The Evolution of Calligraphy
Above image is my animal calligraphy of a swan, saying an Islamic phrase in Arabic.
Calligraphy is a visual art related to writing. It is executed by designing lettering with a broad tip, instrument, brush or other writing instruments. In my above image, I used a mixture of color pencils, markers, and pencil to draw out mine. In the Middle East and East Asia, calligraphy has been a very old tradition and is considered an important art, equal to sculpting or painting. However, in English, the word calligraphy didn’t appear until 1613. In Europe, it became popular in the mid-15th century, used in writing books. Arabic calligraphy arose in the 7th and 8th centuries CE. The Arab followers of Prophet Muhammad conquered territories stretching from the shores of the Atlantic to Sindh, which is now known as Pakistan. As well as them spreading the religion of Islam, the conquerors introduced the language, Arabic. There were two types of scripts for Arabic (a way of calligraphy) during the time, cursive script and Kufic script. The cursive script was used for everyday purposes and typical examples can be seen in the Arabic papyri in Egypt.
However, Kufic Script was developed for religious and official purposes. This form of writing was used in the earliest copies of the Quran. They’re written on parchment and date all the way back from the 8th top the 10th century. The writing is quite large, particularly with early examples. Its pace is majestic and measured.The image to the right is an early Kufic book style, a leaf from a Quran, in the 8th or 9th century. Kufic writing went out of general use around the 11th century but it continued to be used in a decorative style. 
During 1000, a new script became popular and is still used today as a popular script in the Arab world, it is called a nashki script. It’s a cursive script based on laws governing proportions between two letters. The picture to the left is an old Ottoman nashki script.
As for Chinese calligraphy, it became well used during the Shang Dynasty, in 1600-1046 BCE and was considered an art form back then and even today. In Ancient China, calligraphy was a way of communication and to write things down. It was also a way to express yourself and noble and royal children had to learn calligraphy. The ability to write calligraphy showed control and inner peace. It was a sign of status.
Calligraphy has been used since ancient times in places all around the world. Nowadays, calligraphy is considered a sacred art. It’s important to Islam as calligraphy was used in the Quran, which is considered the word of God and it’s the earliest written book in Arabic. Modern calligraphy is used for functional inscriptions and designs and fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable. It’s used in Logotype Design, for example, the font for Instagram. It’s used in invitations for occasions like weddings and for physical products. It’s also used in murals, signs, album artwork, titles in things like movies, advertisements, magazines, cards in general, beverage labels, book covers, menus, packaging and for fonts.
Reflection of Unit
When I was first told I had to complete a draft of a geometric pattern in Islamic Art, it was a bit of a struggle. I started off with researching about different types of geometric patterns, they all looked so intricately designed and drawn so when I first started off with drawing out my geometric pattern, they weren't symmetrical at all. I drew 2 different ones and ended up picking my original one, despite the fact that accidentally I had painted too hard and a hole went through the paper.
The picture to the right showcases my draft of my geometric pattern. I used different shades of pinks and purples to color this and used the color yellow for the star. However, the paint constantly went past the boundaries that I had drawn out due to the fact that all the paintbrushes were taken and I was left with the big paintbrushes that are meant for bigger paintings. It was quite a struggle painting with them as I had to be incredibly careful with painting. It ended up going out of the lines I had drawn in pencil so I outlined with a black pen so that I could define the geometric pattern. It isn't very symmetrical either as I didn't put down any specific measurements which are obvious to see. I ended up getting a level 5 on this and so I set out targets for my final piece. Firstly, it would be more symmetrical. Secondly, I would find better paintbrushes so that the paint would be more precise and it could be colored well. 
The next picture to my right showcases my final piece and my tesselation of my geometric pattern. In my opinion, I feel like I improved immensely from my first draft. I used a ruler to draw out all the lines and made sure that all the measurements of the length and width were the same. I used a watercolor brush pen to paint this which improved how I painted this geometric pattern tesselation. One of the issues I came across, however, was with my first geometric pattern on the left. As you can see the white part of the yellow star is significantly smaller than the other two. I was originally supposed to use the white part of the star, how I used it in the draft. Originally, I was supposed to color it a light pink/purple like in the draft and draw lines through it. However, I ended up painting too much of the star yellow and left it blank to decide on later. This is what I also did in the other two. My final plan was to simply color them a different color like in the draft and then color over some of the yellow in the first geometric pattern so that it wouldn't show that the first was significantly smaller. Unfortunately, I was running incredibly low on time and didn't have time to do that part, however, I feel like it looks better blank but the only issue with that is that it doesn't look as much like a tesselation since my first star is smaller than the other ones. Another issue I faced was with the colors, I constantly had to paint over with a new darker color since I couldn't find the same palette that I had used the previous lesson. This wasn't a huge issue as I ended up memorizing the exact colors I needed to use for my tesselation so that I could find it easily. Another issue that I only found out after I completed it was that the first circle isn't touching the other two which makes it look less like a tessellation. I was unable to do anything about this as I had already finished painting and I couldn't adjust the circle.
In conclusion, I learned a lot about painting and drawing geometric patterns in this unit. I learned how much small details count and how much of a difference they can make (for example making a star smaller than the others or making one line slightly wider than the other). I also learned how important it is to pick the right type of the brush, if you use a big one it'll be much harder to paint small details, and if you use a small brush, it'll take a lot longer to finish bigger part of the pattern. The unit also taught me how important symmetry and measuring is, as it could greatly affect how a piece looks, for example, if one circle is a lot bigger than the other. These lessons will help me in any pieces I do in the future as I'll know how to draw something out properly, as well as looking for the correct paintbrushes and paints.
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