Fraktur Calligraphy
What you'll learn
- Write Fraktur style letters in calligraphy, both upper and lower case
- Use a 3.8 mm parallel pen to create hairline serifs
- Write a quote in Fraktur style calligraphy
- Find peace and serenity while writing in calligraphy
Requirements
- You'll need a 3.8 mm parallel pen or a traditional 4 mm nib or marker for calligraphy
Description
Fraktur. Just looking at the word itself allows us to guess its meaning, since it so ressembles the English word “fracture”. And that’s exactly it! Fraktur letters are “broken up” into bits with lots of angles and curves in them.
Fraktur falls into the category of Gothic styles of calligraphy, along with Textura Quadrata, Blackletter, Old English and their many variants. Credited to Albrecht Dürer and Hieronymus Andreae, Fraktur first appeared in the 16th century and was used regularly right up until the Second World War, especially in German-speaking countries. Even still, certain newspapers and ad agencies use Fraktur-style letters in printed paper titles, logos and advertisements.
Even if we tend to think of the gothic styles as being quite strict, the Fraktur has immense possibilities for decoration, fantasy and embellishment. What’s more, many letters have several different forms and styles. Variety is the spice of life!
This course was designed for a 3.8 mm parallel pen, although a traditional 4mm broad nib will do just as well. A pointed pen is not suitable for this type of calligraphy.
P.S. If you're a complete beginner in calligraphy, this probably isn't the best course to start will. Try the Simple Gothic Hand or the Foundational Hand first, then come back to this one.
Who this course is for:
- All persons interested in traditional, broad nib calligraphy, of any age.
Instructor
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 2,665 Reviews
- 55,149 Students
- 11 Courses
If you believe in reincarnation, I must have been a monk-scribe in a former life! How else can this love for hand-drawn letters be explained?
As a fashion designer-in-training, calligraphy was an option I took in my final year. Since then, practising and teaching the art of beautiful writing has been one of my major occupations.
For more than twenty years, I have been giving calligraphy courses to adults and children in the south of France, where I now reside. I particularly like working in places steeped in medieval history (like the Chartreuse at Villeneuve lez Avignon) or in classrooms where kids are positively insatiable when it comes to learning to use pen and ink or other traditional tools such as the calame.
Online classes are now the main activity of the non-profit group that I preside.