I learned Western calligraphy from a new friend, a Western calligrapher Jeannette in Germany for the first time through Zoom on 26th March. I am very happy to know a variety of writing styles, Gebrochene schriften (Blackletter), Humanistische Minuskel (handwritten book script), and so on. Western calligraphy had completely different writing instruments and writing styles from Japanese calligraphy. But, it was a fresh surprise to me to find that one of tips given from her "drawing like a picture" was exactly the same as that of Japanese calligraphy.
In her lesson, I wrote some characters following examples she gave me. But, I couldn't read some of the characters that were connected by lines like Renmensen used in Japanese calligraphy, and some of the characters that had very unique shapes. And then, I asked her how to read them, so she taught it is more important to create a balanced picture than to be able to read. It was very interesting about her idea. Because a lot of unreadable characters in the creative works of Japanese calligraphy is the same reason with what she mentioned.
In the case of Chinese character "kanji," it is said to be originally made up of a picture. Each of which has a meaning, so it is called an ideograph character. For example, a word 海岸 (kaigan: coast) is combined 海 (umi: ocean) with 岸 (kishi: shore), and becomes a word which has a new meaning "coast". If I wrote 海岸 creatively, I would write two characters as if I were drawing the sea and shore. That's why it is natural that I would "create a balanced picture."
Similarly, the root of alphabet is said to be Greek letters, and each letter is made up of a picture. Referrence: WHERE LETTERS COME FROM
What is different from the Chinese character is that the alphabet is categorized as a phonetic character that means each letter indicates a sound. So, the individual letters compose a word do not contribute to the meaning of the word. For example, a word "cat" is a combination of c (camel's hump), a (bull's head), and t (layperson's signature). So, meanings of three letters are not related to the meaning of a word "cat." That's why I was surprised and I am interested in her idea for drawing them like a picture when combining letters with completely different meanings. I would like to discuss with her at the next lesson.
I received calligraphy pens from her in Germany the next day of the first lesson! I am happy for her sending me a letter with her beautiful calligraphy and basic examples for practicing Western calligraphy. I am looking forward to learn again using these pens in the next lessons!
Ms. Jeannette's work is featured in the International Virtual Calligraphy Exhibition below. You can see her work around 2:20. The combination of her abstractly drawn letters is amazing! https://youtu.be/gaVFZLjmvjQ