Hello hello! 

Welcome to this new tip on Clip Studio Paint!

 

Today, I'm taking you on a journey with me through the history of my country: France! 🇫🇷

Together, we will see how to write by imitating the appearance of ancient French calligraphy!

But first, a small French history lesson is necessary to understand where this ancient writing style comes from (´∀｀)

1: HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF FRENCH CALLIGRAPHY:

French, or rather European, calligraphy developed in the Middle Ages, appearing around the 7th century, then gradually disappearing after the invention of printing in the 16th century. At the time, this type of writing was closer to art than simple writing. In France, it was used by monastic scribes who specialized in copying manuscripts and Catholic writings.

Calligraphy, at that time, was decorated with small drawings, as well as numerous gildings. Capital letters, especially at the beginning of sentences, were deliberately much larger than the rest of the letters, so they could be meticulously decorated.

Scribes and illuminators could spend hours and hours on a single page, perfecting every detail with remarkable precision.

Calligraphy and illumination were therefore mainly used by monks in the Middle Ages, to illustrate, decorate and write religious texts.

2: LOWERCASE LETTERS:

In French writing, words are written with letters called "minuscule" (lowercase), and letters at the beginning of sentences are called "majuscule" (uppercase).

In this second part, I will show you how to write lowercase letters with Clip Studio Paint.

I am using an iPad Pro 12.9", as well as Clip Studio Paint EX software, to create this tip (⌒▽⌒)

A: Preparing the Workspace

First of all, even before you start writing, it is important to place writing guides to make writing letters easier and more accurate ('ω')

To draw lines, we will need to place the grid over the entire sheet to make straight and perpendicular lines.

To do this, go to the [View] tab and select [Grid].

The grid is now in place, so we can start placing the writing guides!

B: Placing the Writing Lines

To draw the lines, I used the tool: [Straight Line] set up this way:

Then I drew the first main lines in this way:

Still with the same drawing tool, I slightly reduce the size and draw other guides. In a different color this time so I don't get mixed up once I start writing ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

Once done, I remove the grid, the same way I put it on.

Here is the result ('▽') :

All these lines are on the same layer.

C: Useful Strokes in Calligraphy

Alright! Now that our guides are drawn, we can move on to writing the letters!

In this tip, I will use the pen tool: [Calligraphy], set up like this:

The size doesn't really matter, however, the direction setting is essential for the shape of the calligraphic stroke. To achieve the same results I'm going to show you, it's important to calibrate your pen in the same way shown above (〃ω〃)

Below are the strokes used in lowercase calligraphy. I used a color code so that beginners in this way of writing feel more comfortable; I really hope this helps your understanding! (*´-`)

Stroke translation:

 

1: wave (red)

2: loop to the right (yellow)

3: loop to the left (green)

4: bars (blue)

5: rhombuses (pink)

With a few exceptions, these strokes are all used to draw lowercase letters in calligraphy. If you've never used the calligraphy pen in Clip Studio Paint, you can practice by drawing these strokes to familiarize yourself with the technique :3

D: Drawing the Letters

I have drawn the example below to show you how to draw what I call "The three types of letters" x)

Normal category: a

Bottom category: y

Top category: k

 

The color code of the previously shown strokes is illustrated here, and a drawing order is also explained:

(I also made a video on the process of drawing the letter a)

Letters in the normal category are contained between the two blue lines and do not extend beyond them. (Letter a)

Letters in the lower category are contained between the upper blue line and the lower red line. (Letter y)

Letters in the upper category are between the lower blue line and the upper red line. (Letter k)

E: The Entire Lowercase Alphabet

Here is the alphabet of lowercase letters from A to Z, of course, the color code as well as the stroke order are present, to facilitate understanding of this tip (・∀・)

And here it is written normally, in black:

3: UPPERCASE LETTERS:

In this third part, we will look at uppercase letters!

(I feel like a teacher, haha)

 

Uppercase letters are the letters at the beginning of a sentence. In French, to indicate the beginning of a sentence, the first letter is written in uppercase. Uppercase letters are larger than lowercase letters. This size ratio is respected in French calligraphy.

In French calligraphy, capital letters are very large and can, by themselves, represent a true work of art! They are called "lettrines" (initials/drop caps)!

Unfortunately, there isn't really a color code or even a stroke order for uppercase letters.

These are all different from each other, so it's hard to separate them into several stroke categories.

Here is the entire uppercase alphabet:

First with the writing guides:

Then normally without anything:

A small clarification: to draw some of the thin straight strokes in the middle, I had to change the direction of the calligraphic pen, like this:

 

But otherwise, to draw the rest of the letters, I didn't change the pen settings I had shown previously :3

4: CALLIGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION:

In this third part, I will explain how I created this illustration with Clip Studio Paint:

First, I will write the text.

So I will do as I showed earlier in the tip, and write the words I want to represent in a calligraphic way.

So I take the [Calligraphy] pen, without changing the settings, then I draw the letters. I make the uppercase letters much larger than necessary, because I'm going to decorate them towards the end, so I want them to have much more prominence compared to the rest of the text :3

Here's what it looks like once written:

Next, I'm going to add texture to the illustration to enhance the calligraphic look of the drawing by giving it an old parchment/manuscript feel (^)

To do this, I will select the [Rough Textured] texture

I will then place it at the very top, above the layers on which the words are written, then change the color of the texture, specifically to give it that old parchment look:

Once these two steps are done, I change the layer to [Product]:

Important: This layer must always remain at the top; no other visible layers should be above it!

Once done, I add a layer above the layer where I wrote: Clip

On this layer, I'm going to draw some gilding on the capital letters; I'm going to start decorating the initials now! (^_^)

So I take the [Calligraphy] pen set up this way:

I chose to use a yellow color, with a hint of orange in it :3

 

Once the settings are ready, I draw slight gilding on the capital letter, like this:

Then I use the transparent pixel lock option to shade and give a golden impression to my stroke.

This option allows you to draw only where you have already drawn, without having to add layers or even go over the edges.

A photo will be more illustrative than my explanations:

So I repeat the same step for each capital letter, and lock the three layers as shown below:

Once my layer is locked and ready, I change the tool to the Airbrush [Soft Eraser], I choose a darker orange color, and set the tool like this:

I then shade the edges of my yellow strokes, like this:

I then change the Airbrush color to a shade of glass/brown, set like this:

And I lightly shade my gilding again:

I repeat these steps on the other two capital letters (´∀｀)

Once this step is finished, I take the [Calligraphy] tool again, reduce the brush size, and at the same time choose another color.

I chose a blue that is quite similar to the one used by monastic scribes in the Middle Ages.

So I draw new strokes within the capital letter, without going over the gilding previously done, of course, the goal is not to cover it entirely (￣∀￣)

Here's what it looks like once finished on the capital C:

For the letter S in Studio, I chose a rather pure and deep red like this:

And to finish with the P in Paint, I chose a rather dull green, which corresponded well to the one used in the Middle Ages:

Here's what the illustration looks like at this stage of the work:

I will now group all the layers into one (except the texture layer at the very top); there's no longer any point in separating them, and it makes my workspace clearer ( ◠‿◠ )

Once done, I will again add a layer on top of all the ones I just grouped:

I decided to draw light and elegant decorations on the capital letters, which will extend the shape of the letters. I also made slight strokes within the letters :3

I used the [Calligraphy] pen set up this way:

I also re-centered all the letters because I found them slightly too off to the side; I used this small button at the top to move it:

The illustration is now finished!!! ('▽')

Here is the final result as shown at the very beginning:

4: SMALL GIFT:

Before we get to the end of this tip, I wanted to give you a small gift! (´◒`)

While working on this tip, which took me a considerable amount of time, I understood and learned that calligraphy, regardless of its nationality, is an art in its own right that demands a lot of energy, concentration, and meticulousness in its execution. It's not trivial writing; on the contrary, it's very difficult.

That's why an idea bloomed in my little head while I was creating this tip! (๑･̑◡･̑๑)

I created pens that write calligraphically for you! Exactly in the same way we saw above! (´∀｀)

Here's a small excerpt of its use:

Of course, all 27 letters of the alphabet are included; there is a pen for each letter!

The same version also exists for uppercase letters!

The writing lines are also available with the pens! ( ＾∀＾)

So you can either write by yourself, or use these pens which are a considerable time-saver in terms of French calligraphy!

Here is the download page link:

5: END

This is the end of this tip!

I hope this has helped you, and also interested you in discovering a tiny page of magnificent French history!

I certainly had a lot of fun teaching you all of this! (≧∀≦)

And as they say in France:

Kisses! ･:*+.(( °ω° ))\/.:+

Instagram: Hedonie_art