Creative Calligraphy: Find Your Style with a Sketchbook
A course by João Varela
, Lettering Artist and Type Designer
Experiment with brush strokes and lettering techniques to develop your own unique visual language
- 100% positive reviews (9)
- 338 students
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
Experiment with brush strokes and lettering techniques to develop your own unique visual language
- 100% positive reviews (9)
- 338 students
- 15 lessons (2h 37m)
- 18 additional resources (8 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
“I've always thought that words are the best conveyor of meaning, both through their message and their shape.”
Lettering artist and type designer João Varela specializes in using different materials, techniques, and styles to design experimental letter forms based on traditional calligraphy. He collaborates with clients and studios, alongside publishing his personal projects and sharing his creative process on social media.
In this online course, João teaches you the basics of traditional calligraphy and how to reinvent it, from simple geometric strokes to more elaborate letters. Develop your own sketchbook, filled with creative lettering exercises and use it to help you build your artistic style. Find your stroke and intensify the power of written language.
What will you learn in this online course?
Course table of contents
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U1U1. Introduction
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U2U2. Creative Calligraphy: Let’s Get Started!
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U3U3. Expression and Tools
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U4U4. Bringing It All Together
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FPFP Final project
Begin the course by getting to know lettering artist and type designer João Varela. Discover how he turned a teenage love for graffiti into a career in designing letters, along with the influences that inspire him and his work.
Dive into experimental calligraphy and the rich history of the art form. Then look at the changing function of handwriting over time and the impact of technology. Begin drawing with lines and glyphs, and review different styles of calligraphy along with their characteristics.
Experiment with single strokes before moving on to letters, and eventually words. João shows you how to reinvent classic tools to create new letterform designs. Scale up your letters and explore ink for unexpected results.
Bring all of your exercises together and prepare them in the form of a sketchbook that you can use for future inspiration. To wrap up the course, João guides you through the process of binding your sketchbook, from cutting the paper to stitching and gluing.
What is this course's project?
Fill a sketchbook with calligraphy exercises, exploring different tools and techniques to build a habit of practice.
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone with an interest in expressing their creativity through creative calligraphy.
Requirements and materials
Basic calligraphy experience is required.
In terms of materials, you will need:
paper
Indian ink
gouache
acrylic paint
brush markers
a broad nib pen, and a few other materials specified by the teacher in the course.
Reviews
A course by João Varela
João Varela is a lettering artist and type designer based in Lisbon, Portugal. His passion for letters started in his teenage years with graffiti, and he’s since dedicated himself to creating expressive lettering in different mediums and styles. João went on to study graphic design at ESAD in Caldas de Rainha, and a master’s degree in type design at Écal, but also considers himself to be largely self-taught.
He is known for his experimental approach to calligraphy that challenges the traditional methods. As well as collaborating with clients and studios, João is committed to his personal projects, including a self-published book on his creative process. He also documents his work via Instagram.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Creative Calligraphy: Let’s Get Started!
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Experimental Calligraphy
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Calligraphy through Time
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A Switch in Function
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From Lines to Glyphs
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Historic Scripts
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U3
Expression and Tools
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Expression with a Single Stroke
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Breaking Down a Character
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Expressive Words
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Tools Make Shapes
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Scaling Up
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Playing with Ink
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U4
Bringing It All Together
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Preparing the Sketchbook
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Joining Everything Together
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FP
Final project
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Creative Calligraphy: Find Your Style with a Sketchbook
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
joannazakrzewska15
Bardzo fajny kurs. Kaligrafia eksperymentalna jest dla każdego i każdy znajdzie w niej coś fajnego. Super, że na końcu kursu powstaje szkicownik. Dzięki temu mam referencje do swoich przyszłych prac. Bardzo polecam!
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dianart_21
Personalmente me ha enriquecido la experiencia ya que es un gran aporte para quienes hacemos pintura contiene la tensión del dibujo y la expresión plastica. Un gran logro para mi.
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beatrizdipp
PlusMuy interesante la mirada distinta a la caligrafía !
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ronschularia
Content nicely presented, even a short historical overview included. Nice additional links and documents. Thoughtful course plan.
riospaul
PlusInteresante enfoque para soltar la creatividad y la mano, romper reglas y arriesgarse a aplicar herramientas distintas
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