Italic Script with a Brush Pen

Historically, italic calligraphy is one of the most beautiful for its elegant and decorative strokes. Its refined and elegant curves are full of expression, and the emotion of each letter can be reinforced by the shape, composition, and colors chosen. Calligrapher Bego Viñuela is an expert in this discipline with over eight years of experience. Her personal style and mastery of the brush have led her to work with Montblanc, San Miguel, and the Guggenheim Museum, in Bilbao (Spain).

In her first course, English Calligraphy from A to Z, Bego teaches how to work with the Copperplate calligraphy and how to rediscover the value of the handmade letter, and in this one, she will teach you to create italic calligraphy with a brush pen. You will learn to work the ductus, you will understand the shapes and counterforms, you will see how to use the brush and the possibilities it offers. You will combine forms of other alphabets and at the end of the course, you will be able to create full-of-strength visually attractive pieces. Finally, you will experiment with different techniques such as watercolor or masking ink.

You will start the course knowing Bego, who will tell you about his career as a professional calligrapher, his work and his influences. He will briefly explain what you will do during the course.

You will make an introduction to italic calligraphy and its origins. You will see the necessary materials for the course and you will get to work: you will begin to work the basic forms first with the pencil and then with the brush pen or brush.

Then, you will begin to make calligraphy with the pencil to understand well what is the ductus of the letter and you will internalize its forms to move to the brush. You will see a demonstration of the alphabet and Bego will explain the letters in groups. Then, you will practice with the brush until you get fluent, you will work on the basic features and strengthen concepts such as pressure, inclination, speed and contrasts.

You will trace the first letters with a brush starting with the lowercase letters, working them by families and also in isolation, and identifying the spaces and unions to make your first words. You will make the alphabet in capital letters and write a simple phrase that contains all the letters (pangram), which will help you practice. Then you will explore the numbers and diacritical signs.

You will experiment with the strokes playing with thicknesses and contrasts, and you will perform some inclination and movement exercises to achieve dynamism. You will see how to use watercolors to create gradients and color transitions, getting visually striking finishes.

Ready! You already have all the knowledge for your final project. Bego will advise you to create the sketch of your phrase in italic letters, the choice of support, colors, composition and techniques; Finally, he will talk about how to photograph your work to show it on social networks and teach you how to pack and prepare your work to send it by mail.

You’ll develop a sheet that collects all the knowledge about italic calligraphy learned in the course.

All those who want to create using letters. Anyone interested in calligraphy—with or without previous experience—will find this to be a great introductory course.

No prior knowledge on the subject is necessary since Bego will teach you from the beginning how to do this type of calligraphy. You’ll just need a tip brush, paper, ink, and watercolors.