Feature

The art of hand lettering

Tousif Osman

People are always delighted by something beautiful and something that strikes the eye. Be it fine arts, modern designs or old scriptures, we have always been fascinated by these sort of things. Calligraphy is one such method of writing beautifully. It's amazing that one or two extra strokes of your pen can make a letter look a lot more beautiful. In our age of technology, the appreciation and use of calligraphy has increased incredibly. You now see it everywhere - on signboards, wall graffiti, magazine covers, web pages, etc. Calligraphy is a good and fun hobby, a creative art and now a great business.

The word "Calligraphy" comes from the Greek words, "kallos" and "graphos", which mean beautiful writing. Almost everyone who knows how to use a pen can do calligraphy. It doesn't need a studio and requires very few other materials. It is an art form where patience and attention to detail are more important than artistic talent, though there are one or two artists who pop up with extraordinary talent for it. It is an art that everyone can enjoy - young and old alike.

There are a lot of online lessons available for free which will guide you through the basics on calligraphy and then if you want more on it, you can always buy extensive and detailed tutorial books. The best place to look for such books would be "nilkhet" but you might need to look around a lot. Here are some reproductions.

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