Sevastopol artist Vladimir Novikov speaks about calligraphy on Handwriting Day

The Handwriting Day is celebrated on January 23rd every year. In the modern world of the Internet and technical globalization people tend to communicate via emails, social media or smartphones, while the tradition of handwriting messages or cards has become a thing of the past. This celebration is meant to remind how original and unique each individual’s handwriting is, and to reinforce the need to practice calligraphy.

Sevastopol artist Vladimir Novikov spoke to us about this very art.
“I write upside down since I’m a left-hander. Some people suggest rotating the paper to 90 degrees, but it turns my vertical strokes into horizontal ones, and vice versa”, said Vladimir.

This feature however didn’t stop the artist from getting into calligraphy art as early as his Art Academy days. He started his journey with Roman Uncial, one of the most ancient scripts, which dates back to the 3rd century AD.

“It’s not very flexible, yet in the text it becomes vibrant while employing simple letters. The Gothic script may seem visually impressive, and many people like it, indeed it is rigid. You essentially can’t change it, it comes as an iron frame”, he says.

This script simple at first sight, takes to learn a few twists and turns before you can start writing.

“We use oblique pen with a steel nib that is a good fit to produce the two key stroke directions – vertical and horizontal, at 30 degrees. That’s how the script is written. Vertical and horizontal strokes differ in width producing rhythm, which makes sense for the script too, as we always see vertical narrower versus horizontal”, explained the artist.

From simple to complex, it progresses from lines to letters and from individual elements to a designed text. However the space between letters matters just as much as the letters themselves – they have to communicate and fuse into a unified composition.

“When I create a writing I keep an eye on the best way to fuse these letters together with each other. The fewer letters are employed, the more complex the building process is”.

Last year Vladimir Novikov taught the basics of calligraphy at school based on the AzbukArt educational platform. His students spent 6 months to study the Cyrillic-adapted Roman Uncial, learning how to produce texts, and held calligraphy plain-air sessions. The so called expressive calligraphy requires no diligence and utilizes improvised materials and tools, such as brushes, pieces of fabric or mere grass on paper.

In classic calligraphy, however, precision and diligence are the key, as well as the goal-supported intent. Handwriting is closely connected to the visual thinking, bringing us back to the roots and to what is natural for a human being.

Letters painstakingly drawn in pen on paper get to live in a different dimension, the one of the visual art and design. Rhythm, proportions and character of any given script translate a certain inner idea contemplated by the author.

Sevastopol artist Vladimir Novikov speaks about calligraphy on Handwriting Day

Source: nts-tv.com