Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about lettering and graphic design.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to create letters using different calligraphic strokes and styles.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are calligraphy, stroke, flourish.

I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Calligraphy, stroke, flourish.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting using specific tools and techniques.

A stroke is the movement of the pen or brush to create a line or mark.

A flourish is a decorative stroke with details added to enhance a design.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that will be working through together in today's lesson.

Identifying Calligraphic strokes and their uses, creating and embellishing calligraphic designs.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to have a go at identifying calligraphic strokes and their uses.

What do you notice about how the letters are written here? What makes the letters different from your usual handwriting? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you notice? Well, calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting.

Calligraphy focuses on the beauty of letters rather than how they function.

Specific tools and hand lettering techniques are used to create calligraphic designs and letters are crafted by hand using different movements called strokes.

The word calligraphy has two stems, both from Greek words.

So we have calli from the word kallos, meaning beauty, and graphy from the word graphein, meaning to write.

When brought together, the word calligraphy means beautiful writing.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to answer that question and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that that's true, you're absolutely right.

Calligraphy focuses on the beauty of letters rather than how they function.

Where have you seen examples of calligraphy? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

Where have you maybe seen examples of calligraphy before? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, maybe you saw some on a party invitation or on the front cover of a restaurant menu.

Those are both examples of where calligraphy might have been seen.

Examples of calligraphy can be found anywhere with handwritten text, including wedding and event invitations, manuscripts, cafe and restaurant menu boards.

How old do you think calligraphy is? Hmm? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion.

How old do you think calligraphy is? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, calligraphy is thousands of years old.

It began over 2,000 years ago in places like ancient China, Egypt, and Rome.

People created beautiful writing to share stories, ideas, and art.

Here, you can see a representation of an older calligraphy style often used during the middle ages in Western Europe and is referred to as gothic.

Take a look at that there.

Older calligraphy, that's referred to as gothic.

I wonder why they chose that as a description for it.

Now on this slide is an example of modern calligraphy style referred to as brush lettering.

Can you see how that's different to the gothic style used in the middle ages? Now Laura says, "The gothic calligraphy looks quite formal, like it could be written in an old book or on architecture." And Alex says that the brush lettering seems more relaxed and curvier and it reminds him of greeting cards and party invitations.

Beautiful handwriting and calligraphy can be found in places and cultures all over the world.

Examples here include one from China, Egypt, and India.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of the following is not an example of calligraphy? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to answer this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that B is not an example of calligraphy, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Calligraphy is most commonly practised using specific pens, brushes, and inks.

You can use these materials or whatever you have available for practising different calligraphy strokes.

So let's have a go.

So I've had a go here practising a few upstrokes using a calligraphy tool as you can see here in this example.

I'd like you to have a go.

Pause a video here and use a calligraphy tool to practise a few upstrokes and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Hopefully, you had a go at creating some upstrokes and they are usually thin lines and are not necessarily pointed vertical or straight up.

The precise movements, they help to improve fine motor skills.

Let's have a go at practising and repeating downstrokes using a calligraphy tool.

So here's my go here.

You see how I'm creating those downs strokes and repeating them.

So I'd like you to now have a go at that.

Pause the video here, and using your calligraphy tool, practise and repeat a few downs strokes and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Hopefully, you had downstrokes that are quite thick, so they can be created by changing the angle or the pressure depending on your tool.

Now I'm gonna go at drawing a zigzag line using thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes using a calligraphy tool.

Take a look at this here and you see how I'm going up then down, up then down, and how that tool is creating thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes.

Pause the video here, and using your calligraphy tool, draw and repeat a zigzag line with thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, hopefully, you created your zigzag lines like this showing the thick and the thin lines, and they can be created by maintaining the same angle or changing pressure depending on your tool.

Now let's have a go at drawing a wavy line using thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes using your calligraphy tool like this here.

So can you see I start going down thick and then go up thin, down thick.

So pause the video here, and using your calligraphy tool, draw and repeat a wavy line with thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, hopefully you were able to create that wavy line alternating between thick and thin lines, and this can be created by maintaining the same angle or changing pressure depending on your tool.

So well done for having a go at practising those different strokes.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What affects the thickness of a calligraphic stroke? Paper size, pen colour, pressure and angle.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that pressure and angle affect the thickness of a calligraphic stroke, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Strokes can be combined to form letters.

Can you see how each of these letters is created using the same downstroke as the letter C? Can you see on the red there how the C is on each of these letters? So we got A, C, D, E.

So we just got to add some more strokes in order to create different letters, but they can use the C to begin with.

Here are a selection of basic calligraphic strokes.

The direction for each upstroke is shown in red while the downstrokes are shown in blue.

Can you see those? Each letter of the alphabet can be broken down into individual strokes.

Some letters can be made using few strokes, like the letter C.

Others need to be broken down into stages, like the letter Y.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

A, what is an example of a basic calligraphic stroke.

So we need to fill in that missing gap.

Is it backstroke, downstroke, lightstroke? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about what the word is for that missing gap, and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that a downstroke is an example of a basic calligraphic stroke, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to practise drawing basic calligraphic strokes on paper.

Focus on maintaining consistent pressure and angle for each stroke and practise forming the letters A, B, and C using basic strokes.

So pause the video here and give yourself time to do that and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, hopefully, you had a go at practising those different strokes for A, B, and C, and those strokes should be consistent in thickness, demonstrating that control over the pressure and angle.

So yours look a bit like these on screen here.

Well done for having a go at practising those calligraphic strokes.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to have a go at creating and embellishing calligraphic designs.

Let's have a look at this word flourish.

Can you spot any fancy loops or swirls in this calligraphy? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What could you see? Any fancy loops or swirls? Well, a flourish is an embellishment to a letter, word, or phrase.

They are strokes that might incorporate lavish loops and skillful swirls.

And flourishes help to elevate calligraphic artworks by adding decoration to a design.

So you can see here where there is a lovely big loop and swirl on that F and here at the top and here on the I and the S got some lovely swirls, a nice added decoration.

Rhythm, energy, flow, and balance.

These are all words which may be used to describe a flourish.

Flourishes vary in difficulty and complexity.

They can take lots of practise to master, but you should still try them out and incorporate some in your calligraphy designs.

Flourishes can be added to letters, words, and phrases.

How could you incorporate flourishes in your own calligraphy? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? How could you incorporate those flourishes? Do you prefer to do it on the letters or the words or the phrases? I think I like it on the words.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What can enhance a calligraphic design? Coloured pencils, flourishes, rulers.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to answer this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that flourishes can enhance a calligraphic design, you're absolutely right, well done.

And here's some examples of different flourishes here.

When creating calligraphy, it is important to consider the placement of the letters and the strokes used.

This can be done by using a calligraphy practise sheet or you can use a ruler on a blank sheet of paper to sketch the layout of your design.

After practising the strokes and letters a few times, a ruler can be used to help position each letter correctly in the calligraphic design.

You see here in practise makes perfect.

Flourishes can then be lightly sketched in pencil.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why is planning layout important in calligraphy? To organise the design effectively, to make it a colourful design, to use more ink in the design.

Pause the video here, give yourself a moment to answer this question, and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that it's important to plan a layout, to organise and design effectively, you are absolutely right, well done.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to design and write a word, maybe your name or a phrase using calligraphy techniques, and then I'd like you to add decorative elements like flourishes to enhance your design.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have go at that and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Did you choose your name or did you go for a phrase? In this example, the phrase practise makes perfect has been written in calligraphy.

Consistent strokes were used and flourishes were added.

Well done if you are able to design your creative piece using calligraphy techniques.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about practising calligraphic techniques.

Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting.

Writing letters in a calligraphic style can be achieved by breaking them down into specific strokes.

Practising strokes helps to develop consistency in calligraphic writing.

Flourishes can be added to enhance the overall design.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.