Calligraphy Biz Corner
Have you been itching to turn your creative passion into a business? You're in the right place! We're Shaochen and Alane, calligraphy biz besties who built our dream businesses from scratch, and we're spilling the ink on how you can too!
Join us on Calligraphy Biz Corner for biweekly biz chats, where we guide you through the maze of running a creative business, complete with real-life strategy and mindset magic. As two full time wedding calligraphers and business educators, we have over a decade of business experience working with hundreds of wedding, luxury and corporate clients, and we've mentored hundreds of calligraphers just like you. Together, let's uncover the business that supports the life YOU want and leave the overwhelm and imposter syndrome behind.
Get ready to hear our successes, stumbles, and insider insights -- we're here to give it to you straight and make your solopreneur journey less lonely by being in your corner! So come join the inner circle of two business-savvy calligraphers who've been there, inked that ✍️
Calligraphy Biz Corner
Minisode 1: Learning Calligraphy Skills Whether You're a Beginner or a Pro
In this bite-sized episode of Calligraphy Biz Corner, we’re answering a listener’s questions about the process of learning calligraphy and art skills.
We dive into how long to practice one script before moving on, whether it's okay to learn multiple scripts at once, and how muscle memory plays a role in your progress. We also chat about which calligraphy scripts are most in demand for weddings and how to balance learning other creative skills like illustration or bottle painting alongside your calligraphy practice.
Whether you’re new to the calligraphy world or a seasoned pro looking to expand your craft, you'll find valuable insights for your continued growth and learning!
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Welcome back to calligraphy biz corner. I bet you weren't expecting an episode to drop today, but we were reflecting on some of the feedback you shared during our six month podcast survey, and we wanted to add in some shorter episodes since that sounded like something you were interested in. So we are trying out a new thing called mini sotes to provide some quick tips or answer questions that you've submitted.
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:Today, we're answering a listener question from Shakti or KNS dot artistry on Instagram, who asked if you great questions about acquiring skills as a calligrapher. She said, hi ladies. I just want to say that I just found your podcast and I absolutely love it. I listened to all episodes in three days and a topic that I'm sure newbies like myself would love to hear your thoughts on is skills acquisition. My questions are one, how long should you practice your first script before attempting to learn another two? Is it okay to learn more than one script at a time? Three, what has your experience been when it comes to muscle memory and learning new scripts? For example, I'm learning Copperplate now. I'd love to learn one of the scripts that's a little more upright. Will that be difficult? Four, what scripts do you see as being the most in demand for wedding calligraphy? And five, is it okay to learn skills like illustration or bottle painting alongside learning a script? These are all such great questions. So Xiaochen, do you want to start with answering the first of how long should you practice your first script style before learning another?
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:And I think the answer to this question as well as some of the other ones, it's going to be personal as far as how much time and energy you have to learn the new skill and also whatever your personal like bar is for proficiency, because if your goal is to be proficient on one script before you learn another, just remember that proficiency is. Subjective. Like, yes, there are more rules when it comes to traditional scripts like Copperplate, but ultimately it's up to you to decide when you feel comfortable with a script and when to start taking clients. If what you're trying to do is to start a business. My suggestion here is. As kind of a general suggestion is don't chase perfectionism because you're always going to be learning and improving even as you're taking on clients. And I'll be totally honest with you in this answer that I didn't practice calligraphy a lot before I started taking clients. I was like, like as interested in the starting a business aspect as I was in the calligraphy aspect. And I continued improving and evolving my style as I took clients over the years. And in a lot of times the clients and what they were looking for and their vision actually inspired my style or, you know, maybe I wanted to make certain tweaks or I wanted to have, um, ascenders look differently or whatever it was. That's kind of how I work best as I take on like energy from other people and kind of channel it into my practice. But then I think about a different type of skill acquisition. So when I was in high school, I took private lessons for four years. flute. I'm still a flute player today. And back in high school, I practice over an hour a day on my flute playing. And I became a really proficient flute player. I'm still, I would still consider that one of my above average skills. And I still am an active flute player and play in groups and stuff. I improved at a much more rapid pace than I did with, like, my calligraphy because I didn't take the same approach, but I was at a different point in my life. I wasn't at a point where I could practice something for over an hour a day, right? And all I'm trying to say is, like, both approaches are valid and both paths are valid
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:I completely agree. I think that there is no one size fits all answer for that. So it's really just going to be based on the person. I was kind of opposite of you where like I did teach myself and practice modern calligraphy almost every day for two years before I ever took on my very first client. But that wasn't because I was waiting to, you know, become quote unquote proficient or reach a certain skill level. It's really because I wasn't thinking about it as a business at all. When I first started, it was just strictly a creative outlet and something I wanted to practice and get good at. But also to your point before, like over the past 10 years, and as I've worked with different kinds of clients and different kinds of project requests, like my style has continuously evolved over time and it's still evolving. So I don't believe that there's ever a true marker for being able to check off, like, Quote, unquote learned off of your list and then be like, okay, now I can move on to the next style that I want to learn. I think it's just whatever you feel comfortable with and when you, when your style of writing gets to a point where you say, I'm really proud of this and now I want to go teach myself something else. Okay. Her second question is, is it okay to learn more than one script at a time?
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:So again, this is my personal experience, and opinion, but whenever it comes to learning something brand new, I prefer to focus on one thing at a time before learning something else. because that way I won't like confuse concepts. So especially if you're learning one of the more traditional calligraphy scripts, like copper plate. and Spansarian. If you learn them at the same time, just make sure that you're kind of separating the time that you spend practicing them. That would be my like suggestion, so that you don't get confused in terms of the concepts, and that your brain really can focus on like one goal at a time.
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:Going back to how I kind of answered the first question. Again, I think that this is really just going to be like, Your personal learning style, right? Like if you are somebody who can soak up knowledge and information on multiple things, then by all means, if you are interested in learning more than one script at one time, go for it. If your brain doesn't operate that way and does better, just kind of like diving in on one script and one technique at one time, then that's probably a better learning style for you. So I think it's just understanding how you learn. And doing what works best for you.
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I agree. So her third question was what has been your experience when it comes to muscle memory and learning new scripts? For example, I'm learning copper plate now, my first script, and I'd love to learn one of the scripts that's more upright. Will that be difficult?
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:I think that muscle memory honestly just comes down to repetition. So like the more you do something, the more natural it will start to feel and become. I'm kind of thinking about learning languages here to answer this question. Like I think about how I was taught Spanish from like, you know, middle school or whatever, all through high school, I took Spanish. And then in college I switched to Italian and it was a little like. Difficult at first because they are super, super, similar in their structure of that language, but then it actually made learning Italian easier because I already understood all of the underlining concepts. It was just learning like what all of the new words were and how to conjugate verbs and all of that kind of stuff. So I kind of feel like it would be the same thing when it comes to. muscle memory for learning scripts, right? Like if you kind of have the foundation of how to use your pen, how to hold it. And now you're learning how to do new strokes. Like you just take what you already know and now apply it to this new style.
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:Yeah, that's a great example.
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:So number four, what scripts do we see as being the most in demand for wedding calligraphy specifically?
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:So for me, I see modern calligraphy more desired, but I think that's also largely because of the clients that I serve. So my suggestion here is like, let what you want to do attract the clients that you want to serve. It's like a little bit of a self fulfilling prophecy. What you're putting out there, what you're showcasing, what you're displaying, that's what people are going to see and come to you for because that's essentially what you're going to be like, known for. So if you want to do the more traditional styles and you want to do copper plate, you should showcase that work and the people who want that style. And there are people who want that style. They will come find you.
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:Just to piggyback off of what you said, like I also lean towards a more modern style. even if I am kind of bringing some classic or more traditional elements into it, but that does not mean that that is the only style that people want for weddings, even though like that's what the two of us, specialize in specifically. I've seen plenty of envelope calligraphy that uses a more traditional copper plate style. So like to shout Chen's point, I think it's just leaning into what you enjoy and what you are good at. And then you will attract those clients who are looking for that style. Okay, and the fifth and final question is is it okay to learn skills like illustration or bottle painting alongside learning a script?
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:So I think this goes back to that, like learning style preference and also like how much time do you have to dedicate to learning new skills? Like obviously the more time that you dedicate to something, the faster you're going to improve at it. So I don't know if Shakti is thinking about this from like a business perspective, but I'm just going to put that lens on it. Are you trying to serve the clients who want calligraphy or illustration or bottle painting? So like, think a little bit about that from your business perspective, when you're thinking about. Where's the time investment I want to put into it. If I want to start my business with just calligraphy and I, my goal is to launch my business like soon, that maybe I want to put all my energy into calligraphy first and starting my business. And then pick up some of these other skills along the way. But I also think there's so much value in just experimenting on things for fun, because how are you going to know if you love it, if you don't try it out? Right? So I do like the idea of just playing around without a specific goal in mind. Like maybe I start my calligraphy business. Cause I know I want that to be a business and in the future, I might want to add bottle painting. So I'm going to dabble in it and see. See if I even like it, if I enjoy it, and if I want to invest more time into it at all. And so I think like, go for it. If it's something you feel passionate about, I think you should absolutely try it.
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:Yeah, I also think listen to what people are asking you for right like Are your clients or do you have clients that are asking you for these other? Uh, services. Like I remember people started to ask me for dog portraits. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to put some time into practicing watercolor painting so that I can start to add pet portraits to my repertoire or, you know, cocktail signs to bar signs, like things that also then ended up enhancing the overall service that I'm giving to my clients. Like, even though I'm a primarily a calligrapher. If my client has a dog that they really want included on their bar signs, like they can now come to me for both of those things. I don't need to hire out for the painting aspect of it. So I think it's also listening to what, listening to what you're good at and what you enjoy, but also listening to what are people actually asking you for or looking for. And kind of using that to dictate, like, what are you going to put your time and energy into learning and focusing on right now?
shaochen_2_09-16-2024_122540:So just to kind of recap, there's no like one size fits all approach. I think it really depends on how much. Time and energy you have to dedicate to learning new skills and also your personal learning styles and what works for you But we hope that our personal experience helps you a bit on your learning journey And if you have questions that you would like answered Please text us using the link in our show notes or you can comment on our ask us anything post that's pinned to our instagram account and we are over at calligraphy biz corner on instagram.
alane_2_09-16-2024_142540:Yeah. And this is our very first mini sewed style episode. So if you enjoyed this, we would love to hear from you. You can send us a DM on Instagram. We would love to hear your thoughts because that really helps us decide what to create for you in the future. So until next time.
