Technique / 10 minute exercise
Make contrast with an ordinary pen
Faux calligraphy is drawn lettering: you add thickness after writing the basic shape. It is a useful way to understand thick and thin strokes without a flexible tool.
Take it step by step
- Write a short word slowly, leaving more space than you normally would between letters. Keep its skeleton readable before adding weight.
- Retrace the movement in the air. Wherever your hand traveled downward, draw a second line beside that part of the stroke. Choose a consistent side where possible.
- Taper the added outline near turns and joins. Avoid filling every curve indiscriminately: the change in direction determines the weight.
- Fill the outlined areas. Check the enclosed spaces in a, e, and o; if they have closed up, make your next skeleton more spacious.
Your turn
Try this on paper
Write “hello” three times. Leave the first as a skeleton, outline the second, and fill the third. Compare how the interior spaces change.
Make a practice sheet →Before you move on
Are the downstrokes consistently heavier without blocking small counters?
Repeat the exercise if you want to. Marking a lesson complete records your practice, not a claim of mastery.
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