Faux Calligraphy vs. Brush Calligraphy

One of these is fake. Can you tell which one? We're gonna talk about that in today's video. Hey, I'm Becca with the Happy Ever Crafter, and today I was gonna film something completely different for you, but I couldn't get to my studio. I don't know about wherever you are, but where I am, it's getting pretty serious right now about self-isolating. And since that's what I'm doing, I decided to switch up the plan a little bit and instead give you guys something to do, and maybe even something potentially your kids can do too, because I know that that can get crazy. I don't have kids, but I can just imagine. So anyway, at the end of this video, I'm gonna point you to my free class that I decided to put out this week, and it's gonna be awesome for anybody who wants something to do while they're stuck at home and kind of get a crash course in calligraphy. So I'll point you to that at the end. But before we can get there, I do have to clear up one question that'll be really important and really relevant to that class. What's the difference between faux calligraphy and brush calligraphy? Okay, so here's those two words again. Can you tell the difference? I'll give you a sec. Okay, the answer is that one of them was done with a brush pen, and one of them was done with a random Sharpie I had lying around my house. But honestly, anyone who's never done calligraphy before, or even maybe some people who have, would probably not be able to tell the difference. And that's the point. That's what we're talking about in this video. So let me explain. Oh, and I will tell you which one's which a little bit later. The point of faux calligraphy essentially is to be able to mimic exactly what you would create with a brush pen, but using any old tools or pens you have lying around. That's why it's awesome as your first attempt with calligraphy, or maybe for teaching kids, because you can literally use any pens or pencils or crayons or whatever you have. There's no need to be spending money on expensive brush pens or spending time trying to figure out exactly what brush pens are perfect for you to learn calligraphy with. So first I wanna demonstrate the very, very basics of what a brush pen actually does. So this is a brush pen. It's called a Tombow Fudenosuke. It's one of the most popular for beginners, and I'll link to it down below. But because it's a brush pen, obviously it's flexible. So the tip of this pen, if you push on it, it'll make a thicker line, and if you don't, it'll leave the line thin. So the important part here is that in calligraphy, and this is the part I really want you to remember. In calligraphy, anywhere your pen is moving in an upwards direction on your page, so from bottom to top, is gonna be a thin line, and you're not pressing on it. And then anywhere your pen is moving in a downwards direction from top to bottom, you're gonna add pressure, and it's gonna be a thick line. Okay? And that's really all you need to know. So that's how you get those really pretty variations you see in calligraphy between the thicker and the thinner lines. It's by adding or removing pressure. And so that's exactly how you would do it. So for example, if I was to just draw kind of some squiggles here that aren't a word, I'm pressing light up, hard down, light up, hard down, light up, hard down, and that's how you use a brush pen. It's all about adding and removing pressure. Is this all making sense so far? If it is, let me know by hitting the like button down below. Okay, so now let's say you don't own any brush pens, or maybe you're on the go and you don't have any brush pens with you, or you're writing on a surface like a window or glass or wood that doesn't work well with brush pens. So that's where faux calligraphy comes in. And that's how you would replicate the exact look of what we just did with the brush pen, but by using a tool that isn't flexible. So this is just a normal Sharpie permanent marker. A lot of people have these lying around, but you can literally grab whatever you have. It could be a ballpoint pen. It could be a pencil, whatever it is. And obviously with an inflexible tool like this, this is just a normal tip on a pen. You aren't gonna be changing the pressure you're putting on the pen because that's not gonna do much. So instead, here's what we would do. You're gonna remember the rule about the thin lines up and the thick lines down, but now you're just gonna fake it. So you're gonna draw that same thin line up that we did earlier with the brush pen, and you're gonna draw the thick line down. But now, obviously these are just the same line weight. So now all you have to do is go back and thicken the downstroke where it should be thick. And that's it. So now obviously all you're doing is faking it. So this is your light upstroke, and this is your thick downstroke, just adding pressure to it. And that's how you get those same pretty variations, but just by faking it. So in faux calligraphy, all you're doing is adding the thicknesses where they should go after the fact. And you can still mimic that exact look of brush calligraphy. Okay, now let's rewind to that initial question that I asked you at the beginning. One of these is fake. Can you tell which one? And now you get to find out which one was which. So the first one is brush calligraphy, and here's what that would look like. The second one mimics the exact look of this one, but with faux calligraphy. And here's how that looks. It's pretty freaking close, right? And obviously the kind of the spacing between the letters and maybe a little bit of the sizing is off a little bit, just because that's the nature of doing things handmade. But man, you can really, really replicate the look of brush calligraphy with faux calligraphy. So I hope this was a helpful explanation and it made sense to you. Again, if it did make sense to you, let me know by hitting the like down below because that's always helpful. And maybe, just maybe, this video will give you some inspiration on what you can do and try and play around with while you're sitting at home and maybe even get your kids involved. Speaking of which, if you wanna join that free class I'm putting together impromptu this week, yes, you'll be able to do it with whatever tools you have lying around your house. Head to www.thehappyevercrafter.com slash crash course and you'll get all the information you need there. I'll link to it down below too, so it's easy to click. And lastly, if you like this kind of art tutorial, hit subscribe on the channel because I put out two new videos every single week. And I hope you guys stay safe, I hope you stay sane, I hope you have fun, a little bit of fun at least while you're sitting at home, and I'll see you next week.