Calligraphy Student Spotlight: Paula Dakin

I'm Paula Dakin and currently working in brand design consultation and exploring new ways to combine my creative interests with career opportunities. I live in Elwood – a beautiful leafy suburb in the heart of Melbourne, Australia.

I've been doing intermittent calligraphy classes for quite a long period, but actually practising the skill has been an 'on and off' process, usually centred around the time of each course. I think my first calligraphy short course was completed around 2018, and I've studied various styles in the years since.

I've always appreciated the aesthetic appeal of lettering and handwriting. As a child, I loved watching my father write bold script in a ledger book with his heavy fountain pen, and used to try to sign my surname with the same flourishes he used. In Primary school, I spent a lot of time designing the front covers of my projects with 'bubble writing' complete with 3D shading and flourishes. It's no wonder I chose visual communication as a career.

I'm sitting somewhere between beginner and intermediate stage. With a design background, I have experience in concept development, layout and typographic spacing, but still need to build up my 'pen driving hours' (as Maria would say). I improve each time I undertake a course, but need to fully embed a regular practice routine to get the consistency and steady hand required to progress to an intermediate level.

I've tried both. I don't think you can beat the experience of being in the room with your teacher and other students – picking up all the nuances of the process and being inspired by the work around you. That said, it's definitely a skill that can be effectively taught online when you can't be there in-person.

Honestly, Maria Montes has had the most influence on my calligraphy development. I've undertaken many of her courses, and attended her first weekend calligraphy retreat. Seeing someone with a passion for both the practice and passing on what she has learned has been inspiring. Even though Maria is an accomplished calligrapher, in her own way she relates to our student struggles to improve, and she critiques work from a place of empathy and understanding.

Try to get the experience of a calligraphy course to learn good foundational basics. Then start practising as often as you can and aim to enjoy the process. Don't be too hard on yourself in the beginning – it's great to look back after a few weeks and see how much your work has improved.

I love Copperplate for it's elegance and flow, and have recently become a fan of Blackletter – I'm attracted to the boldness and the gothic moodiness of its letterforms – visually, it packs a punch.

At the moment it's 100% analogue, although I'm keen to try calligraphy on the digital platform. That said, as a graphic designer I've always found freehand sketching expands my creativity at the concept stage, and have loved the organic way elements like the texture of materials, and lack of technical precision, can add personality to a piece... I think those characteristics translate to calligraphy too.

A combination, but it's a work in progress. Where possible, I try to wrap my work and creative passions together. Life's too short to not try to enjoy what you're doing the majority of time.

I’ve completed a lot of client work in a design sense, which has incorporated typography, lettering and imagery, but not technically worked as a calligrapher. I'd like to take on some commissions, but accept that it will be a learning curve, and satisfying clients will add pressure to the process.

My control of contrast in lineweight and my spacing across letters and words have improved, but there's still a lot of practice required before I'll reach the consistency that I'm looking for across a page of work. I've found swashes and flourishing difficult to execute smoothly, but I'm making progress.

My design work has often been based on the computer, but the body posture required for calligraphy is different. I'm not sure that's a 'technical habit', but I'm trying to be aware of how I'm sitting at the desk over the work and maintaining a good position for writing. Otherwise I find that my work is inconsistent, and my shoulders sometimes tighten up in an attempt to control and almost force the nib to 'do better'. :)

I'm more aware of how consistency in fine details like loops and oval shapes can make or break the elegance of a piece.

The importance of being aware of breath and fluid arm movement when you're trying to smoothly control the pen. Recently I've become aware of a sort of rhythm that experienced calligraphers use when they're flourishing and lifting the nib of the paper at the end of a line.

Recently I've been trying to maintain the habit of practising every day, preferably in the morning, even if it's only for 15 minutes when I'm busy.

You have to accept that your calligraphy will flow more easily some days than others, and it's especially noticeable when you're at beginner level. Sometimes slowing down and changing the process somehow – the nib, the ink colour, even the paper you're using – can get you out of a rut.

It's a bit of a subconscious decision for me, and can change according to my mood on a particular day. Sometimes I'm happy to repeat writing words until I see an improvement in style, and other times I'm looking to practise something a lot more creative and free form.

At the stage I'm currently at, doing repetitions of a piece usually seems to achieve encouraging improvement.

It's interesting. Initially you analyse on a surface level, and just know that a piece of calligraphy looks good or not. But you can't necessarily pinpoint the characteristics that are contributing to that result.

As you progress, you start to see more of the elements that make up a style – the contrast, the shapes, the spacing – and are able to judge when they're working well together.

The main inconsistency for me has been in character width. I have a tendency to write wide, and the habit creeps into the middle of a longer piece sometimes.

They're a great reference when learning the standard style of each letter, and the variations provide ideas when I'm ready to extend into designing a composition.

It plays an important role. Even on 'off days', I usually see a improvement of character styling and consistency across multiple drafts.

When I've put in sufficient recent practice to feel confident with the writing tool and the calligraphy style. The muscle memory is there, and It frees me up to focus on the job at hand.

I struggle most when I change to a completely different tool, like when I moved from a pointed nib to a brush pen recently. It took me a few hours of practice to become accustomed to the more subtle feel of the brush on the paper surface when I was trying to create thin strokes.

I'm attracted to styles with strong personality such as extreme contrast or movement, and generally prefer lots of negative space and elegance.

For me, it's an extension of my practice as a graphic designer. I've always liked adding a personal touch to my work. It makes it more uniquely yours.

Doing work in front of a client audience, or when you're working on material that has no room for error! At this stage I'd also find it difficult working free form, such as on a 3D surface where it's hard to use guides.

I've improved through the learning, and been motivated when I've compared the revisited project to my original attempt.

It's been most useful when I've had a project draft ready early enough to get a critique and apply improvements to the final piece. That's a process I wish I'd prioritised earlier in the course.

Not yet, but I'd like to in the near future.

To maintain a daily calligraphy practice now that I've finished a 16 class series. I'd like to improve my skill level, but also create some more comprehensive projects to discover ways to express my personal design style.

This is a bit of a teaser because I'm not ready to share the details, but doing the course has given me the idea of an interesting career change that I'm currently exploring. It's related to the skills I've been developing in calligraphy, and inspired by the entrepreneurial ventures of Maria and many of my fellow students.

This is a 'coming soon'. Once I build up a few more pieces of work that I'm happy with, I'd love to get them out into the world.