#lazecat

you can lift your pen in cursive???

Oh my gosh of course! Cursive is supposed to look like you almost never lifted your pen off the page but - I’m gonna tell you a secret - calligraphers lift their pens constantly. People viewing your work only see the end result so, as long as you make it look like the word was made in one perfect swoop of your pen, that’s perfectly fine! 

In fact, I encourage lifting your pen off the page! It lets you step back to evaluate your work to make sure it’s still going along fine! In addition, you can then mentally plot your next steps so that your word comes out perfect! If you try write every word without lifting your pen off the page, it’s a lot easier to rush and a lot harder to be precise. Your hand blocks your vision and your hand also gets tired. More work for a less pretty result? No thanks 😁

Here are some examples of lettering where a pen was lifted off the page: (please note that I haven’t watched these videos in full so I may not agree with everything they say but the gist is there)

🌸 Slo.Leecalli (I’m almost certain they lifted their pen off the page to get more ink - and that’s another reason why you might want to lift your pen off the page! I follow this person on instagram and their work is beautiful) 

🌸 Veronica letters 

🌸 AmandaRachLee

🌸 How to Hand Letter