CreateSpace Classics Lettering and Modern Calligraphy: A Beginner's Guide: Learn Hand Lettering and Brush Lettering

I am very much enjoying this bright and pretty beginner's calligraphy book. There are five alphabets included: brush lettering, hand lettering, sans serif, serif, and "fun" sans-serif. There are five pages at the beginning to give some essential background information including terminology, techniques, tools and tips. This is very easy reading... nothing complicated. You learn what ascenders and upstrokes are, as well as the difference between serif and sans serif in case you don't know already. After the five introductory pages, the book gets into the lettering, with each section having a page showing all the lowercase (or uppercase) letters, right before the pages where you actually get to practice. The practice illustrations have an arrow so you know right where to start, in creating and duplicating the letter. I had a bit of trouble getting started, while learning to do the upstrokes thin and the downstrokes thick. However - I bought a tablet with lined calligraphy paper: Mont Marte Calligraphy Workbook 50 Sheets. So I did a lot of my first lettering attempts there and kept this lettering book for when I truly started to get the feel for what calligraphy should look like. It also helped that I got the right pen to begin with. I recommend Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen 2 Pens Set which gives a clean line that encourages me to continue on towards the goal of perfection. Oh, I'm not at that goal yet, but I'm trying, and enjoying daily practice sessions. I tried several other brush style pens but none worked as well as the Tombow calligraphy brush pens. There are 64 lettering practice pages. Next there's a section about the connections between letters with a a page of explanation, and eight practice pages for the pretty brush script connections. Finally, there are three pages of explanation for project design considerations, and 15 project pages where you can copy a pretty project created by the book's author. These have cute (but short) sayings to copy, such as "dream big" and "home sweet home." Speaking of the book's author, I wonder who that is. It would be nice to have a name, photo, and bio of the book's creator. Seems strange to have a book and not know anything about the writer and calligrapher, as it has only the name of the publisher on it. I'd just like to know more. Nice start for calligraphy, though. I know there are may other calligraphy techniques and alphabets, but this gives a good start for someone who has never done it before.

I purchased this as a birthday present along with this awesome set: Daveliou Calligraphy Pen Set for my 14 year old cousin. She's new to Calligraphy but has been wanting to practice for a long time. This book looked like it would be right up her alley. I had some Calligraphy books in the past when I was a teen and into my artsy phase and I must say that this one is really modern and cool/hip/rad/mad fun/dope/da bomb - or whatever term kids are using these days. There are several different styles you can choose to practice from and it's really easy to learn. My cousin was able to pick it up pretty much immediately and I was super impressed. I can say from real-live experience that this is definitely excellent for a beginner. Made my cousin look like she is a complete natural and I watched her Callighrapyhing (yes I just made that up) away. Perhaps she has some natural artistic talent - I think it runs in our family so I'm going to say she does - but I'm pretty positive this book helped draw it out in her and will definitely be useful in helping her to hone her skills. She loves it and is going to have a lot of fun using it to practice. I can't wait to see what she produces! I'll update with some pics when she gets a break from all her homework and is able to send me some.

Basically I have the artistic ability of a remote control LOL I have always wanted to learn how to write in a pretty way. I’ve tried official classic calligraphy and that was a nightmare. But then I started seeing a lot of stuff on Instagram and online about hand lettering and a new way of doing calligraphy. So my interest was definitely piqued. After quite a bit of research I found this book online and immediately bought it. I think this book is good for somebody like myself. A beginner with or without artistic talent. I bought myself a “Tombow beginNer “ Kit with pen, pencil, eraser, etc. I also got myself a notebook that I could practice in. I must say I became particularly motivated after realizing I could do this. While I’m not going to post any images because nobody needs to laugh that hard. LOL I believe with some practice I can be kind of good. I could make pretty envelopes, make signs, etc. etc. goodness knows I will never have a career or 1 million followers on Instagram for my lettering skills, but it’s nice to learn something new and put the creative side of my brain to work. If you want to learn about lettering and hand calligraphy, amp up the way you write/draw your letters, further your skills, etc. this book is quite useful. If you are more advanced you might not get as much out of it. It may be a tad bit of a disappointment if you are definitely advanced/more creative than somebody like me LOL But it would definitely make a good gift for somebody who has shown interest in lettering/calligraphy. I was going to buy the e-book version but for something like this I really like having the book right there in front of me. Plus there is practice space in the book. After I’ve used up that space I go onto my grid styled black-and-white hard covered notebook. I like keeping everything in one notebook so as to watch my progression or regression if I wait too long in between practice sessions. So practice practice practice that’s the only way to make it to Carnegie Hall and that’s the only way to become a lettering guru! This company also puts out other books that are quite awesome

I got this book to help my little brother in elementary school start learning cursive, and it was great! The instructions are easy to follow, and the activities are engaging, making it a fun way for him to practice. He was (somewhat) willing and eager to learn. The perfect choice for beginners and really helps build confidence in writing. Highly recommend for any parent or sibling wanting to introduce cursive writing!

I have been doing calligraphy for many years and I was looking at this for hopefully some new ideas. I should have realized that "A Beginner's Guide" should have clued me into know this wasn't what I was looking for. It did have a font that I use in my cookie decorating so I started practicing with it. The book has some very basic information but doesn't go into any kind of detail about what to look for or where to purchased supplies, so that was a let down. Learning calligraphy or any type of lettering can be done but it takes lots of practice and this book has lots of empty pages for practicing which of course is important, but I can copy pages for that. Overall, I felt it was a sub standard book even for a beginner and I would have liked to see more variety and information. It is lacking diagrams or photos to show how to hold the pens/nibs and could have been a much better book if it had better information in it. I wouldn't recommend to someone who wanted to learn calligraphy.

I'm a total noob to hand lettering but have really come to like the this form of artwork. As a pro photographer my only recourse for lettering has been fonts, which looks like... fonts. There are VERY few I've found that look like hand lettering and modern calligraphy but you still have the problem where a lowercase "a" looks exactly the same through the phrase. Ugh. So I bought a couple books to give this a try and they ended up being a showcase for the author's style, but no real instruction! I need to know where to start the line and how the curve should go and how much pressure or whatever, whether I'm using ink & paper or ProCreate and the Apple Pencil. I was starting to think a book like that didn't exist, but I'm glad I was wrong: this book is perfect for a beginner starting right from the very first ink dot or iPad pixel. The book is driven for paper and ink which I love (I just bought a sketch pad and some Tombow brush pens) but I ultimately will end up in ProCreate. Nonetheless, this guide by Paper Peony Press is the first book that makes me feel like I can DO this. If there's ever an expanded edition I'd love to see a hardcover spiral bound version that lays flatter, but I'll probably just scan the practice pages into ProCreate and work like that until I get the hang of it. Or use up a lot of Strathmore sketch books, lol. Anyway, super happy with this guide.

I chose this book because it says "A Beginner's Guide", and it is perfectly that! I do love all things font related and I've always wanted to try hand lettering. I wanted a basic foundation with lots of visuals, built-in structure, and repetition in order to get the feel for how letters are created. It is just what I was looking for. It is a well designed workbook with a beautiful feel and cover. It shows the basics of 5 different alphabets, plain and fun ones, to get you started and on your way to developing your own style. The last section includes ways to bring creativity and composition into your work. It doesn't promise you will become a hand lettering expert overnight, but it is sure to motivate you! I sometimes use tracing paper over the pages for even more practice space! I absolutely recommend this book to beginners. It will be a great addition to your collection. The price is right too! I'm very happy with this purchase!

I will start off by saying this is an actual person because some reviews are fake. I have always wanted to do calligraphy and my mom recently bought this book for me. It is very affordable and as a person that loves to write I am glad I get to learn modern calligraphy. This is a fun thing to start in your free time or just to do! The only thing I didn’t know as getting into lettering and calligraphy was that there is specific items you may need based on what you would like to draw. For example I didn’t know that you may need brush pens or various things. This is an amazing gift and I definitely recommend to do for anyone! I love the detailing in the instructions and learning pages. I love supporting families and I’m very satisfied with this book! Give it a try, take your time, and it just takes practice. Thanks for reading my review and I definitely would say to at least try this product out!