One of my goals this year was to learn modern calligraphy. I researched many different calligraphy styles, and modern calligraphy instantly caught my eye.
I don't know about you, but I always have second thoughts on purchasing things online. Are you always worried about getting scammed or that you will just regret your purchase?
So the safe route was to search for a free guide to learn this new skill. I searched and gave my email to so many websites and downloaded the practice sheets they provided.
It was not easy nor successful. I was using practice sheets in all the wrongs steps. My next step was youtube, I thought if I watched someone write I would simply copy their style and practice till I got better.
"This review is not an affiliate nor am I earning anything from it. I purchased this course and wanted to recommend it from my own experience"
Looking for the perfect free modern calligraphy course?
This is where I discovered Becca. I stumbled on one of her videos, and she starts by saying that "if you haven't learned the basic strokes, stop this video right now and go watch this one".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj962-cU2PQ
She offers a free "Show Me Your Drills" course with a downloadable workbook. I loved the fact that this workbook was sectioned into days and weeks. It takes the guessing out of everything, everyday you know what page you have to practice before moving on to the next. She also provides video tutorials as part of the course that explains everything from what supplies you need to how you should sit - she covers every detail.
How to stay motivated?
You get access to her private Facebook group that has other students learning the same course as you. Which many people find beneficial to stay motivated. You can get feedback on how your doing (I didn't really participate in the Facebook group) but would check it out to see other people's progress.
I found using habit trackers in my bullet journal so beneficial to stay motivated and be consistent.
Modern calligraphy course details
I was amazed to learn that Modern Calligraphy had nothing to do with your handwriting. Its several basic strokes you master by continuous practice, which is basically training your hand muscle memory.
After completing the workbook, I had learned all the basic strokes for a month. I was super excited to start learning letters. This is where you can purchase the whole package for half the price (which I wish I did from the get-go). If this wasn't suitable for you, your also given the option to pay half the price for the next workbook. I was still hesitant and thought since I mastered the basics I could do the rest on my own.
I practiced and practiced my letters and I didn't do too bad. When I was ready to practice my uppercase letters, it was not easy. I tried for two weeks but was way harder than I thought. I had to get it right and so I purchased her uppercase letters full price. This is when I realized how much time I wasted trying to learn on my own and how many mistakes I was making trying to teach myself. I went back to her site and purchase the lowercase letters and started practicing page by page.
6 Workbooks to complete the entire modern calligraphy course
- show me your drills - the free course you can learn all your basic strokes
- Miniscule (lowercase letters) - She provides variations of each letter
- Majuscule (uppercase letters) - Here you can learn the modern and traditional style of each letter. Your also provided with different styles to try
- Connections - Learn to connect your letters
- Bouncing and Stylizing - my favorite part. You learn bouncing and all the different ways to achieve different styles
- Flourishing - I haven't completed this workbook yet, but it's basically taking your lettering to the next step with flourishing and really allows you to create artistic designs.
I printed the workbooks and used tracing paper to practice, which Becca recommends. This way you don't ruin your brush pen and you don't need to print more than once.
Another great tip I recommend is I imported all the workbooks in my Goodnotes app on my iPad. This allows me to quickly get to variations of letters or if I need to remember a step while I'm bullet journaling.
After completing the lower and uppercase letters, I went and purchased the rest of her workbooks (I have one left to purchase) and have been working on those. While I'm still learning I've been using her workbooks for several months, I knew I had to review her courses for anyone that wants to learn modern calligraphy and doesn't know where to start.
Overall thoughts
I'm so happy with my progress and found this course thorough and guided me step-by-step, teaching me exactly what I needed to learn each day I practiced. Which is exactly what I was looking for.
To find out more about Becca, I encourage you to head over to her site at
https://www.thehappyevercrafter.com/courses/show-me-your-drills/
Try her free course and decide for yourself!
Bullet Journaling has really encouraged me to learn new skills like modern calligraphy, drawing, and painting. If you want to learn more about bullet journaling, I've got you covered, head over to my post here where you can get free templates to discover if bullet journaling is the right system for you.
Happy learning everyone :)
