CHENNAI: Hand lettering and calligraphy are both beautiful and satisfying in their own ways. And brush lettering pays tribute to both by combining them. The newage art form has slowly been gaining popularity among the aficionados in the city and Madcap is conducting a ‘from the scratch’ workshop on December 3.
Curator Vidya Kumaresan, a designer and founder of The Wishing Ink, tells us why the art is unique and another step towards a ‘handmade’ future. “I did BTech in agricultural technology. In our second year design was one of the subjects and that’s when I realised that I was interested in that field,” recalls Namakkal-based Vidya.
After completing the course, she pursued a diploma in graphic designing and shares that she instantly fell in love with everything about designing. “I worked for two years as a graphic designer. But I wanted to do more illustrations. That’s when I quit my job and started my own company — The Wishing Ink,” she narrates.
Since then, Vidya has been making handmade cards involving different techniques and styles, predominantly brush lettering. “I came across brush lettering on Instagram and learnt the process, techniques and the tools to be used from the internet. It was a self-taught process and it took me about four months to understand the nuances of it,” shares Vidya.
She says that if a person doesn’t get the strokes right the first time, they give up on it. “It happened to me as well. I chose the advanced tools when I was just a beginner and I learnt it the hard way. I couldn’t find people teaching this in Tamil Nadu. So, I decided to host a workshop along with Madcap,” she says.
The workshop will not only provide hands-on experience but will also send you back home with a 40-page workbook with practice sheets. “It doesn’t end with the workshop. And, this is a workshop for beginners so, you don’t need any prior experience in lettering!” she exclaims.
Brush pens are primary tools used here and Vidya emphasises that choosing the right pen is important to get the perfect end result. “It’s a step wise process and once people get a hang of it, there’s no going back. After all, this is about making something with your hands — be it greeting cards, posters, postcards or even wedding invites, you can do it all!” she shares.
The scope of the art doesn’t stop with just brush pen on paper but it can also be processed on wood board, chalkboard, embossing, leather and coffee mugs. “These are just some of the mediums. We can even digitise the works,” she shares.
The art is unique for various reasons including this one reason — it has evolved from traditional calligraphy. “But unlike traditional calligraphy, where ink pens or the nibbed pens are used, here we use brush pens. We also use water colour pens and sometimes a ball pen would do! It all depends on the style and typography,” she explains.
Traditional calligraphy is based on muscle memory and comes with a lot of practice. Brush lettering needs practice too but for instance, it’s not necessary that ‘A’ has to be in a one-way font. “Brush lettering is more of drawing than writing and there are several ways in which it can be stylised,” she explains.
Madcap will be conducting the workshop on December 3 at IITM Research Park, Taramani, from 10 am onwards. To register, visit: http://bit.ly/2yguy6G