An Introduction to Arabic Calligraphy
Product ID: 33349623
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Over 300 images illustrate step-by-step basic strokes to practice 7 major Arabic calligraphy styles, from Kufic to Maghrebi, and how to create art from 28 letters. With a photo-rich teaching method that's welcoming to everyone, this introduction helps you use ink and a qalamโa traditional reed penโto create flowing, timelessly decorative lines of Arabic script. The book begins with the history behind this art that decorates writings and architecture worldwide. Master calligrapher Alani next shows you how to choose the materials and prepare your tools. After a quick introduction to how the Arabic language works, he guides you through exercises to help you successfully write the 28 Arabic letters, join them together, and finally assemble them into phrases. Once you have mastered the basics, explore creating graphic compositions in each of seven major styles (Kufic, Thuluth, Naskh, Persian, Turkish, Riqa, and Maghrebi). Sometimes it takes years to be able to decipher a composition, but meanwhile, you can enjoy its aesthetic beauty. This guide helps beginners, like centuries of people before them, create graceful, meaningful art from words. Review: Good! - Great images and examples for my calligraphy practicing Review: A decent reference, not a practical way to learn Arabic calligraphy - This book is more of a birds-eye, theoretical introduction to Arabic calligraphy, as opposed to a tutorial to someone who wants to learn to write it. With that said, it does have some practical information, and it is a decent resource for anyone interested in the subject.
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,288,964 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #506 in Calligraphy Guides #554 in Alphabet Reference #3,609 in Arts & Photography Criticism |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 94 Reviews |
T**D
Good!
Great images and examples for my calligraphy practicing
T**R
A decent reference, not a practical way to learn Arabic calligraphy
This book is more of a birds-eye, theoretical introduction to Arabic calligraphy, as opposed to a tutorial to someone who wants to learn to write it. With that said, it does have some practical information, and it is a decent resource for anyone interested in the subject.
N**E
Nice
Great beginning text.
R**A
Beautiful book, some sloppy mistakes
This book was originally written in French and later translated into English, but the translator was sloppy and not all of the text was edited properly. In the first picture I uploaded, you can see that one of the captions was simply not translated into English at all. In the second picture, the caption states โLinks for Sin (and Chin)โ. โChinโ is based on the French pronunciation, this should have been written as โShinโ (ุด) in this English version. โChinโ in English is a different sound, written as (ฺ) in Urdu, Farsi, and other languages, doesnโt even exist in the Arabic alphabet. The third photo reflects more of a personal opinion than pointing out mistakes- identifying that letter as โjimโ (ุฌ) might be confusing to a learner, when youโre presenting the letter WITHOUT a dot, so itโs technically โHaโ (ุญ). Beautiful illustrations and photos, and great explanations. Itโs a shame that the editing was done so poorly.
A**R
Brilliant
Brilliant
G**R
Beautifully printed, wonderful photos etc
Beautifully printed, wonderful photos etc., but could really use more pages with instruction on starting. I mainly use YouTube and there's some solid, free videos on the different khat forms. This book is still a wonderful way to practice the alphabet in different forms.
D**P
Nice resource for writing Arabic.
A gift for my wife, who is learning written Arabic. Helpful in showing stroke order and varied techniques.
S**E
What's with the packaging?
The book is nice and I'll be giving it to my friend as a gift. However I don't understand why it was shipped in such a large box (refer to photo). Felt extremely wasteful
S**I
A beautiful product
A beautiful book. I am truly enjoying the learning process.
C**N
a beautiful book
gives meaning of some of the script shown and how to master it.
J**.
Genial
Excelente Calidad y contenido.
K**J
Nice but somewhat lacking
While it does give a nice overview of the material, some history and presentation of different styles, the instructions remind me of the meme "How to draw an owl". It could have been made clearer for a beginner. Someone already pointed some mistakes but I'd like to point what I consider a big one if you want to go further. When presenting the ุฑูุนุฉ script, it is said to be "riqa" and not to be confused with "ruq'ah", said to derive from thuluth. But it's the reverse: ุฑูุนุฉ is ruq'ah and the thuluth derivative is riqa'. I could take a glance at the original version and the mistake is only in the translation.
J**T
OK coffee table book
A decent intro but not a good instructional.
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