Learning a new skill

For a very long time now I have enjoyed typography. Playing with fonts and lettering is the kind of art my extremely right-sided brain enjoys. I used to have a weekly routine of drawing out quotes and playing with words on chalkboards or whiteboards. I miss that routine and practice.

I have also signed up for countless modern calligraphy workshops, purchased many calligraphy pens, and have a pile of notebooks that would like to be filled with it. Calligraphy, though, has yet to become something I routinely practice. I think it is, if I'm being honest with myself, due to the stressful inability to erase mistakes. With chalkboards and whiteboards, I could take a cloth to one letter and try again without ruining hours worth of work. With calligraphy, you need it done right in one try. Maybe not the first try, but in a singular try. This is stressful for perfectionists like myself.

I do want to learn still. I miss the routine of playing with letters and quotes and think this is an opportune time to mix it up and challenge myself with a new format I have thrown such haphazard money and time at in the past. Consistency will be my new key.

I think progress will look like practicing letters over and over and finding a homogenous style for each. Success will look like getting some full phrases and quotes on paper without having to learn Photoshop to fix mistakes. If I get really good, I may use my new skill to make some things for my upcoming wedding, but we'll see how good I get first.

As I mentioned, I have well stocked myself with resources so far in my life, but not put them to good use. I have a box of nubs, ink, paper, and so forth that I will break out to start practicing. I also have in there instructions from previous workshops that I can use to refresh my memory. New resources I want to add  to my list this time around include YouTube and blogs.

For instance, through a blog called Dawn Nicole Designs, I found free practice sheets and one YouTube channel that looks helpful so far. As I start practicing with these links, I hope to figure out what kind of resources online are most helpful and find more of those.