Demystify the art of calligraphy with online tutorials at this YouTube channel

Chetna K Morkhade holds a very elaborate calligraphy pen an oblique pen and nib wersquore informed a few inches above the paper and twirls it in the air a couple of times before bringing it down to gently make contact with the paper and deftly in elegant flourishes produces the most wonderfully shaped letters we have ever seen on paperThe 32yearold has a Masters degree in Commerce but was always more inclined towards art This led her to a course in Graphic Designing almost immediately after graduation more than a decade ago and after dabbling a bit in that discipline she found her way to the art of decorative letteringldquoIt wasnrsquot something I was looking to get into exclusively but I just fell in love with the way wordsmdashthat we take for grantedmdashare of great and underappreciated beautyrdquo she tells us at our Bandra office Shersquos on her way to shoot for her YouTube channel mewithapencil that she started with college friend Nilofer Sajida Rehman in 2019Anju ShettyCalligraphy believed to have originated in ancient China flourishes on YouTube and practitioners such as Morkhade not only make it more accessible but demystify it as wellldquoOur channel is more of a passion projectrdquo she says ldquomaybe in the US calligraphers make 600 a month but in India the returns are lowmdash100 at best in a month you have to put out amazing content frequentlyrdquoOn August 16 YouTube published a blog about working with artists such as Portuguese calligrapher Xesta to recreate their logo in the forgotten Latin alphabet lettering style Fraktur as well as an English handlettered versionAnju Shetty a fitness trainer has been following Morkhadersquos work for a few years and wanted to learn pointedpen calligraphy ldquoI have been dabbling in it for four years learning through online tutorialsrdquo says the Malabar Hill resident ldquobut finally in February this year I got in touch with her for a oneonone class I have always been practicing some kind of art for 40 years and wanted to learn as much as I can about this one as I really find it extremely interestingrdquoThe art form has been an eternal crowdpuller for its refreshing mindfulness ldquoPeople often get addicted to calligraphy as it becomes their form of meditationrdquo says Morkhade ldquoIt helps improve focus and the whole ritual of sitting down readying your pen filling the ink and finally writing is therapeutic It helps you sort your thoughts and take on the dayrdquo She recommends at least 20 minutes of practice to help keep the hand steadyThe building blocks of the lettering art are eight strokesmdashthe entry underturn overturn compound curve oval reverse oval ascending loop and descending loop Inpreet Kaur a 26yearold calligrapher who started her business from her hometown in Haldwani Nainital used to be a corporate slave ldquoI used to study calligraphy via videosrdquo she tells us over the phone ldquoand back in 2016 I started doing it seriously In 2020 I did a few courses abroad and launched my business that I run out of both Haldwani and DelhirdquoShe feels the art form has picked up more in India in the past five to seven years due to technology ldquoPeople want to learn it as a hobbyrdquo she says ldquoand it is also growing as a legitimate business as customers recognise value in customisationmdashparty and wedding and Thank You cards Many of my students are themselves running classes or businesses Some people still love to write letters to friends and want to work on their writing to show people that they are valued and lovedrdquoIn Chinese culture which is considered the birthplace of the art calligraphy takes on the role of the body meeting the soul on paper Another perspective is the calligrapherrsquos emotion and thought expressed in hidden beauty poetry and harmonyNow who doesnrsquot like a little beauty in the everyday100What Calligraphy YouTubers might earn in a good month in India