‘A beautiful
handwriting’ is a remark which I have received since my school days. It was
because of my handwriting that my friends and peers remembered me. Writing is not just a way of presenting thoughts and ideas;
your handwriting can also become an important design tool.
I, Yuti Devale,
Graphic designer and Artist by profession never knew that my handwriting would
grow into my passion for calligraphy. I always felt that letters were created
by someone, somewhere, for a different purpose. I think various shapes,
strokes, thickness of individual letters always kept me on my toes to learn more
about them, practice them several times, which in turn created an entire world
of calligraphy within me.
I learned it
from my professor by just watching and observing his writing minutely. Calligraphy
has helped to improve my patience and my body posture while I am writing. My
hand movement has to be very smooth, which came with rigorous practice.
Buying calligraphy
tools for the first time was fascinating. Same was with cleaning and
maintaining them. It was enthralling to see how the ink flows, the sharpness of
tools when writing a letter, the perfection of words, the thickness of strokes,
the line quality, fluidity of various inks & colors. It captured my
attention and I got attached to it and developed a deep relationship with that
subject.
The first
letter which I wrote was from Devanagari script. I started with the first letter
from that script- ‘A’- and obviously it was not perfect as remarked by my
professor but soon perfection came with practice. I realized that each letter
had its own beauty and anatomy.
As a beginner
it was a challenging task but soon, I included Calligraphy as a part of my paintings
to create composition by just using different types and styles of script. I also
created designs not only on different types of papers but also on different
materials like wood, fabric, acrylic, etc.
From
Calligraphy I have learned different languages like Devanagari (it includes
Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit), Latin English, Old English, Gothic English, Urdu,
Arabic and Bengali and some scripts like Modi script (Ancient Indian language),
and Copperplate and Spencerian Scripts.
Like any art form, Calligraphy requires rigorous
practice at least for 8 to 10 hours a day. I accepted the challenge and gave 8
years to this Art and still feel that there is lot more to be explored.
I would say for
me ‘Calligraphy is imperfect’.
Keep Working & Keep Writing!
Calligraphy styles with different technique using ink on Fabric- Devanagari script demonstration done by Yuti Devale. Picture Credit- Yuti Devale
Calligraphy styles with different technique using ink on Fabric- Devanagari script demonstration done by Yuti Devale. Picture Credit- Yuti Devale
Bengali script – artwork done by Yuti Devale. Picture Credit- Yuti Devale
Author:
Yuti Devale, Assistant Professor, Foundation, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID)
Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.