KOCHI: Two years ago, Kochi native and artist Nazia Aslam was on the lookout for options to improve her 11-year-old son’s handwriting. Though she failed to find a training centre in her hometown, she came across an online handwriting improvement course provided by Penkraft, a popular art and craft training centre based in Mumbai. Fast forward to now, Nazia is a certified teacher of an online handwriting improvement and calligraphy course from the centre.
After witnessing the change in her son’s writing, Nazia chose to reach out to other children and help them improve their handwriting through her online sessions. “I provide handwriting improvement courses in cursive and print to children between 6 and 17 years of age. The sessions are an hour-long,” says Nazia who even has foreign students.
Elaborating on the technique, Nazia says that the ideal age for improving handwriting is between 6 to 8 years. “With online classes, kids are not in regular touch with pen and pencil. In my courses, they get less screen time as they are made to write on the workbooks more. I wish to make them fall in love with pen and paper though we are living in a digital era,” she says.
Nazia also conducts workshops for women and children in calligraphy, fluid art, doodling and mandala. Nazia owns her art and craft centre, Kreative Handz in Ravipuram. “For the calligraphy workshops, I provide students with kits consisting of paper, brush pen, oblique holder, nibs and inks.
I feature calligraphy scripts like the cut nib, brush pen and copper plate where the latter two are my personal favourites. Copperplate is a kind of script or font written using an oblique holder, nib and ink. The beauty of calligraphy lies on the tools used and style of writing,” adds Nazia.
Nazia comments that these writing and drawing techniques are a good choice to soothe one’s mind during these pandemic times. “Doodling and mandala art helps with concentration, reduces stress and prompts one to turn creative,” beams Nazia. @thekreativehandz on Instagram