'Calligraphy is the most intimate, private and spontaneous expressive means. Like a fingerprint or voice it is unique with every person'. - Hermann Zapf, German designer
Calligraphy as a form has always fascinated me. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do calligraphy. I love the look, feel and texture of things that are handwritten. Nobody writes handwritten letters anymore; and use digital means of communication with emoticons, abbreviations and standard lettering instead. I feel that handwriting is unique. It has a tremendous expressive power that a standard lettering isn’t able to achieve.
Hence, for my two-week Self Initiated Project, I explored and experimented with the Art of Calligraphy. I did so by working with the different types of materials, equipment, techniques, and styles to understand this form of art as much as possible. I wanted to explore the Devanagari script. During my initial research, I found out that unlike the Latin script, Devanangri has not been explored much. The Devanagari script is a widely used script in India, shared by a large number of languages. Apart from Hindi, ten other official languages of India share the same script.
The idea, which I wanted to experiment with, was to write the individual alphabets of Hindi language in calligraphy and incorporate the image of the word in the alphabet itself. Each letter is written using a calligraphy pen and ink. The angle had to be kept very precise while writing each alphabet. The background texture for the layout is written with stone and ink, which is then repeated as a pattern. For the final print, I used a criss–cross-textured paper – off white colour of 130 gsm. The print size is 4.5 W X 16 H inch. The experimentations were done using different materials and different equipment, to understand how different mediums work with each other.
The aim of doing this project was to understand this form of art within the given time frame along with acquiring the skill, experimenting, and coming up with a series of posters. The series is not complete as yet and I intend to take this forward and complete the entire alphabet series.
Calligraphy as a form has always fascinated me. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do calligraphy. I love the look, feel and texture of things that are handwritten. Nobody writes handwritten letters anymore; and use digital means of communication with emoticons, abbreviations and standard lettering instead. I feel that handwriting is unique. It has a tremendous expressive power that a standard lettering isn’t able to achieve.
Hence, for my two-week Self Initiated Project, I explored and experimented with the Art of Calligraphy. I did so by working with the different types of materials, equipment, techniques, and styles to understand this form of art as much as possible. I wanted to explore the Devanagari script. During my initial research, I found out that unlike the Latin script, Devanangri has not been explored much. The Devanagari script is a widely used script in India, shared by a large number of languages. Apart from Hindi, ten other official languages of India share the same script.
The idea, which I wanted to experiment with, was to write the individual alphabets of Hindi language in calligraphy and incorporate the image of the word in the alphabet itself. Each letter is written using a calligraphy pen and ink. The angle had to be kept very precise while writing each alphabet. The background texture for the layout is written with stone and ink, which is then repeated as a pattern. For the final print, I used a criss–cross-textured paper – off white colour of 130 gsm. The print size is 4.5 W X 16 H inch. The experimentations were done using different materials and different equipment, to understand how different mediums work with each other.
The aim of doing this project was to understand this form of art within the given time frame along with acquiring the skill, experimenting, and coming up with a series of posters. The series is not complete as yet and I intend to take this forward and complete the entire alphabet series.
Presentation Framing : Size: 4.5 X 16 inch
क (Ka) - कलम (Kalama) / Pen
ग (Gō) - गोल (Gōl) / Circular
म (Ma) - मछली (Machalī) / Fish
न (Na) - नल (Nala) / Tap
द (Da) - दिल (Dila) / Heart
ख़ (Ḵẖa) - ख़रगोश (Ḵẖaragōśa) / Rabbit
स (Sā) - साँप (Sām̐pa) / Snake
च (Chā) - चाबी (Chābi) / Key
च (Chā) - चाबी (Chābi) / Key
ठ (Ṭha) - ठहरो (Ṭhaero) / Stop
ब (Ba) - बिजली (Bijalī) / Lightning
Process Documentation
Tools Used: Fountain Pen Ink (Black), Brushes, Reed Pen, Calligraphy Pen, Ear Buds, Stone, Twigs, Ice cream stick, etc.
Test Prints
Final Print : 130 GSM Criss-cross textured paper off white colour
