It seems that with every passing day more people are writing less by hand. It’s almost as if the idea of taking a pen to paper and writing out words by hand is old fashioned, and it is fast becoming a dying art form. People have instead turned to electronic means of communication and are increasing their use of technology, whether it be via emails, cell phones, messenger apps, or whatever else happens to be new at the moment.
Schools in America are even phasing out teaching cursive to students. National standards do not require such instruction and it’s now commonly viewed as an unnecessary waste of time that will soon be obsolete. Even though the general overall practice of hand writing is fading away, some areas of it are stronger than ever and will never completely disappear. One such area is calligraphy.
Modern calligraphy is an artistically visual take on regular writing, by which the artist adds beautiful flourishes and different effects, to create aesthetically pleasing and carefully executed letters and signs. The ancient practice has roots in both Western and Eastern cultures, with the Chinese, Japanese, Greeks and Romans all extensively using it.
There used to be very strict rules and ways in which each letter was written. Scribes and calligraphers spent their lives studying the exact order of each stroke necessary to form a character in hopes of mastering the art. These days the writing is less rigid and standard, and artists are more free to create different styles and graphic designs.
When it comes to modern practice, master calligrapher Sebastian “Seb” Lester is one of the worlds best. His extensive portfolio of work includes many distinct logos, type illustrations, and custom typefaces that he created for major international companies, and some of which you are more than likely familiar with.
He has developed writings for events like the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, publications that include The New York Times, and corporations such as Nike, Apple, and Intel, to name a few. In the accompanying video you can see some of Seb’s favorite works. YouTube channel Booooooom.com asked him which words were the most fun for him to draw and this was his exact response.
The channel notes in the comment section that Seb personally edited the video and he makes writing look so easy. His steady hand effortlessly glides across the paper creating beautiful and detailed works in their wake.
The images are so clean and polished that the look like they were originally designed with a computer program and then printed out. It’s all very fascinating, and oddly pleasing, to watch him go about his work and guess what he is going to draw next.
To see some of his work check out the video. Who knows, you might be inspired to pick up a pen and start writing or drawing!
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