One thing I don’t see too often on Instagram is blocks of text. A lot of beginners focus on copying single letters in an exemplar, rather than putting the letters together. Quoting Julian Waters: “When writing a block of text you have to deal with lettering/writing en masse, the effective distribution of space between strokes, words and lines of writing, developing writing texture.”

I really enjoy writing a block of text. You come across letter combinations that make you think, “how can I make these work together?” It’s a great exercise in creative problem-solving. Give yourself a quiet afternoon with a piece of long text – whether it’s from your favorite book or a passage from a calligraphy book, I know you will find it immensely enjoyable. You can even go one step further and challenge yourself by writing in another language, that way you won’t be reading the text but really looking at the letters and words and how they come together.