It’s not easy making money from any artwork or craft, never mind calligraphy. A long time ago and before the age of the computer, I used to write out a verse or quotation then photocopy it onto Parchment or Marlmarque paper and sell these at craft fairs. I still took along some one off pieces, but these very rarely sold, whereas the A4 and A5 prints sold like hot cakes.
When home computers and scanners first became popular (and the Americans were at least 5 years ahead of us on this score) I remember there was a huge outcry, thinking that we calligraphers would be redundant and no longer needed. Little did we know then what a wonderful world we would open up.
The first scanners were awful. They tried to convert scanned Calligraphy into an OCR typeface and confused the operator as much as the computer. Over the years the quality and technology got better and better, as did the printers.
What calligraphers found hard at first was to uses modern technology to advance their work and make it easier, quicker and far less stressful than ever before. We no longer had to write out, cut and paste every little line and sentence (sometimes many times!) in order to achieve a great layout and then to rewrite the whole darn thing again, making the job twice as long as it needed to be. No is all we need is to write it out once, scan it, and move it around on the screen. Colour printers enable us to produce work and multiple copies which are affordable to the everyday, working class people and no longer exclusive to those who can afford our services. We can happily cut down on costs by using a combination of Calligraphy and Hand Lettering along with typeface. We can now do our own desk top publishing, and change the colours at the click of a mouse rather than write the whole thing again because the colour just wasn’t right.
Everyone thought people would choose to write things out on a computer rather than use the services of a calligrapher, but there’s something really special about Hand Lettering. It’s an art form, done by a human, with feelings and sprit. Sure, a computer font is very neat and very often designed by a calligrapher….but the little nuances that Calligraphy and Hand Lettering contain, just cannot be beaten. In fact, I really believe that the computer can only make people crave ‘REAL’ lettering all the more. The less we use handwriting today the more special Calligraphy looks and the more valued we seem to become.
When home computers and scanners first became popular (and the Americans were at least 5 years ahead of us on this score) I remember there was a huge outcry, thinking that we calligraphers would be redundant and no longer needed. Little did we know then what a wonderful world we would open up.
The first scanners were awful. They tried to convert scanned Calligraphy into an OCR typeface and confused the operator as much as the computer. Over the years the quality and technology got better and better, as did the printers.
What calligraphers found hard at first was to uses modern technology to advance their work and make it easier, quicker and far less stressful than ever before. We no longer had to write out, cut and paste every little line and sentence (sometimes many times!) in order to achieve a great layout and then to rewrite the whole darn thing again, making the job twice as long as it needed to be. No is all we need is to write it out once, scan it, and move it around on the screen. Colour printers enable us to produce work and multiple copies which are affordable to the everyday, working class people and no longer exclusive to those who can afford our services. We can happily cut down on costs by using a combination of Calligraphy and Hand Lettering along with typeface. We can now do our own desk top publishing, and change the colours at the click of a mouse rather than write the whole thing again because the colour just wasn’t right.
Everyone thought people would choose to write things out on a computer rather than use the services of a calligrapher, but there’s something really special about Hand Lettering. It’s an art form, done by a human, with feelings and sprit. Sure, a computer font is very neat and very often designed by a calligrapher….but the little nuances that Calligraphy and Hand Lettering contain, just cannot be beaten. In fact, I really believe that the computer can only make people crave ‘REAL’ lettering all the more. The less we use handwriting today the more special Calligraphy looks and the more valued we seem to become.
Embrace Change, Embrace Technology,
It’s here to stay so get used to it
So use it to your advantage.
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