A lot about calligraphy

It’s funny how a few things dovetail together and then I get a blog post and craft and project idea!

1. Weeks and weeks ago, I walked by a new dining establishment in the False Creek South ‘hood and admired the Chinese handwriting rendering the characters in a square/straight edged font. I want to be able to do that. What are the rules for how you “convert” a character to that style? I bet there are articles on the Internet for that. (See below.)
2. I was picking up an online order at Coles when I spied Learn in 15 Minutes: Calligraphy: 15 exercises, 15 letterforms, 15 variations with an “$8” bargin sticker on it and I impulsively purchase it because I knew I could return it if – practically speaking – I just wouldn’t be teaching myself calligraphy.
3. I flipped through the above volume and realized that I don’t care for calligraphy but it is the omnipresent hand lettering that I admire. I still intended to return the book as I am not likely to learn to write things from scratch because it’s not just reproducing a font, but also being original about your layout and mixing fonts, etc.
4. I noticed the graphical wizardry in Yu Shang Hot Pot’s logo and it reminded me of Sinosplice’s recurring theme of pointing out graphical wizardry he sees in signs around Shanghai. I concluded that I don’t often see examples of this because my stomping grounds are in Vancouver and not Richmond. (See below.)
5. Flipping through Chinese Astrology: Forecast Your Future at Chapters definitely put me into the mindset of thinking about the Chinese zodiac, what I am, what kiddo is, what baby is.
6. Recent messages between me and Lil Sis included mentioning kiddo and baby’s zodiac signs (sheep and pig, respectively) and how I did a search on Etsy for cute sheep-and-pig pairings. I did find a lot of icon and character sets and one particular print by SheepIncognito made me laugh! (See below.)
7. Which reminded me of an unfinished craft I started a long time ago (inspo below) where I haven’t “mounted” it yet or painted my seal because I haven’t practiced it yet. And now baby is born, shouldn’t I update the craft with a pig painted rock? So I did pick up a rock from the same pile of rocks a few blocks from my home where I picked up kiddo’s rock. (See below.)
8. The Chinese Seal Generator I used years ago seems slightly defunct but fortunately I did save a copy of a sample of the different typefaces they had and how my name’s characters are rendered in it. (See below.)
9. So at a working Chinese calligraphy generator site, which apparently fails for my surname more often than not, I copied a sample of kiddo and baby’s names in every typeface, just in case. However, come to think of it, it would be my seal that should be reproduced for the craft as I’m the artist/producer. (See below.)

Which was a super-roundabout way to say that I have been inspired to complete a craft I started years ago and that I’m interested in looking into calligraphy on the Chinese side further!