Learning Arabic Calligraphy

[smk]

I have started learning a new style of Arabic Calligraphy called Naskh. It was quite a struggle to find instructions and get prepared for the learning process but I'm glad to report that I'm well on my way to learning this hand.

 

I am wondering if anyone else is interested in learning Arabic Calligraphy - and Naskh in particular? If so, how about joining me and we can learn it together. I can offer help with getting the materials ready (I'm using left-oblique nibs in FPs as well a reed pens) and share the instructions I have found.

 

Naskh is used mainly to write the Quran as it's fairly quick to execute and is easy to read. Some other styles like Thuluth (or Sulus) or Nastaliq are very beautiful but not as easy to read. Here is an example of Naskh:

 

http://amshaq.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/fatiha_celinesih_w_o.jpg

 

Regards,

Salman

[Titanic9990]

That's beautiful I have always wanted to learn arabic. As of right now I am doing much the same thing, but with Ancient Greek. This is fascinating, please keep us posted as to your progress. Recently I saw a bunch of examples of Naskh at the MFA here in Boston -very beautiful

[Ghost Plane]

I'll happily watch

[HDoug]

Would love to follow along.

 

Doug

[Deirdre]

I'd love to learn to write Arabic (and read it), but I'm afraid calligraphy and I weren't meant for each other. I do love Arabic calligraphy, though!

[smk]

I will be happy to share my exercise sheets from time to time. I'm still practicing the individual letters - which isn't all that exciting.

 

In Arabic writing letters take different shapes depending on whether they fall at the beginning, middle or the end of a word. This is learned by writing each letter combined with all other letters - this second stage is when things start getting interesting.

 

The third stage is writing words and some of the letter combinations have to be modified further depending on the structure of the word. This is usually learned by practicing writing proverbs or poetry.

 

I'm using a modified nib from a Hero Calligraphy set transplanted into a Noodler's Creeper. I modified the nib to be about 3.5mm left oblique and had to change the curvature on it a bit so it will fit in the narrower section on the Noodler's. The large size allows me to see what's happening on the page and one can spot irregularities easily. I also use reed or bamboo pens at about the same size. The reed pens have an advantage over the metal nibs where the edge nib is used for drawing parts of letters which is easier to do with reed pens - this happens quite frequently in Naskh.

 

S.

Edited September 12, 2012 by smk

[Najdorf]

I love arabic Calligraphy, my parents are both from tunisia, and talk arabic and french so i understand the language, and i learned arabic in school,

but today i almost dont remember not of the letters, but i think it will come back to me fairly quickly.

 

here's a funny story, few days ago my father came to see me in my studio and he saw all this calligraphy learning of mine,

and he told for the first time in my life, that my grandfather used to write signs in arabic back in tunisia, and did calligraphy for local government,

after that he looked at the 6mm pilot parallel in my hand, took it and draw few words in gothic textura, almost perfectly, and then he told me that was his hobby.

without knowing that, i am a graphic designer, specialized in typography, i always loved letters and only now decided to learn calligraphy.

 

Now back to arabic calligraphy, few years ago i attended to a workshop at typographers conference in turkey and this guy was there -> http://wissamshawkat.com/

and he absolutely, blew my mind... so maybe its time to a closure.

 

Ill sure try to follow along, maybe from all this arabic, hebrew, latin fusion i will come up with something new.

 

Hope i didnt carried away with the stories to much...

[Hanoi]

Of all the writing systems, I think Arabic has the most visual appeal for me.

[Wolverine1]

Salman- I speak Urdu, but dont know how to read or write it. Could you suggest some materials that might help be studying Urdu calligraphy.

BTW, the Naksh you have done is beautiful!!!!!!

I want to learn how to write the Shahadat and Kalima in the Urdu script.

[smk]

Najdorf - what a lovely story about your father.

 

I have seen Wissam Shaukat's work in DIFC in Dubai where I have had many meetings. I have not had a chance to meet him though. His work is lovely, I especially like the script he created himself - it takes full advantage of the discipline the classic styles teach and at the same time is clearly individual and flamboyant in places.

 

Titanic and Deirdre - learning to write Arabic is a bit of challenge. I believe it would be easier to start with learning to read it so one gets used to the different shapes letters can take. Here's a guide that will help:

 

Complete Guide to Arabic Script by Rym Bettaieb: Part 1, Part 2.

 

Sid - Urdu is written in Arabic script. It's written without the diacritical marks and has a few more letters in the alphabet but reading and writing Urdu and Arabic is very similar. Just like one can read and write Spanish and French if you know English even if you don't know what it means or how its pronounced. The Shahadah and Kalima are both in Arabic and that's the way we write it. I'll write them out for you in monoline so you can start practicing.

 

Urdu Caligraphy is mostly done in Nastaliq script - which is also used mainly in writing Farsi. Another popular script for Urdu used to be Shikasta - again originating from Iran. Nastaliq is a tough one to learn as a lot of it is drawn and requires quite a lot of pen manipulation - but there's good news for you. There are a number of videos on Youtube showing how this hand is written with instructions in Urdu. Check it out here: Youtube - Nastaliq - there are some more here: Mehr Arts.

 

As for the materials, its easiest to use a reed or bamboo pen but it takes a bit of doing to find an ink that flows well off it - I mostly use Walnut ink as its quite easy to change its consistency. I also practice with italic nibs ground to 15-20 degrees left-oblique - the italic nib can be the dip pen variety or on an FP.

 

It might be a good idea to learn the letters with a regular monoline nib first and then start practicing with a qalam.

 

I hope this gets you started - please feel free to let me know if it doesn't :-)

 

Salman

[Wolverine1]

Salman- Thanks a lot!!!!! I will check out the youTube videos right away. Thank you.

Shukriya, Salman-Saab.

[smk]

Here are the tools I'm using to learn Naskh. I'm using fountain pens instead of reed pens for learning this style. This is because learning Naskh is in fact preparation for a rather ambitious project that is better done with metal nibs. I have a couple of dip pen nibs I have modified that I try out from time to time.

 

Here's an image of the pens I'm using:

 

 

From Right to Left (these are for Arabic writing after all :-)

 

Noodler's Creeper with a nib pulled from Hero Calligraphy set. This nib is actually a bit too big to fit in the Creeper section so I had to modify the curvature a little bit. The length of the nib allowed me to get fairly large oblique cut from it while still keeping good clearance from the feed. The nib is a little more than 3mm wide. The feed on the Creeper allows for a nice wet line.

 

Dollar 717i with a nib from an Inoxcrom school pen. The nibs from Inoxcrom school pens fit the Dollar section perfectly and have more than enough length to get a good cut from it. This nib is just shy of 2mm wide.

 

Sheaffer No Nonsense Calligraphy pen (M-nib) ground to left-oblique. This is about the same size as the Dollar but I find this pen to be quite temperamental with some inks. I have also modified a No Nonsense with a B nib which gives me a 2mm wide line but is once again choosy about inks.

 

Dollar 717 Qalam. This pen comes with a left-oblique nib. I have taken a bit from the bottom of the nib to make it slightly sharper. This pen isn't really useful for learning as you lose a lot of the detail at the small size this pen writes at.

 

Just as learning Western Calligraphy, it is much easier to learn a style using wider nibs. I start out my practice sessions with the Creeper to get a sense of the angles and proportion. In Arabic hands, you write the letter first and then measure the various components to see if you got the relative proportions correctly. You do use the guidelines but they provide only partial guidance. Also, there is a fair bit of nib manipulation required which is much easier to see with a broader nib.

 

After I get the hang of it with the broad nib I use the Dollar or the Sheaffer to practice a bit more. Inconsistencies usually show up at smaller sizes just as if you were looking at your work from afar. I go back and forth between this size (approx. 2mm) and the larger size (a bit more than 3mm) to sort out any issues.

 

I use the Dollar Qalam to see how the hand would look as a running hand. I had hoped I would be able to execute this hand at a small size for my project but I think the Qalam is a bit too small - many details are lost and it is very tiring to write properly at this size. I still practice with it at the end of a session but I'm not sure if I'll end up using this.

 

Here's a picture of a practice page and has examples of all three nib widths. This is more doodling than serious practice but the practice sheets look pretty much the same. The letter being practiced here is 'Meem' (م).

 

 

I hope this is useful in some way to somebody :-) Please do let me know if you have any questions.

 

Salman

[thleeal]

Wow, im inspired.

 

I've been picking this up recently and im taking to it slowly but well.

 

Salman, beautiful.

 

Najdorf, stories are amazing, dont worry about it being too long, i though it was a little short.

 

My own experience, is that i always found reading and writing difficult, found out at university i was dyslexic. Arabic was always too intimidating or confusing for me, or i didn't have the patients for it. a few weeks ago i ordered a fountain pen and took my time with it, as i quickly got better at writing english i turned my hand to arabic... (after a restless night, which led me to file down a nib :S) very slowly i am getting there, the letters seem to be making sense more, and i am becoming familiar with them, and insh'allah ill be able to read arabic by the time i am done, baby steps at the moment though.

Any help is more than appreciated.

 

ps i ordered a pilot parallel. i can see myself making a huge mess with a dip nib....

keep us posted with progress... lots of pictures too.

[smk]

Thank you for the post thleeal. I had let this topic slip but now that I know you are interested I will start posting my practice sheets.

 

BTW the sample in my first post is not mine - it is done by a master Calligrapher Mohammad Ozchai.

 

I don't have Pilot Parallel pens but from what I've read and seen they look like a lot of fun - not good for Arabic writing though :-) I will be more than happy to help with learning to write Arabic - just let me know what you need help with.

 

Salman

[thleeal]

Sent you a PM...

 

But that sounds good.... yeah that first pic did look a little spectacular to be done by a beginner

[tdzb36]

beautiful

[Aaisha]

Hello

I am looking into learning Naksh script and am making qalams. It'd be great if you could share any exercises / tips electronically. I live in the UK

Kind regards

[Ghost Plane]

Until SMK responds, do a quick search of the forum and you'll find a few videos he uploaded.

[smk]

Thank you GP - are you thinking of the videos on learning Arabic handwriting?

 

Aaisha - welcome to FPN. I did not make any videos on learning calligraphy but lately I have been thinking of putting some up. Maybe even a Google Hangout for doing calligraphy in a group. We would set something like that up if we can muster a group together.

 

Cutting qalams is pretty straightforward. There are many videos around that show how. The trick to get good reeds. Half-inch bamboo stakes will work in a pinch and actually last quite a long time - they are harder to cut though. Make sure you have a sturdy and sharp knife and make small cuts. Cutting reeds or bamboo is not a race.

 

Getting ink and paper to work for you will be another challenge. Finger painting pads work beautifully for practising. The paper is slick and can tolerate the wetness of the ink without buckling - and they are cheap. I found, much to my surprise, that Quink Black from Parker worked quite well with a reed qalam on this paper. Arabic Calligraphy is typically done with pigmented ink and uses Gum Arabic as a binder. There are a number of such inks available. Some calligraphers get good results with Sumi ink too but there are many brands and not all of them work well. I think Moon Palace Sumi is well liked but I have not used it myself.

 

It is worth the effort to get your qalam, ink and paper working properly before you start learning calligraphy. Your tools should work reliably and not get in the way of your writing - this way you will get maximum benefit from your practice time.

 

Naskh is not the toughest hand to learn but it does take some work. I have a link for a bunch of books on various hands but I cannot locate it at the moment. I will update this thread when I find it. You can work on getting your qalam, ink and paper ready in the meantime.

 

If anyone else is interested in starting to learn calligraphy - please let me know and we can start a hangout where I will be more than happy to share what I know. If not, I will be more than happy to go over the basics of cutting qalams and getting started over Skype Aaisha.

 

Regards,

Salman

[mmg122]

Najdorf...those were wonderful stories. Thanks for sharing them with us. Arabic Caligraphy is indeed a beautiful script. Good luck with your ongoing studies.