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What is calligraphy. Who has the most beautiful handwriting? Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

Instruction

First of all, you need to learn to sit while writing. It won't be easy at first, but then correct position body when writing will become a habit. So, sit up straight, keep your shoulders and torso straight, tilt your head slightly forward, lean your back against the back of the chair. Do not tilt your torso forward and do not lean your chest on the table! Do not put one foot on the other, it is better to bend both legs at the knees at a right angle, make sure that the feet touch the floor. Put your hands on the table, leaning on them. The elbows should be behind the edge.

After you learn how to sit correctly, learn how to hold the handle as well. Surprisingly, not all adults hold a pen correctly when writing. Some were taught as children, while others learned on their own over time. Either way, it takes a little practice. The pen should be placed on the left side of the middle finger, holding it with the index finger from above, and with the thumb - from below. In this case, the distance from the index finger to the tip of the pen should be about 1.5-2.5 cm. The fingers should not be too relaxed or too tense. When writing, the hand should not hang in the air, but lean on the little finger.

Once you've learned how to sit and hold a pen correctly, grab some copybooks and practice. You should not immediately try to write whole and, first learn how to draw smooth and beautiful lines, write separate and bundles, and only then - words. Do not try to write right away, the speed of writing will come with time.

After you learn how to write in handwriting, drawing letters slowly and accurately, begin to gradually increase the speed of writing. Write, train at least 10-20 minutes every day, and then you will certainly achieve excellent results.

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Developing Hands for Writing

A person who is equally good with both hands is called an ambidexter. It is believed that in such people both hemispheres are more evenly developed: the logical left, which is responsible for the right side of the body, and the intuitive right, which is responsible for work. left half. Ambidextrous can equally easily cope with both logical and technical tasks, as well as creative ones. First of all, the skill of writing helps to develop the right hemisphere left, that is, passive hand.

You will need

Recipe.

Instruction

Another tip is to practice as much as possible and before starting any new text, made a plan. Always make a plan for future publication - this will allow you to structure thoughts and ideas, distribute them, sort them, determine what exactly you will say at the beginning of the article and what at the end. Your text should describe the location of the action, the reasons for this action, the action itself, and finally, it or the conclusions you made.

Learn to correctly and logically build your texts - only then they will be beautiful and interesting. Don't deviate from the main topic you're writing about, and don't overdo complex terms and long sentences. Write concisely and try to talk only about the main thing, bypassing secondary and unimportant points.

Strive to achieve maximum content and completeness with a small amount of finished article - readers prefer brevity and do not like to spend a lot of time reading certain texts.

Keep your language clean. Do not use colloquial and swear words in texts, write stylistically correctly, observe grammar and spelling. Keep a detached author's position in the text, but at the same time do not single out your own opinion as the only truth, do not try to teach or condemn readers, and also avoid rudeness. The text should be beautiful, polite and simple, attracting the attention of any person.

Avoid excessive repetition of interjections and the pronoun "I", as well as tautologies. To avoid repeating words (tautologies) in the text, look for synonyms and build sentences without repetitions. And finally, in order to be effective, practice regularly - start a blog and constantly publish new notes on it, communicating with readers and watching their reactions to your texts.

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how to write beautifully and quickly

One of the tasks elementary school- to teach children calligraphy, but not even all adults have this skill. You can learn how to write calligraphy on your own using certain rules.

Instruction

First, take the correct position of the body. To do this, sit on a chair straight, tilt your head slightly forward. If you are right-handed, then put your left hand on the table and transfer part of your body weight to it, while holding the paper with this hand. If you are, then transfer the fulcrum to your right hand. The hand you write with should barely touch the surface of the table.

Take a writing tool - a pen or pen - in working hand. With your thumb, press the handle against the nail phalanx of your middle finger. Bend your index finger slightly and hold the handle on top. You need to hold the writing instrument in your hand without tension.

calligraphic writing letters of the Russian alphabet

Lowercase letter a consists of two elements: an oval and an inclined stick with a rounding at the bottom.

We begin to write a letter below the top line of the working line. We draw a rounded line up to the left to the top line of the working line, round down to the bottom line, we draw an oblique line through the letter's beginning point to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we lead down the second element of the letter - this is an inclined line with a rounding at the bottom.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Right, left, down, right, up; down, right.

capital letterAND consists of three elements: a front smooth element, an elongated inclined stick with a rounded bottom and a horizontal stick.

We begin to write a letter above the bottom line of the working line. We round slightly to the right, and we lead obliquely upwards to the middle of the line between the lines, lowering the line towards ourselves, without taking our hands off, we write the second element of the letter - a straight inclined line with a rounding at the bottom. We write the third element on the top line of the working line, crossing the first two elements.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three.

Left to right, up, deviating to the right; down, right; from left to right.

Lowercase letterb consists of two elements: an oval and an elongated inclined stick, bent at the top.

We begin to write the letter b, as well as lowercase a. Not tearing our hands away from the oval, we write an elongated oblique line up to the middle of the line between the lines and finish with a smooth turn to the right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two.

Left to right, up, left, down; to the right, up, deviating to the right; to the right.

capital letterB consists of three elements: an elongated inclined stick with a loop on the left, a right semi-oval and an upper horizontal stick with a left rounding.

We start writing a letter from the middle of the interline line. We write a straight inclined line on ourselves. At the bottom line of the working line, round to the left and lead up a narrow loop. We cross the inclined straight line above the top line of the working line. We lower the semi-oval line down, round to the left, touching the bottom line of the working line. We write the third element from the middle of the interline, rounding to the left, up and leading along the interline.

It is written to the beat: one-and-and-two-and-three-and.

Right to left, down; left, up; deviating to the right, down; from left to right.

Lowercase letterin consists of an elongated inclined stick with a loop at the top and an oval.

We begin to write a letter below the top line of the working line. We lead with an upward slope, rounding in the middle of the line between the lines to the left. We lead down an elongated inclined, rounding at the bottom line of the working line into an oval.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two.

Bottom up, deviating to the right, left, down; right, up, left.

capital letterAT consists of three elements: an elongated inclined stick with a loop on the left and two right semi-ovals.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. We write a straight inclined line on ourselves. At the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the left, we lead up a narrow loop. Without bringing to the middle of the interline line, we cross the inclined straight line and continue to lead up, rounding to the right, we write the upper and lower roundings. The top rounding is smaller than the bottom one.

Written to the beat: one-and-and-two-and-and-three-and.

Top down, left, up, deviating to the right; right, down, deviating to the left; right, down, left

Lowercase letterG consists of one element: an inclined stick with roundings at the top and bottom.

We begin to write below the top line of the working line. We round to the right, touching the top line, we lead an oblique straight line to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-time-and.

capital letterG consists of two elements: an elongated inclined stick with a rounding at the bottom to the left and an upper horizontal stick with a left rounding.

We begin to write a straight slanted line towards ourselves from the middle of the interline line. Touching the bottom line of the working line, round to the left. The second element covers the first. We write from the middle of the interline, rounding to the left, up and leading along the interline.

Written to the beat: one-and-and-two.

Right to left, down, left; from left to right.

Lowercase letterd consists of two elements: an oval and an elongated inclined stick with a loop at the bottom.

We begin to write an oval, like a small letter a. Without taking your hands off, we draw down an elongated inclined line to the middle of the line between the lines. Rounding to the left, we lead the loop up, crossing the bottom line of the working line.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, left, up, deviating to the right.

capital letterD consists of three elements: an elongated inclined stick, a recumbent loop and a large right semi-oval.

We begin to write an elongated slanted line from the middle of the interline line. At the bottom left we write a small loop. Touching the bottom line of the working line, rounding up, we write the right large semi-oval.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three.

Top down, left, right, up, left, down .

Lowercase lettere is a loop.

We start writing from the middle of the working line. We write to the right, rounding to the left near the top line of the working line and leading in a semi-oval down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-time-and.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; left, down, right.

capital letterE consists of two left half-ovals.

From the middle of the interline line, we write the upper smaller semi-oval, ending above the top line of the working line. Without rounding up, with an uninterrupted movement to the left and down, we write a large lower semi-oval, touching the bottom line of the working line.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Right to left, down, deviating to the right; left, down, right .

Lowercase letteryo it is written in the same way as the lowercase letter e, only we put two dots above the letter.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-three.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; left, down, right . We put two dots above the letter.

capital letterYo it is written in the same way as the capital letter E, only we put two dots above the letter.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-three-four.

Right to left, down, deviating to the right; left, down, right. Put two dots above the letter
Lowercase letterand consists of three elements. Two elements - left and right semi-ovals. The third element consists of three short straight sticks.

We begin to write below the top line of the working line. Rounding to the right, we write the left semi-oval. Round the bottom line of the working line to the left. Without taking your hands off, we return to what was written and draw the connecting stroke up. Without taking your hands off, we draw an inclined line down, write a connecting stroke and a right half-oval.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two-and-three-and.

Left right down, left; to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, up, deviating to the right; up right; left, down, right.

capital letterAND consists of the same three elements.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line, round to the right, write a semi-oval. Round the bottom line of the working line to the left. Without taking your hands off, we return to what was written and draw a connecting stroke up to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we draw an inclined line down, write a connecting stroke and a right half-oval.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two-and-three-and.

Left to right, down, left; to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, up, deviating to the right, to the right; left, down, right.

Lowercase letterh in its composition it has a right semi-oval and a lower loop.

We begin to write below the top line of the working line. We lead with a large slope for rounding at the top line of the working line, rounding we lead to the left and, not bringing it to the bottom line of the working line, we write a rounded loop that extends beyond the bottom line of the working line.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Left to right, down, deviating to the left; right, down, left, up, deviating to the right.

capital letterZ consists of two right half-ovals.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. Rounding to the right, we write the upper semi-oval. Without reaching the top line of the working line, we start far to the left and begin to write the lower semi-oval, larger than the upper one.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Left to right, down, deviating to the left; right, down, left.

Lowercase letterand consists of two straight sticks with roundings at the bottom.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

From top to bottom, to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

capital letterAnd

We write the first element from the middle of the interline line. We lead, rounding, from left to right up. We write an oblique straight line down to the bottom line, round to the right and lead an oblique straight line up to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three.

Lowercase letterth consists of three elements: two inclined sticks, rounded at the bottom, and a short curved line.

Lowercase letter th it is written in the same way as a lowercase letter and, only above the letter we write the third element - a short curved line moving to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three.

From top to bottom, to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, right.

capital letterY also consists of three elements. It is written in the same way as a capital letter And, only the third element is written above the letter, as in lowercase th.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, right.

Lowercase letterto consists of three elements: a straight line and two curves.

From the top line of the working line, we write an inclined straight line down. Without taking your hands off, we lead up the written line, reaching the middle of the line, smoothly round to the right, bring it to the top line of the working line, slightly round it. Without taking your hands off, we return according to what was written, we lower the repetition line below the middle of the line. We write a rounding to the right and lower the straight line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

From top to bottom, up, up, deviating to the right, to the right; left, down, deviating to the left; right, down, right.

capital letterTo consists of four elements: sharp element, an elongated straight line with a left loop and two curves.

We begin to write from the middle of the interline line a short straight line to the right up. Without taking your hands off, we lead an elongated straight line down, round it up at the bottom line of the working line and write a narrow loop, crossing the elongated straight line above the top line of the working line. We lead upwards to the right, finish with a slight rounding and, without taking our hands off, we return as written, write a rounding to the right and lower the straight line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two-and-and-three-and.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; down, left, up, deviating to the right, to the right; left, down, deviating to the left; right, down, right.

As part of lower casel the front smooth element and the inclined stick with a rounding at the bottom stand out.

We begin to write above the bottom line of the working line. We round off, touching the bottom line of the working line, draw the line up, tilting it to the right to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we draw an inclined line down to the bottom line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

capital letterL similar to the lowercase l in the composition of the elements and spelling.

We begin to write above the bottom line of the working line. We round off, touching the bottom line of the working line, draw the line up, tilting it to the right to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we draw an inclined line down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

Left to right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

Lowercase letterm consists of three elements: front smooth and two inclined sticks with roundings at the bottom.

We begin to write, like a lowercase l, above the bottom line of the working line. We round off, touching the bottom line of the working line, draw the line up, tilting it to the right to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we draw an inclined line down to the bottom line of the working line and up to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we lead down to the bottom line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

Part capital letterM includes the same elements that make up the lowercase letter m, only bigger size.

We begin to write a capital letter, as well as a lowercase letter. We write above the bottom line of the working line. We round off, touching the bottom line of the working line, draw the line up, tilting it to the right to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we draw an inclined line down to the bottom line of the working line and up to the middle of the interline line. Without taking your hands off, we lead down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

Left to right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

Lowercase lettern consists of three elements: a straight inclined stick, a horizontal stick and an inclined stick with a rounded bottom.

We write down an inclined straight line from the top line of the working line. We return to the written up to the middle. We draw a smooth line to the right, bending down to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we lead an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

Top down, up, right, up; down, right.

capital letterH consists of a sharp element, an elongated inclined stick with a loop at the bottom to the left and an elongated inclined stick with a loop at the top and rounding.

We begin to write a short straight line from the middle of the interline line. Without taking your hands off, we lead an elongated straight line down, round it up at the bottom line and write a narrow loop, crossing an elongated straight line above the top line of the working line. We draw a smooth line to the right, continue up to the middle of the line between the lines, round to the left and smoothly lower the elongated sloping down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two-and.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; down, left, up, deviating to the right; up, left, down, right.

Lowercase letterabout - one element - an oval.

We begin to write below the top line of the working line. Rounding to the left, touching the top line, we continue to round to the left down to the bottom line of the working line and lead to the beginning of writing the letter.

Written to the beat: and-time-and.

capital letterO - one element - an oval.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. Rounding to the left, we lead down to the bottom line of the working line, round to the right and lead to the beginning of writing the letter.

Written to the beat: and-time-and.

Right to left, down, right, up.

Lowercase letterP consists of two elements: the first is a straight stick, the second is a straight line with roundings at the top and bottom.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

Top down, up; up, deviating to the right; right, down, right.

capital letterP in its composition has three straight lines with roundings.

We write an oblique straight line down from the middle of the interline line, rounding to the left. We write an oblique straight line down from the middle of the interline, rounding to the right. The third element covers the first and second. We write from the middle of the interline, rounding to the left, up and leading along the interline.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-and-three.

Top down, left; top to bottom, right; up, right.

Lowercase letterR it contains two elements. The first is an inclined elongated stick, the second is an inclined stick, rounded at the top and bottom.

We begin to write from the top line of the working line an elongated oblique straight down to the middle of the interline line. We return along what was written to the middle of the working line, deviating to the right to the top line of the working line, write a rounding to the right and lead an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

Top down; up, up, deviating right, right, down, right.

capital letterR has two elements. The first is an elongated inclined stick with a rounding at the bottom to the left, the second is an upper semi-oval.

We write an oblique straight line down from the middle of the interline line, rounding to the left. From the middle of the interline, round up to the right and continue the straight line along the interline, rounding into the right semi-oval.

Written to the beat: one-and-and-two-and.

Right to left, down, left; down, up, right, down.

Lowercase letterwith - left semioval.

We begin to write below the top line of the working line. Rounding up and to the left, we lead down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-time-and.

Right to left, down, right.

Form capital letterWith similar to the lowercase form. This is the left semioval.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. Rounding up and to the left, we lead down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-time-and. Right to left, down, right.

Lowercase lettert consists of three elements. The first is a straight inclined stick. The second is straight, rounded at the top. The third element is a straight line, rounded at the top and bottom.

We begin to write an inclined straight line down from the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we lead up according to what is written. From the middle up, smoothly rounding to the right, we write an inclined straight line. Without taking your hands off, we lead up according to what is written. From the middle up, smoothly rounding to the right, we write an inclined straight line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

Top down, up; up, deviating to the right, down; up, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

capital letterT consists of four elements. One of them is a straight line, three are straight lines with roundings.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. We lead down the inclined straight line to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the left. We write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line. We lead an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right. The fourth element covers the previous three. We write from the middle of the interline, rounding to the left, up and leading along the interline.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-three-and-and-four.

Top down, left; top down; top to bottom right; from left to right.

Lowercase letterat has two elements: an inclined stick with a rounding at the bottom and a lower loop.

We begin to write from the top line of the working line down. We lead an inclined straight line, rounding to the right at the bottom line of the working line and continue up to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we lead down an elongated straight line to the middle of the line between the lines. Rounding to the left, we write a loop, crossing the bottom line of the working line.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and.

From top to bottom, to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, left, up, deviating to the right.

capital letterAt consists of two elements: straight lines with roundings. We start writing from the middle of the interline line. We drive, rounding, from left to right up. We write an inclined straight line down, touching the top line of the working line. Rounding to the right, we lead up to the middle of the line between the lines. We return as written, write an inclined straight line to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the left.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, left.

Lowercase letterf - This is an elongated inclined stick with two ovals.

We start to write an oval, like a small letter a. Without taking your hands off, we draw down an elongated inclined line to the middle of the line between the lines. We return according to what was written, write the right oval, touching the second element.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three-and.

Right to left, down; up, down, up; left to right, down, left.

capital letterF consists of three elements: two ovals and an elongated inclined stick with a rounding at the bottom to the left.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. We write the left oval, touching the top line of the working line. Rounding to the right, we write the right oval, touching the left oval. Without taking your hands off, we lead straight up to the middle of the line between the lines. We return according to what was written, we write an inclined straight line down, rounding to the left.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-and-three-and.

Lowercase letterX

We begin to write a letter from the left semi-oval. Below the top line of the working line, rounding to the right, we write the left semi-oval. Without taking your hands off, we return according to what was written. Deviating to the right, we write, the right semi-oval, touching the left semi-oval.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two-and.

capital letterX has two semi-ovals: left and right.

From the middle of the interline line, rounding to the right, we write the left semi-oval. Without taking your hands off, we return according to what was written. Deviating to the right, we write the right semi-oval, touching the left semi-oval.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-and-two-and.

Left to right, down, left; right, up, right; left, down, right.

Lowercase letterc consists of three elements. The first two are slanted sticks with roundings at the bottom, the third is a small loop.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

From top to bottom, to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, right; down, left, up, deviating to the right.

capital letterC write from the middle of the interline line. We lead, rounding, from left to right up. We write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, round to the right and lead an inclined straight line up to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right. We lead down a straight line, rounding to the left, we cross the bottom line of the working line with a loop.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right; down, left, up, deviating to the right.

Lowercase letterh consists of two elements: a curly line and an inclined stick, rounded at the bottom.

Below the top line of the working line, we write an inclined line upwards. Moving to the right, we write a curved line. Without taking your hands off, we write down an inclined straight line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-and-time-and.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; right, down, right.

capital letterH has two elements. One of them is an inclined stick with roundings at the top and bottom, the second is an elongated straight line, rounded at the bottom.

We start writing from the middle of the interline line. We lead, rounding, from left to right up. We write an inclined straight line down, touching the top line of the working line. Rounding to the right, we lead up to the middle of the interline line. We return according to what has been written, we write an oblique straight line to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

Lowercase letterw consists of three elements. These are three inclined sticks, rounded at the bottom.

We write from the top line of the working line oblique down. Near the bottom line of the working line, we round off to the right and lead an inclined straight line up to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down. Near the bottom line of the working line, we round off to the right and lead an inclined straight line up to the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

From top to bottom, to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

capital letterW consists of four elements.

We write the first element from the middle of the interline line. We lead, rounding, from left to right up. We write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, round to the right and lead an inclined straight line up to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line. We lead an inclined straight line up to the middle of the interline line. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

Lowercase lettersch it is similar in shape to a small sh, only it has a small loop.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and.

From top to bottom, to the right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right; down, left, up, deviating to the right.

capital letterSCH write from the middle of the interline line. We lead, rounding, from left to right up. We write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, round to the right and lead an inclined straight line up to the middle of the line between the lines. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line. We lead an inclined straight line up to the middle of the interline line. Without taking your hands off, we write an inclined straight line down to the bottom line of the working line, rounding to the right. We lead down a straight line, rounding to the left, we cross the bottom line of the working line with a loop.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and.

Left to right, down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right; down, left, up, deviating to the right.

solid signb consists of two elements: a curly line and the letter ь.

Below the top line of the working line, we write an inclined line upwards. Moving to the right, we write a curved line. We lead an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right. We rise up and closer to the middle of the working line we round to the left.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; right, down, right, up, left, down.

Letters consists of three elements: sloping with rounding, short sloping stick and sloping stick with rounding at the bottom.

We start writing from the top line of the working line. We lead an inclined straight line down, at the bottom line we round to the right, we rise up and closer to the middle of the working line we round to the left, without touching the written part. Without taking your hands off, we lead up to the top line of the working line, write an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three.

From top to bottom, right, up, left, right, up, deviating to the right; down, right.

soft signb represents one element.

We start writing from the top line of the working line. We lead an inclined straight line down, rounding to the right. We rise up and closer to the middle of the working line we round to the left.

Written to the beat: one-and-two.

Top down, right, up, left, down.

Lowercase letteruh consists of two elements: the right semi-oval and a short straight line.

We begin to write a letter from a semi-oval. Below the top line of the working line, rounding to the right, we write a semi-oval. The second element is drawn to the middle of the first, from left to right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two.

capital letterE We start writing from the middle of the interline line. We write up, rounding to the right, semi-oval. On the top line of the working line to the middle of the first element, we write a horizontal short straight line moving from left to right.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two.

Left to right, down, left; to the right.

Lowercase letterYu consists of three elements: two straight lines and an oval.

We write down an inclined straight line from the top line of the working line. We return to the written up to the middle. We draw a smooth line to the right, arching down. We write an oval.

Written to the beat: one-and-and-two-and.

Top down, up, right; down, right, up, left, down.

capital letterYU consists of four elements.

We start writing a short straight line from the middle of the line. Without taking your hands off, we lead an elongated straight line down, round it up at the bottom line and write a narrow loop that crosses the elongated straight line above the top line of the working line. We draw a smooth line to the right, down and write an oval.

Written to the beat: and-one-and-two-and-three-and.

Bottom up, deviating to the right; down, left, right; down, right, up, left, down.

Lowercase letterI consists of three elements: a smooth front oval and two inclined sticks with a rounded bottom.

We begin to write above the bottom line of the working line. We round off, touching the bottom line of the working line, draw the line up, tilting it to the right. Not bringing to the top line of the working line, rounding to the left, we write a small oval. Without taking your hands off, we lead to the top line of the working line and lower the inclined straight line down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

capital letterI AM n We begin to write above the bottom line of the working line. We round off, touching the bottom line of the working line, draw the line up, tilting it to the right. Without bringing to the middle of the interline line, rounding to the left, we write a small oval, touching the top line of the working line. Without taking your hands off, we lead to the middle of the line between the lines and lower the inclined straight line down, rounding to the right.

Written to the beat: one-and-two-and-three-and.

Left to right, up, left, down, right, up; down, right.

AT modern world Calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing. not everyone knows. In some schools and universities, calligraphy was studied and continues to be studied as a separate subject. But most people, especially the younger generation, have no idea at all about beautiful and elegant writing.

The emergence of calligraphy in the world

The history of calligraphy is interesting and varied. The term was first used in the 16th century in Europe. During this period, a beautiful and flawless image of words began to be called calligraphic writing. However, throughout the previous 16 centuries, the art of calligraphy has been constantly evolving. Even the ancient people who lived in caves depicted various drawings on the stones. Over time, the drawings began to be replaced by symbols, and this style of writing was called cuneiform.

Then in the IV millennium BC. in ancient Egypt, hieroglyphic writing arose, and already in the 3rd century BC. it began to be supplanted by Greek capital writing. Every century in different corners planets, more and more new types of writing arose. Already at the end of the 11th century in Italy, the subtle and beautiful writing of texts could be safely called calligraphic. During these times, almost all of Europe used letters that have a huge number of similarities with calligraphy.

AT different countries calligraphic writing developed in different ways and at different times. For the most part, the development of this art depended on when writing appeared among the people.

Writing among the Slavic people

What is calligraphy - the Slavic people learned in the XV century. In 846, the Slavs only had the first alphabet. This was facilitated by the Byzantine state, which wanted to preach Christianity in writing at all costs.

There is little data on the origin of writing among the Slavs, but two brothers are considered the founders of writing: Constantine and Methodius. The Moravian prince Rostislav asked Konstantin to create an alphabet for Christians, and brother Methodius, who at that time was the abbot of an Orthodox monastery, agreed to help him.

In the 15th century, the first beautiful manuscript began to appear. Behind him - teratological style, ligature and initial letter. The teratological style was perhaps the most beautiful and unusual. The letters were depicted together with various animals and birds. It could be both existing animals and fictional ones. The ornament was foliage or flames around the letter.

With the question of what calligraphy is, everything seems to be clear now, but who is a calligrapher and what does he do.

Who is a calligrapher

This is a profession that implies the ability to write calligraphy. At first glance, it seems: can this profession be in demand now? In the age of computer technology, people use writing on paper less and less. After all, in almost any text editor there are many different fonts, and more and more new ones are constantly appearing. However, it is calligraphers-artists who create these fonts.

A calligrapher is a person of art, he is both an artist and a writer in one person. Nowadays it is very popular to be able to write calligraphy. Such a skill gives any person a sign good upbringing and elegance. In elite families, even the smallest ones know what calligraphy is.

It is believed that calligraphic writing has the properties of meditation, like any other creativity. A person has a unique opportunity to "withdraw into himself" for a while and plunge into the world of art. The technique of calligraphy is not difficult, and almost anyone can learn it.

In order to learn calligraphic writing, you do not need special skills, but it is painstaking work. Restless people with poorly developed fine motor skills are unlikely to succeed. It is desirable, of course, that those who want to learn calligraphy know how to draw well and have a good imagination. In any case, everyone should try to learn how to beautifully depict letters.

Learn calligraphy

Calligraphic writing involves the use of pen and ink. However, before buying all necessary inventory, you should try your hand at a regular pen. Choose a font that you like (best if it's one of the simplest fonts) and save yourself the alphabet of this writing style. Every day you need to write at least one letter. This type of calligraphy is called artificial.

Artificial calligraphy is more difficult than regular calligraphy, since you have to do the thickening yourself. Due to the fact that the pen has a point (unlike a ball in a pen), it is easier for them to recreate calligraphic letters.

When each letter of the font is worked out, it's time to learn how to connect and decorate them. See what the connections look like in the selected font and try to replicate them. When artificial calligraphy is at least a little worked out, you can move on to calligraphic writing with a pen.

Calligraphy tools

As a rule, a pen and a pen holder are used for writing: this is the custom in European calligraphy. But oriental calligraphy prefers the use of brushes. Feathers are very different: pointed, wide-pointed, poster. For beginners in this business, it is the pointed ones that are best suited. Having mastered them, it will be possible to move on to other types of feathers.

It will not be superfluous to get a special notebook for studying calligraphy. It has a special markup with which it will be much easier to keep the proportions of the letters.

In the modern world, you can find calligraphy pens, markers, and even such know-how as a brushpen (a fountain pen with a pen tip) on store shelves. However, we should not forget that it is still difficult to replace pen and ink with something.

Place to practice

A place to practice calligraphy is also important. While studying beautiful writing, you should be quiet and comfortable. Be sure to sit comfortably with your back and legs straight. The main load should fall on the non-working hand, while writing hand should soar above workbook. You can learn calligraphic writing only in complete peace and harmony with yourself - this is the most important rule which should not be forgotten.

Calligraphy for the little ones

What is calligraphy for children and do they need it? Undoubtedly, the answer is yes! Calligraphic writing disciplines a person, teaches him perseverance and calmness, and this is exactly what many children lack. In addition, when studying calligraphy, children's handwriting is leveled. The letters in school notebooks acquire the same size, and the child develops

A lot can be said from the schoolboy's handwriting: character, mental condition, mental development. Beautiful calligraphy will open many roads for the child in the future.

Calligraphy(from Greek - " beautiful handwriting") is one of the branches of the fine arts. Calligraphy is also often called the art of beautiful writing.

The history of the art of calligraphy is connected with the history of handwriting and writing tools. Before the invention of printing, calligraphy was the main method of graphic design of text.

Writing originated about 5,000 years ago. During this period, people's memory began to weaken and it became necessary to record information. Around the same time, calligraphy arose. Her styles and styles change with time. It is in a state of constant evolution, and each time takes on the styles of the era in which it exists. A special attitude to calligraphy was observed in the east. As writing tools, a brush or pen and ink were used.

The main directions of development of calligraphy are: Western European calligraphy and East Asian. In China, Japan and Muslim (Arab) countries, calligraphy appeared earlier than in Western European countries and reached the status one of the fine arts, equal to painting and poetry.

From the desire to combine the style of writing words with their meaning, clearly developed and sanctified by tradition graphic style techniques. Their purpose is intensify emotional impact on the reader thoughtful correspondence of calligraphic handwriting to the semantic and literary and stylistic content of the written text. The essence was that works of a certain literary style or scientific content were written in a certain calligraphic handwriting.

With a few strokes of the brush, an experienced master calligrapher can capture a fleeting mood, rhyme a quatrain that flashed through an enlightened mind, and in an instant create an artistic object worthy of in-depth contemplation for many generations.

Chinese calligraphy is considered the "progenitor" of Japanese, the first mention of it dates back to the middle of the 2nd - the middle of the 1st millennium BC, while the history of Japanese calligraphy began its countdown from the 5th century BC. the first samples of Chinese hieroglyphic writing, and calligraphic writing appeared in the 7th century. In China, the first calligraphic inscriptions were inscriptions on tortoise shells.

In Japan, calligraphy is the most common art form, a national passion and a general aesthetic nature, brought up by the Japanese from an early age. In Japan, the borrowing of Chinese writing is associated with the spread of Buddhism, but over time, the Japanese began to adapt borrowed characters for records in their native language.

Japanese calligraphy- it one of the Zen practices, the same as the art of the tea ceremony (chado), ikebana, Japanese swordsmanship (kendo) and other martial arts (budo). Traditional ways the transmission of calligraphic symbols is laconic: hieroglyphs are written on white paper, which in Zen philosophy personifies emptiness, and black signs on a white background carry the concepts of yin and yang - feminine and masculinity. And in Zen practices there is a way of calligraphy, a way of writing shodo (Shodo), where Sho means calligraphy, do is a way. And this one of the paths leading to the realization of the meaning of life and eternal truths.

"In Chinese calligraphy, the main thing is the energy, the inner strength of the brush... The sensitive touch with the paper brush plays the leading role here. In Japanese calligraphy, the external power of the brush, the stroke, is decisive; in its language, the main thing is not touch, not penetration, but gesture, dance ", - this is how S.N. Sokolov-Remizov defined the differences between the Chinese and Japanese directions.

Arabic calligraphy arose on the basis of copying the Koran, which is considered the creation of Allah, so the written word itself received a sacred meaning. Many religions use images (icons) to express the core of their beliefs, while Islam offers calligraphy instead. The rejection of images as a possible form of idolatry led to the development of calligraphy in a religious direction. The art of writing has always occupied an unusually high place in Arabic, and then in Islamic culture.

In the medieval culture of Muslim countries, the degree of mastery of the "beauty of writing" (calligraphy) became an indicator of education, intellectual and spiritual development of the individual. Arabic calligraphy is based on the principle of subordinating the written word to the logic of a clear, measured, rhythmic reading of the Koran.

European calligraphy developed in line with Greco-Roman writing (to a lesser extent, Cyrillic), the classic examples of which, still used today, were developed in antiquity. Early alphabets appeared in the third millennium BC. The immediate predecessor of the Latin alphabet was the Etruscan. Initially, only capital letters were used in writing, lowercase letters arose later, during the time of the Carolingians.

The advent of Christianity gave impetus to the art of calligraphy in the West, due to the fact that it was necessary to copy the Bible and other religious texts in large quantities. The art of calligraphy reached its greatest flourishing in the 7th-9th centuries in Ireland and Scotland, where monks created illuminated Gospels, masterpieces of medieval art.

As in ancient times, so in modern society calligraphy often used in the manufacture of magical items: amulets, amulets, talismans, pendants, rings, etc. In ancient times, it was also used to create edged weapons and protective weapons, applying calligraphic images, runes, hieroglyphs, carrying this or that information, aimed either at protecting the knight wearing armor, or at the quality of his weapons.

With the advent and development of typography, typing, and the advent of computer technology, calligraphy formally loses its original meaning. And rather acts as an aesthetic element in the design of texts.

Now calligraphy exists mainly in the form invitation cards and wedding congratulations, in the form of fonts and handwritten logos, in religious art, graphic design, in carved inscriptions on stones and in historical documents. And also calligraphy is used on television as decoration, in various characteristics, birth certificates and other documents where it is supposed to be written by hand.

Calligraphy is not just the ability to write beautifully. This real art, a way of creative self-expression. But in addition to the aesthetic, she also has one more important aspect - medical.

Scientists have noticed that beautiful writing is closely related to the activity human brain. doing calligraphy , you can develop the frontal lobes of the brain, restore lost motor functions which is impossible when writing with a regular ballpoint pen.

Calligraphy beneficial effect on human psyche, develops the finest muscles of the hands,

Calligraphy is the art of beautiful and clear writing. Even cavemen learned to write beautifully, depicting ancient animals on the stone walls and vaults of their dwellings, the nature that surrounded them, gradually giving plot compositions to the drawings. It was a pictorial letter, and this form of it was called pictography, the drawing conveyed the message in its entirety. Subsequently, the drawings of ancient people turn into symbols that have a certain semantic meaning. Gradually, they begin to line up in certain combinations, already representing a sequence of events and characters participating in these events, and acquire a narrative character. This ideography is symbolic writing. In it, a picture (hieroglyph) denoted a single word. Thus, writing is born.

“Oh, you who want to be a master at writing.
Be nice and friendly to people
Make the edge of the letter your seat;
So that the whole world knows you
You should leave peace and sleep
And this must be done from the time of youth;
Head on paper, how to rub with a prick.
Day and night from this work do not rest.
Give up your desires
Turn away from the passion of acquisitiveness and greed.
Fight also with carnal passions,
chop your neck bad passions,
So that you know what a small holy war is.
What is the appeal to the great.
What you think is impossible for yourself.
You shouldn't offend anyone with this.
Watch out, I told you don't hurt your soul
For the truth turns away from the one who offends the soul.
Make contentment and obedience your constant occupation,
Don't be unclean for a single hour
Always recognize the need to remove
From lies, lust and slander,
Stay away from envy and envious people.
Since from envy there are a hundred misfortunes for the body;
Do not have intrigues and trickery in the habit,
Do not choose bad qualities;
Anyone who is from trickery, intrigues and hypocrisy,
Cleaned up - became a master in writing.
Qazi - Ahmed. Treatise on calligraphers and artists

The oldest and easiest way of writing appeared, as it is believed, back in the Paleolithic - “story in pictures”, the so-called pictographic writing (from the Latin pictus - drawn and from the Greek grapho - I write). That is, “I draw-write” (some American Indians still use pictographic writing in our time). This letter, of course, is very imperfect, because you can read the story in pictures in different ways. Therefore, not all experts recognize pictography as a form of writing as the beginning of writing. In addition, for the most ancient people, any such image was animated. So the “story in pictures”, on the one hand, inherited these traditions, on the other hand, it required a certain abstraction from the image.

Sumerian cuneiform (fourth millennium BC).

The pictorial nature of the characters, characteristic of primitive people, loses connection with images, and is gradually replaced by hieroglyphs. This First stage the emergence of writing. On clay, hieroglyphs were depicted as lines with wedge-shaped thickenings at the end, hence its name - Sumerian cuneiform. Separate hieroglyphs corresponded to specific sounds, and from them words or simple phrases were formed in oral speech.

Often words were written down according to the principle of rebuses: from signs, the sound of which was similar to the sound the right word, the word was formed. Sometimes ideographic signs acted as "matres lectionis" ("reading aids"): an ideogram with a specific meaning was used next to a syllabic complex to explain the meaning of a word. The cuneiform had up to 900 characters. Gradually, the recording system became more complicated and became so inconvenient that it was supplanted by other language recording systems that had appeared by that time.

Egyptian hieroglyphic writing (fourth millennium BC)

Egyptian hieroglyphic writing dates back to the 4th millennium BC. The Egyptian alphabet consisted of about 600 characters - fairly clear images of objects, people, animals. It was not difficult to convey visible objects, and actions were transmitted using their characteristic moments. For abstract concepts, figures associated with this word were chosen: the south corresponded to a lily (the heraldic flower of Southern Egypt), coolness - a vase with flowing water, old age - a hunched man.

Cursive forms of writing developed in Egypt: hieratic (from Greek hieratikos - priestly) writing, and from it - a more simplified, demotic (from Greek demotikos - folk). In the era of the creation of demotic writing, the first schools of secular scribes arose. In the II century BC. Demotic writing began to be replaced by Greek writing, which was more cursive and more readable.

Greek Capital Letter (3rd century BC)

From the southeastern coast of the Mediterranean, the alphabet spread to the areas inhabited by the Greeks. This probably happened in the 11th century BC. through the mediation of the Phoenicians, who concentrated in their hands most of the commercial and industrial activities of the Mediterranean. Having adopted the Phoenician alphabet, the Greeks transformed it according to the requirements of their language.

Phoenician alphabet, created in the II millennium BC. e., consisted of 22 consonants. Realizing the imperfection of such a fixation of speech, the Phoenicians, for a more accurate understanding of what was written, used auxiliary signs that indicated which vowel sound should follow a particular consonant. However, the text written without vowels was difficult to understand.

Under the influence of the Egyptian, Assyrian-Babylonian, Crete-Mycenaean writing systems, the signs of the Phoenician writing improved, taking on a simple, convenient form.
In the Middle East, under the influence of the Phoenician script, the Aramaic script arose, which gave rise to all the Eastern alphabets. The Phoenician alphabet in its primary form was adopted in Asia Minor, in Greece and Italy. The Greek letter that arose on its basis became the starting point for the development of all Western alphabets.

The most ancient Greek inscriptions that have come down to us are dated by scientists to the 8th - 7th centuries BC. e. Unfortunately, almost no ancient Greek manuscripts have been preserved. But according to the materials collected by archaeologists, from fragments of books, images, one can get an idea of the development and features of the Greek alphabet. The ancient Greeks considered writing a gift from heaven. According to one of the ancient Greek legends, the Greeks were taught to write by Cadmus, the son of the Phoenician king Agenor, who sailed on his high-speed ship to the island of Thera (Santorini). The Greeks were amazed at the art of writing and considered Cadmus a demigod, giving him proper honors. Historical evidence suggests that the Greeks indeed borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians, greatly improving it. At the beginning of the 7th century BC e. Greek writing was greatly influenced by him.
So, using the Phoenician alphabet, you can easily read the ancient Greek inscriptions found on the island of Santorini.

The Greeks supplemented the Phoenician alphabet with signs for vowels, geometrized it and simplified it.

The Phoenician letters, open to the left, were turned to face the right. Initially, Greek writing was left-handed. Then this left-hand writing direction changed to right-handed. The transitional form was the so-called bustrophedonic way of writing (from the Greek. Bustrophedon - I turn the bull), where the first line of text was written from right to left, the next - from left to right, etc., and the letters were turned “face” either to the left or to the right.

This method of writing was adopted from the method of work of the tillers. They reasoned something like this: the plowman, having passed the first furrow, does not return the bulls empty to the beginning of the field, but turns around and plows in the opposite direction. Under the influence of Greek writing, the direction of writing also changed in Latin writing. In the 4th century BC, the Greeks switched to writing from left to right.

Mayuscule and minuscule Roman cursives (1st-6th centuries)

Few Latin manuscripts have survived to our times. The oldest monuments are mostly epigraphic (carved in stone). There is no doubt that the letters, handwritten and carved in stone, were once the same. But gradually they begin to differ more and more from each other. If the epigraphic letter strove for monumentality, then the handwritten one gravitated towards simplicity, roundness of forms and better connection of letters with each other, which was due to the need to write quickly.
In this regard, the Roman cursive script developed as the most stable opposition to the capital one. In everyday correspondence, the Romans used waxed tablets, on which they wrote with a pointed stick - stilus (hence - style). When writing quickly on such material, some elements of the letters were skipped, a smooth stroke was added for a better connection of the letters, some letters were merged together, some letters were written larger than others, and the whole letter acquired an oblique position.
Italics are divided into early and late. Early, or majuscule cursive (majuscula - capital letter), which was used in the I-VI centuries, is a letter capital letters, there are still few connecting elements between the letters.

In minuscule cursive writing (minuscula - lowercase letter), which developed by the 4th century, the shape of the letters acquired a sharply different character from majuscule.

Roman capital letter (I-V centuries)

In the VIII century BC. e. Central Italy - the land between the rivers Tiber and Arno, was inhabited by Etruscan tribes of unknown origin, with a language still undeciphered. The warlike Etruscans conquered neighboring tribes and adopted their culture. For writing, the Etruscans first used the Western Greek alphabet, and in the last quarter of the 7th century they already had their own alphabet, consisting of 21 (26) characters. In shape, the letters of the Etruscan alphabet were similar to the letters of the Phoenician-Greek alphabet, the letter was directed from right to left. From Etruscan writing, apparently, Latin writing developed.
The culture created by the Etruscans became the cradle of Roman civilization. The historical merit of the Etruscan culture is that it served as a kind of bridge between the Greek and Roman civilizations. In the 1st century BC e., when Rome conquered Greece, the culture of the Greek people had a great influence on the culture of the Roman Empire. Through the medium of Greek literature, many Greek words passed into the Roman language.
The Latin archaic alphabet had 21 characters. The letters of this alphabet resembled the letters of the Phoenician-Greek alphabet. The Romans wrote from right to left. A change in the direction of writing occurred at the end of the 3rd century BC. e., the formation of letter graphics continued for several centuries. In the II century BC. e. stabilization of the Latin script. The archaic forms of many signs were replaced by more advanced ones. The main form of Roman monumental writing developed. 3rd to 1st centuries BC e. in Roman monumental writing, new transitional forms are formed, a characteristic feature of which was the appearance of serifs. There is a transitional form with pronounced serifs (II-I centuries BC). In the 1st century BC e. to draw a pattern of letters on a stone slab, a wide-ended tool was used, which left thin or thick strokes, depending on the angle of the letter. Under the influence of writing with a wide-ended instrument, the classical form of Roman monumental writing arose. Beautiful writing becomes art. A new profession appears - a font master. In the 2nd century, there were about 25 public libraries in the Roman state, which not only kept books, but also held public readings of books still being written. Along with public libraries, the number of private libraries also grew. Roman type designers developed the art of type. A lot of works of Greek authors were copied. Wealthy Roman citizens, lovers of literature, opened correspondence and book distribution businesses. bookstores usually opened on the busiest shopping streets. In the workshops for the correspondence of books, clerks or copyists worked - literate slaves specially trained in calligraphy. Manuscripts were written on papyrus and took the form of scrolls. With the advent of writing material that can be folded (parchment), the book took the form of a code - sheets of writing material fastened into a block.
In order to better understand the structure of the Roman capital type, it should be considered in unity with ancient architecture.

A classic example of Roman capital writing is on the famous Trajan's Column in Rome (2nd century).

In the alternation of its straight and rounded lines, the same principle is manifested, which is also seen in Roman buildings. Vertically rising pilasters, between them a semicircular vault, above it a horizontal cornice - the same elements in a transformed form can be traced in letters.

In addition to inscriptions on stone, capital letters were also used in writing with a wide-nib pen. It began to develop especially rapidly after parchment appeared. The capital letters, which have a specific design with a wide-nib pen, are known as square capitals (capitalis quadrata).

For long texts, a wide-nib pen was not very acceptable due to the complexity of writing and low fluency. But, nevertheless, capital writing was used until about the 10th century, mainly in decorative writing and headings.
Together with square capitals, a more fluent and sweeping form of writing - rustic (capitalis rustica, i.e. peasant simple capital writing) is already developing quite early from the capital letter.

It persisted until the 11th century, despite the development of new types of writing. Rusticism was already used on papyrus, which is confirmed by finds in Pompeii. Back in the 6th century, whole books were written in rustic, and later it was used only to complete titles and highlight words. The most beautiful texts Virgil and other ancient manuscripts that have survived to this day are mostly written in rustic, and partly in square capital letters.
The characteristic features of rusticism are thin vertical strokes, and horizontal strokes were performed with strong pressure. In general, a picture of compressed, narrow and high writing is obtained. Rusticism is also often found in texts carved on stone, since on a limited surface of marble, rustication can fit much more text than capital writing.

Uncial writing (IV-VIII centuries)

At the end of the first century, under the influence of the East, the style of round vaults began to penetrate more and more into Roman architecture. The same principle of rounding began to penetrate more and more into writing. In the writings of the third century, one notices attempts at such a rounding of the form, borrowed from cursive writing, but adapted to the rounded style.

A new style is being developed - uncial writing (scriptura uncialis). Uncial writing, fully developed in the 4th century, soon became the dominant book writing, and almost all the literature of that time that has come down to us is filled with uncial. Since it was much easier to write with an uncial than with a square capital, and it was clearer than a rustic, it is considered the first letter specially designed for writing with a wide-nib pen.

In uncial, horizontal strokes are of little importance, and therefore there are no sharp cut-offs at the top and bottom of the letter. The uncial remained in use until the 8th century, but uncial forms mixed with capital letters are found in later times in titles and initials.
It is necessary to distinguish between the old and the new uncial. The simplest sign of the old uncial (4th-6th centuries) is the diagonal, approximately 45 degree direction of the pen and the absence of serifs. In the new uncial (VI-VIII centuries), in general, light serifs and a horizontal direction of the pen are observed. But there are also such manuscripts in which the technique of the old and new uncials is mixed. The uncial written obliquely is less common. If in the capital letter the words are not separated from each other, then in the uncial letter of the 7th century this innovation has already been put into use.

Half-uncial letter (VI-IX centuries)

Over time, elements of continuously developing italics began to seep into the uncial more and more. Thus, in the 5th century, the principle of placing letters in a line within two lines, which united the uncial with a capital letter, was violated, and the uncial approached lowercase italics. If in a capital letter only a bundle of the letter Q was drawn beyond the bottom line, slightly violating the established regularity of the line, then in italics such “violations” (an elongated form of the letter S and others) become common.
A modification of the uncial script, which arose on the basis of italics, the so-called semi-uncial script (scriptura semiuncialis) adopted all these innovations, as a result of which it became much easier to write and read such a letter. The upper and lower elongations of some letters (d, h, l, f, p, q) clearly distinguished the peculiar forms of these letters from other letters of the line. The development of half-uncial writing marked the transition from capital letters to lowercase letters. It was the first lowercase letter for a wide-nib pen. In this letter, there are already a number of prototypes of the letters of the modern lowercase alphabet (a, d, e, g, h and others). The half-uncial letter is distributed throughout Western Europe and undergoes various changes in its individual regions.

After the fall of the Roman Empire and the migration of peoples, a number of new states arose in Europe. These states freed themselves from the political and cultural influence of Rome, and they began to freely develop their own types of writing, which had been used very limitedly before. The half ounce is still developing rapidly. There are new types of Latin writing.

Fonts of the Early Middle Ages.

The fragmentation of the early medieval Europe led to the emergence of various regional types of writing. They can be divided into four main groups, often referred to as national species:
1) Irish-Anglo-Saxon (island), common in Ireland and England;
The Irish-Anglo-Saxon letter borrowed a lot from the runes (an angular letter common among the peoples of Scandinavia, among the ancient Germanic tribes),

And from Greek capital letters, so rounded letters were often transformed into angular and broken ones.

2) Merovingian writing - in France;
3) Visigothic - in Spain;
4) Old Italic - in Italy.
A characteristic feature of the Irish-Anglo-Saxon writing is the presence of breaks and angularity. This letter fell into disuse in the early Gothic era. The remoteness of Ireland isolated artists from the influence of Roman and Byzantine type art and book design, and contributed to the development of original art. In Ireland, the art of processing was highly developed. precious metals, carvings on wood, bone, stone, which is reflected in the richly ornamented binding covers of books. The decoration of the Irish-Anglo-Saxon book is distinguished by dark and gloomy tones of black, gold, green and red colors. In the monastic scriptoria of France, Merovingian writing developed, which reached calligraphic perfection in the 8th century. The writing is characterized by a compressed, tall and knotty design with elongated call-outs of some letters, which gives it a dynamic character. Having a decorative appearance, the letter is however difficult to read. The font was used to write letters and other documents, and was widely used in diplomatic correspondence.
Merovingian writing develops a clear, slender and graceful calligraphic form. capital letters made with pen. Most often, these were contour letters, the middle of which was filled with a different paint. The Merovingian book was designed according to a certain plan, the pages were richly decorated with ornaments. Under the influence of icon painting by Byzantine artists, many decorations appear in the Merovingian book that have a symbolic meaning (cross, calf, stars, dove). Ornamental motifs contain strict geometric shapes and images of leaves, vine branches, flowers, birds, fish, animals, etc.

In Spain, the former Roman province, where the Visigothic state was founded in the 5th century, the Visigothic script arose from the Roman cursive script, but the cursive retained its rights for a long time. Visigothic writing was used in the 8th-11th centuries, and until the 10th century it was wide and bold, and later narrow and angular. It surpasses other types of writing in its clarity and readability.

The Arabs, who conquered Spain at the beginning of the 8th century, introduced their own culture and writing here, founded schools here. The Arabic (Moorish) letter, which spread among the population, had a strong influence on the character of the Visigothic letter.

Old Italic writing (IX-XIII centuries)

Old Italic types of writing developed from the 9th century, reached their perfection in the 11th century and were in use as early as the 13th century. The rounding of the letters here was also carried out on the basis of the traditions of the early Roman cursive. Two monasteries became famous as centers of writing: in Southern Italy - the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino and the monastery of Bobbio in Upper Italy. In the old Italic types of writing, elements of uncial and capital letters and enlarged lowercase letters were used as capital letters.

Often the traditions of the art of writing were transferred from one country to another, where, exerting mutual influence, they were intertwined so that it was impossible to separate them from each other. This confusion, in all likelihood, created the ground for the emergence of a generally recognized, unified letter. Such a letter, known as the Carolingian minuscule (named after the Carolingian dynasty), by the end of the 8th century, spread relatively quickly not only throughout the state of the Swiss Franks, but also beyond its borders. The ground for this was prepared by the most significant types of writing that preceded it.

In the most perfect artistic form, the Carolingian minuscule is presented in the 9th century. The letter of that time was especially readable, the forms of individual letters, for the most part not connected with neighboring ones, were distinguished by the purity of style.
Thus, in the Carolingian minuscule script, the creation of lowercase letters was completed and attempts were made to create capital signs corresponding to them. So far, instead of them, enlarged minuscules or capital and uncial letters were used, and often both mixed. Only by the 11th century did an independent form of capital letters develop from capital and uncial writing, the so-called Lombard versals (often called Gothic majuscules).

Gothic, texture (XI-XV centuries)

At the end of the 11th century, the character of the minuscules began to change. The reason for this was the development of a new style - Gothic, which, having conquered architecture and plastic, began to conquer the art of writing. The round arch recedes, and the lancet arch takes its place, and thus, throughout the 12th century, there is a slow but consistent process of the formation of a new style. Broken lines penetrate the letter; roundings and ellipses take the form of pointed almonds.

At the beginning of the XIII century, the Gothic style became dominant in almost all of Europe. The features of the early Gothic writing are the dark overall picture of the letter, the conciseness of the letters and the brokenness of their ends. The compression of the letter allows you to fit more text in a line and divide the page into two columns, which once again emphasizes the principle of verticality in the construction of the page. Such a broken Gothic letter, which unites the entire page into a dense fabric, was called texture by the old masters of writing (from the Latin textura - fabric). The text, densely and evenly covering the page, really resembled a woven fabric.

The textural minuscules had regular, “measured” distances between vertical strokes; the width inside the letter gap was approximately equal to the thickness of the stroke. The lowercase "t" with its top goes beyond the upper horizontal line, a dash - a dot appears above the letter "i" to highlight its stand among others. Some other signs began to be written in a different way. AT early types Lombard versailles served as a Gothic letter in capital letters. Later they are preserved only in the form of initials, since over time the Gothic script develops its own special forms of capital letters.

Rotunda, Swabian script (XV century)

Italy develops special kind early Gothic writing - the so-called round-gothic letter or rotunda (Italian Rotondo - round, rounded). Curves are preserved in his letters, they are sweeping and swift. Only the upper ends of the racks are broken. Round Gothic writing is wider and more spacious than other types of Gothic writing and is rightfully considered at present as an intermediate form between Gothic and Antiqua. This is one of the few types of Gothic writing to which the majuscules of the antiqua could be adapted.

Round Gothic writing is considered to be one of the most beautiful Western European writing styles of all time. It reached its peak in the 15th century and loses its significance only with the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance.
The development of Gothic writing in Southern Europe ended with the Round Gothic forms, while in Northern Europe it continued through a whole period called Late Gothic.
Since the need for cursive writing has not disappeared anywhere, at the end of the 12th century, Gothic cursive appears.

And in the XIV century, as a result of crossing book writing and clerical italics, a new kind of Gothic font appeared - bastard (from the French bâtard - mixed).

From later species of Gothic writing, the oldest was Swabian writing (or Schwabacher). It is very spacious, as is round-gothic, and more readable than texture. The wide proportions give this letter a sweeping character.

In German-speaking countries, varieties of the Gothic type were actively used after the Middle Ages. For example, a masterpiece of clerical aesthetics of the 17th-18th centuries - chancelles (from the German Kanzlei - office), which approved the beauty of paper as the highest bureaucratic virtue.

Or fraktur, popular in the same XVII-XVIII centuries, whose name comes from the German "Fraktur" - a break, a fracture, and is sometimes used as the name of the Gothic font as such.

During the Renaissance, huge changes take place in the economic and socio-political life of the European peoples, caused by the emergence of bourgeois relations in the depths of feudalism.
The development of cities, the strengthening of class contradictions in them, the changes that took place in the worldview of people, contributed to the creation of a qualitatively new literature based on antiquity, folk literary traditions.
At the end of the 13th and at the beginning of the 14th century, capitalism was born in Italy, city-states were formed, such as Venice, Florence. This process is accompanied by the rapid development of culture. In 14th-century Italy, the book business was developing. Along with scriptoria, secular institutions of book writing appeared. An outstanding humanist made a huge contribution to the development of secular culture Italian Renaissance Francesco Petrarch (1304 - 1374). Francesco Petrarca not only collected manuscripts, but was himself a good calligrapher. He is credited with the creation of a new type of writing - the humanistic minuscule, which later served as a model for the creation of many typographic fonts.

Poggio Braciolini (1380 - 1459), a humanist scholar, translator, archaeologist and bibliographer, also collected ancient Roman inscriptions, ancient manuscripts of Latin authors. In Florence, he founded a school in which they taught writing in a clear and beautiful Carolingian minuscule. His students circulated this letter throughout Italy.
The Renaissance did not manage to put an end to the history of the "barbarian" medieval aesthetics. Moreover, ironically, trying to dissociate itself from the gloomy Middle Ages and build new culture Based on pure antique patterns, the Renaissance calligraphers actually only revived the pre-Gothic, but still medieval style of writing. They selflessly copied the manuscripts executed by the Carolingian minuscule, mistaking them for the originals of Greco-Roman antiquity. From this copying a new font was born, called humanistic antique(from the Latin antiquus - ancient).

In the business circles of Renaissance Italy, the so-called "trade" letter began to be used - humanistic cursive, most of the letters of which were executed with one movement of the pen. It is also based on the Carolingian minuscule.

In parallel with the development of the humanistic minuscule, handwriting developed with a thin or ordinary pen. The impeccable execution of this letter came to be called calligraphy. The term "calligraphy" (from the Greek kallos - beauty and graphos - a graphic image, writing) appeared in Europe in the 16th century simultaneously with humanistic cursive. In the 17th century, when the canon of classical calligraphic writing was developed, which served as the main style until the second half of the 20th century, this term meant “stylistically flawless execution of writing with a fine pen.”

There are many types of calligraphic writing. The usual calligraphic writing is double-pressed (has bold main and thin connecting strokes). In the old days, the art of calligraphy was highly valued. In the old school, much attention was paid to the teaching of calligraphy, since a person who owned a beautiful handwriting could already work as a clerk. The most common type of calligraphic writing in the 18th century was English. Based on his Russian letter considered one of the most beautiful examples of calligraphic writing. Old examples of calligraphic writing are characterized by a large slope of letters, for example, the slope of English letters is 54 °. However, there are options without inclination (straight) and with a left-sided inclination. Along with the art of calligraphy, linear ornamental decorations - flourishes - developed and became widespread.

In the 19th - early 20th centuries, a round letter - a rondo - was distributed, which differed significantly from the humanistic cursive and acquired the qualities of a calligraphic letter made with a wide-nib pen.