Ornate Pictorial Calligraphy: Instructions and Over 150 Examples (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography) Paperback – August 1, 1982

Variety of calligraphy styles and a good reference tool.

This book was recommended to me for the self study of calligraphy ornamentation. I cannot say enough about it. The examples are pretty straight forward and once mastered, can be applied in innumerable ways. Excellent source of reference, written by a master of the art of calligraphy ornamentation.

There is so much to do in the book it will take a while to learn it all. This is something new for me, wanted to add a new dimension to my art.

Beautiful artwork, but a bit on the thin side on the instructions. However the images are clear enough to understand how to build structure in decorative elements, but since an estimated 8 out of 10 drawings consist of variations of small fowl the material looses a bit in the department of inspirational example. Some examples could do with less linework or a variation in hues. Hard black penwork is cool enough and this book is chock full of it, but some of it really needs a sit-down with Mrs Kill-Your-Darlings.Worth buying if one is serious about learning decorative scroll and linework by intense study of the work of others. (a fully valid method i myself happily employ)

As other reviewers have stated this book is full of bird flourishes. It is hard to find one that does not have some bird like features. My girlfriend and I are both tattoo artists. I would imagine if you are in a street shop or are heavy on the walk in side of the business that you would find this book EXTREMELY useful. I could easily imagine tying some of the flourishes into names or inserting some kind of quote above. I also believe with some ingenuity and creativity, I could remove some of the bird features and use this book to influence my script work. Great find, can't beat the price.

which isn't a horrible thing.I still think there is lots to learn from the bird flourishes technique wise. But there are more than i had expected. (about 2/3 of the flourishes in this book include a bird or feather) I don't really think there's a whole lot of variation overall. There's not much text swashes in this book, which i had hoped for. Also, they are all very complex and busy looking—i thought there'd be a variety. For the price though, not a bad purchase. i will definitely use this for reference.

when I purchased this book, I could not have imagined the absolute beauty of the penmanship that would await me inside! Spectacular.... I dont however think I could ever do this with a pen, however I have used the bird in a picture drawn by myself to my son. Then added some of my own swirlies. It turned out so good, I didnt want to fold it to mail it. I was shocked myself. So, thanks for the beauty in this book.

The illustrations are beautiful. There are instructions too- I love the old fashioned language as well as the images.