Calligraphy
When I was in 4th grade, I _loved_ calligraphy. And dogs. That year, after Christmas but long before Amazon.com and its wealth of options, my dad took me to the bookstore, where I spent TWENTY-FIVE dollars on a calligraphy book. I also got a Young MC tape (Stone Cold Rhymin’), not to date myself haha.
Anyway, I studied that calligraphy book intensively (as an aside, I don’t think that book was a “how-to,” but like I said, there was no amazon.com). I practiced calligraphy frequently, and I had two different “calligraphy pens.” They were simply pens with a tip that was flat on one edge, which was all I needed. I was just learning, so a full-on calligraphy fountain pen seemed a bit premature. But man I thought those were cool.
The book covered different styles of calligraphy, and it probably had sections on the history, but I was in it for the aesthetics, not their lineage. Plus, I needed something to do later!
Anyway, I _loved_ calligraphy (and dogs). I copied those letters and did my best to look official. Whereas my handwriting sucked (and still does!), my calligraphy was decent. After all, that was the name of the game.
I’m currently reading a book about calligraphy and am fascinated (doubtlessly cuz I neglected to learn the history ages ago). I feel like I learned that writing was considered an art form, but that description really doesn’t do written letters justice. I’m having to go out of my way to avoid doing the same thing!
I got this calligraphy book [from Amazon, obviously] to learn how to draw letters in the style of the middle ages, but so far, I’ve only read about lettering and avoiding marauders.