Developing Mindset and Portfolio for Aspiring Calligraphers
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I was asked once “how do you know if my calligraphy/talent is good enough?”
The technical answer to that would be if your calligraphy…
has smooth transition of thin upstroke and thick downstroke
has consistent baseline
at a consistent angle
You may also ask yourself “when am I ready to monetize my calligraphy?”. The simple answer is if someone asks you to. But should you wait until you get asked? Absolutely not. It all depends on how you present your portfolio. It requires confidence and getting out of your comfort zone. This blog will cover the topic of developing those positive mindset so you can get hired.
During my time at Corporate, I used to get projects and responsibilities that I had never done before, nor did I ever felt comfortable doing, like launching new programs, coming up with a process and getting buy-in from the Executives and employees. It was a daily challenge where I had to get out of my comfort zone to do those so I could keep my job. I developed mindsets that pushed me to be a high-performing employee which are transferrable to my journey in building calligraphy business. These mindsets helped me gain confidence as I keep building my portfolio so I could get hired.
On my last blog, I talked about basic business foundation you need to start thinking before marketing yourself. The next stop is building portfolio and in this context, it is for building website if you have never had any client project. That’s right! I did not have any paid project when I was building my website but I got tons of passion and positive mindsets!
The Mindsets:
Here’s the thing, you’re never really ready. No one is ever ready. We, as artists, are cursed with obsession over perfection which sometimes stops us from moving forward. You may question yourself, you don’t know how to put your work out there and you’re overthinking of what people will think. So how do you get past that?
Done is better than perfect. I first heard this empowering statement from Stefan Kunz in my early days as I had so much doubt with my creativity. As I keep changing my design and changing my mind, I found myself going down the rabbit hole of wanting to perfect my work…which as it turned out….perfection doesn’t exist. It simply doesn’t! It will only stop you from progressing. So if you find yourself going back and forth with one project. Take a break and go back with a fresh pair of eyes and just finish it. Don’t overthink it. If it helps, schedule when it should finish and don’t do anything else.
But keep improving. After you finish your work, next time you have another project, analyze what you can improve next time. Your skills will level up as you create more. Your muscle memory will improve. Your eye for design will also improve. Be patient with yourself, no one was born with natural calligraphy skills. Every Professionals were once beginners and there’s always something to improve in calligraphy, whether learning new style or new tools.
Turn threat into opportunity. Self-doubt is a powerful barrier that can stop you from starting. But it is also an indicator that you need to keep progressing. If you change your self-doubt into opportunities, you will keep growing and you’re unstoppable. Start even if you haven’t figured everything out. You will figure out in time. The longer you delay the harder it is to start. Here are some ways of changing how you think from limiting mindset to growth mindset.
“My work is not good enough” ➡️ “I may not be good enough right now but I’m going to put my work out there anyway because I know I will progress as long as I keep working on my skills.”
“I don’t know how to take pictures” ➡️ “I’m going to figure out how to take pictures by practicing and learning from product photographers that I will find on Youtube, Google and Instagram”
“I don’t know how to be consistent.” ➡️ “I may need to try different things right now and I will figure out what I like and what I don’t, what works and what doesn’t”
“I don’t know how to market myself.” ➡️ “I’m going to do research and find learning resources on how to market myself as a creative. I will apply what I learn.”
Keep doing and less thinking. My imposter syndrome typically starts to creep in and sending me demotivating thoughts and self-doubt if I don’t take any action. The more I think about what I want to do or start doing, the more I overthink and end up not doing it at all. Don’t do that. Just start working on it and keep working on it. If you find yourself thinking and thinking about it, that’s a sign that you need to keep working on it.
Embrace mistakes. Mistakes are your special ingredient in business. You need to be okay with making mistakes. You won’t know what works for you or what is profitable if you can’t accept making mistakes. Embracing mistakes requires you to get out of your comfort zone and accept what will come out of it. If you want to grow faster, make more mistakes (but not the same mistakes!). You grow by learning from your mistakes not by being discouraged by it.
Bonus: Exercising in your daily routine will help you maintain positive mindset. Being active produces happy hormone which help you focus on the positive rather than the negative. I personally became a Zumba instructor so I have accountability of showing up to my Zumba classes 3 times a week.
The Portfolio
Hire yourself: Create a project that you will want to be hired for. If you want to start doing wedding signage like seating chart, start doing this. Your first seating chart will be hard. You will figure out your method of setting up your chart and how you calculate the spacing. It is also important to be inclusive with your business. Diversify the names that you want to include in your mock seating chart. You want your portfolio to be believable that it looks like you were hired to create the seating chart. Believable work includes diversity in guests names.
Learn to take pictures: This is by far the trickiest part of marketing as I’m not a photographer. But don’t be discouraged! There are tons of tutorials out there on how to take product photography and flat lay photography. Learn about lighting, rule of thirds, the art of props. Investing in courses will get you so far ahead among your competitors. Pictures nowadays can be taken with your mobile phone and it will look just as good.
Edit your pictures: Get in the habits of editing your pictures. I typically use VSCO (very minimal subscription fee) and Adobe Lightroom (free for mobile app). This will make your pictures look professional. Use the same presets for consistency. See the difference of unedited and edited picture below.
Calligraphy is clear: When you are using filters or presets, sometimes it makes the calligraphy blurry and less legible. You can increase the “sharpening” or “Clarity” feature on your editing application. This way, your client can see your calligraphy style clearly.
Before edited
After edited
If you find my tips helpful to you, let me know! Give it a comment, likes or share it to whoever needs it. You can watch the IGTV version of this blog by clicking on the image below.
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