upward direction it is a thinner 'upstroke' line, and anytime travelling down it is a thicker 'downstroke' line. Without further adu, let me introduce you to the final three strokes! They are: the oval, the descending loop, and the ascending loop.  

First, we will talk about the oval. The trick to doing the oval stroke is to start off at the right side on a slight angle. This allows for you to transition into the thicker downward stroke easier and more fluidly. If you were to start at the top like you would for a traditional handwriting 'o', then the lines would not match up properly. This was probably the hardest stroke I have learned so far, as getting consistency between every repetition is tricking. It is where I found the most trouble this week, but I would say starting with the Fudenosuke pen was beneficial to me as it requires more precise movements than the brush pen. This is a stroke I will be continuing to practice as according to the online course instructor, everyone struggles with the oval at first. 

The next stroke is the descending loop. This requires a long downstroke followed by a small upstroke curve. I didn't find this one too difficult, but I will say getting the proportion right for the size of the loop to be uniform was tricky. This stroke resembles the letter 'd'. I am curious to see what this stroke will turn into, and how I will use it once I consistently start writing words and phrases. Again, I used the Fudenosuke pen here first and then tried the brush pen. I also clearly need to work on writing in a straight line because that is something I also have trouble with based on second row of strokes below. I might try to fix this by writing under a ruler so that I have a straight guide. 

The last and final stroke I learned this week was the ascending loop. Essentially, this stroke is as if you mirrored the descending loop, and then flipped it the other way to make a 'P' shape. I would say I was decently successful at practicing this stroke as well because I already had the motion down from the descending loop. 

Looking ahead to next week for my genius hour project, it is time for me to actually start putting these strokes together to create letters! This will be a whole new challenge for me, but one that I feel very ready for. I'm sure you are also somewhat tired hearing about my research and how I have been progressing with the strokes so we are turning a whole new calligraphy leaf together by learning to write now!

Have a great week and talk soon. 

Yours in writing, 

Jacqueline