I’m going to try and explain something really important, to help anyone who has seen a design they love, and would like a calligrapher to create something similar. As I write, I’ve had an experience with a customer who loved my style, but wanted me to incorporate too much of another calligrapher’s design from a piece of beautiful calligraphy they’d found online. Here’s how
Key advice for commissioning a bespoke piece of calligraphy
- Always contact the original artist first, if you love their style (jump to this section to see why this is important)
- Understand that every calligrapher has their own writing and design style
- Be specific in your requirements, from the very beginning
Finding the original artist for a piece of calligraphy (via Pinterest or instagram etc)
There are many, many pieces of beautiful calligraphy art and wedding stationery examples floating around on Pinterest, and these often don’t credit or mention the original artist of the piece. If you see something you love and would like to have a very similar design created for your own wedding, you should always find and contact the artist or calligrapher who created it. The simplest way is to use Google image search. Here’s how:
- Take a screenshot of the image
- Upload your screenshot in Google image search
- Look through the results for links to the artist’s website (ignoring all the links from Pinterest etc)
- Contact the artist and ask them for prices and timelines
If that doesn’t work – either you can’t find the original artist, or they’re unavailable for your wedding – then it will never be possible to have a copy made.
You could ask that calligrapher for recommendations. Often we have our own little networks and can recommend someone whose work is similar in style to our own.
Be clear on your Plan B
If your first choice of designer or calligrapher is unavailable or out of your budget, be realistic about the alternatives. You’ll need to find a new calligrapher and love their work instead! (There are hundreds of calligraphers worldwide and so many whose work is beyond fabulous – enjoy your search!)
Look for more inspiration online – using Google search is often a reliable way of finding a designer’s name alongside their work. You might also search on Etsy for calligraphy artists and wedding invitation designers. These are better than Pinterest, because you should always be able to discover who made an original design, and contact them directly.
When you’ve found another designer whose style you love – underlined because this is super important! – contact them. As a calligrapher I’d much rather be shown an example from my own galleries as inspiration, than something another calligrapher has created.
Every calligrapher and wedding stationery designer has their own unique style. Think of us like football teams: you can’t buy a Liverpool scarf from the Man City shop. (Please don’t try.) Choose whose style you prefer, and expect whatever they create for you to be in that style.
If you love a calligrapher’s style but they don’t have exactly what you’re looking for, it’s ok to show them the original photo you were inspired by. (Perhaps they don’t have an invitation example in the right colours or shape, or you’d like more flourishing than they usually show on their socials, for example.) It’s not ok to ask them to copy.
THINGS A CALLIGRAPHER CAN DO FOR YOU
- Work to a layout (e.g. flowers in the corners, names bold and centred)
- Incorporate little extras like flourishing and swirls in certain places
- Use creative card shapes (arches) and paper types (cotton rag)
THINGS A CALLIGRAPHER CAN’T DO (so please don’t ask)
- Copy someone else’s style exactly (e.g. fonts)
- Replicate a layout (e.g. same flowers, same positions, same colours as someone else’s design)
- Copy flourishes and swirls with the same positioning and identical layout
Use meaningful words for your original brief and amends
Designers and calligraphers describe their invitations as ‘romantic and feminine’ or ‘modern and minimal’ – words which can point you in the right direction if you’re after a particular aesthetic. But they’re subjective. What’s ‘romantic’ to one person won’t be to everyone. A ‘modern’ invitation style will be something entirely different in my daughter’s mind, and in mine, and in her grandmother’s. So use descriptive language and visual examples to communicate.
Here are some great examples:
“I’d like the fonts for our names to be bigger”
“Can you move the venue text upwards?”
“I prefer a lighter / heavier / capitalised font”
“Is it possible to have more white space around the edges?”
“Can the illustration be larger / smaller?”
And some not-so-good examples:
“Can our names be more whimsical?”
“I’d like flowers that are delicate and pretty”
“More cottage-garden style please”
“That font’s too masculine”
The importance of galleries, portfolios and examples when booking a calligrapher
Personal style is really important. I update my website and calligraphy blog ALL the time, to show latest examples of my work. I upload images to my instagram and Facebook as well, so people who use social media can see the calligraphy I’m writing on a daily and weekly basis.
You can find me – and examples of my calligraphy – at @bymoonandtide on instagram and at https://www.facebook.com/byMoonandTide.
I have galleries on my website showing examples of wedding invitation calligraphy, the specific calligraphy styles I can write for wedding invitations and stationery, and a large gallery of poems I’ve written in calligraphy over the years. All of these pages are intended to give you as much information as I possibly can before you hire me as your wedding or poem calligrapher.
My experience of being asked to breach copyright
My customer approached me with this: “Hi Claire! I absolutely love your calligraphy. I’m wondering if you could do similar style to the image attached – I just love the swirlies and craziness.”
When you approach a calligrapher whose work you love, be specific with your request. I wasn’t sure what my customer meant by “swirlies and craziness” so I sent a link to my bespoke digital invitations to show them my style.
I made two mistakes. I took the first words my customer said to me: “I absolutely love your calligraphy” as the reason they had contacted me. I thought they were looking for my style of calligraphy, with some “swirls and craziness”. Gradually, I realised they were looking for a calligrapher – any calligrapher, maybe – and that loving my calligraphy was just a lovely thing they’d said to be kind and introduce themselves.
My customer shared a couple of images with me, and said “I’m really looking for something kind of unique and wild!!” The designs they sent were full of swirls, and again I assumed they wanted this in my style, but full of swirls. When my customer asked for “really similar vibes to my inspo picture” I didn’t for a second think they were asking me to copy the original artist’s work; only to include a similar number of swirls (which filled all the available space on the invitation).
Before accepting any payment I send this to my customer: “Do feel free to check out my other listings to get an idea of my calligraphy style – if you don’t feel it’s the right fit, there is absolutely no obligation to purchase :)”
My customer replied with “Perfect!”
So we began the design process where I work on layouts and draft designs. I sent several proofs over the course of the next few days.
The lovely response I got to the first proof I sent was “Gorgeous!” along with a couple of tweaks to the symmetry, and a request for flourishing to be separate from the letter shapes, with one flourish to be removed and two in a similar style to the customer’s inspo picture to be added – which I did (although at this point alarm bells were ringing – I wasn’t particularly comfortable adding flourishes from the picture, so I added something a little similar but not identical).
My second mistake: I assumed my customer would be aware of copyright, and would know that I couldn’t create something which would look like another calligrapher’s work. Now I realise that not everyone will know about copyright, or how precious and personal an artist’s style is to them. This is why I wanted to write this blog: to explain, I hope in a really relatable way, that it’s ok to be inspired by someone’s art, but if you want something to look just like an example you’ve seen online, only the original artist can do that for you.
The story goes on: I sent another proof with all the changes my customer had asked for.
They replied, with a request for extensive changes to the wording and layout (an additional 25 words) and changes to the flourishing which hadn’t been mentioned before. Suddenly it really felt like my customer was asking me to bring the design away from my own style, and to create a carbon copy of the original they’d seen online. And at this stage, it felt really awkward. I could make some specific changes to the layout and wording, and even change the angle of some of the flourishes – but I had to say something about copyright:
“Just a little note about design overall: I can’t create an exact copy of the original designer’s work: there have to be elements of my own style in there. I can take inspiration from another calligrapher, but creating a carbon copy would breach copyright law. Your new design – which I’ll start tomorrow – will include the changes you’ve asked for, but the wisps won’t replicate [the US-based Master Calligrapher’s] design exactly.”
My customer paid for the extra wording and tweaks to the design as I’d described. I made the changes, and sent over a final version of their invitation with a note: “I’ve saved a digital copy of the invitation with calligraphy only, which means you can pick and choose the swirls you like! Feel free to go through the attachment with a red pen, crossing out any swirls you don’t want, or want to move, resize or even turn upside down!” I added: “As per my little note on Tuesday: this is as close as I can come to the original artist’s design without breaking copyright law, which I can’t do. The design will always look different because his example (your screenshot) had 17 words and yours has 54.”
My customer asked for two versions of the invitation, one with flourishing and one without. And as a final point, they said the design was “a bit cuter and my girly than I was anticipating and really wanted it to be more whispy, lighter and romantic.”
Some things I’ve learned!
What went from a simple “I love your calligraphy” enquiry gradually turned into a request to breach copyright – which I refused to do. It’s why I’ve written this blog: so I can share this story as a kind way of explaining copyright for people who aren’t aware of the implications of copying another artist’s design, or of being copied.
When I’m sent inspiration photos in the future, I’ll always ask my customer if they’ve approached the original designer. Even if they’ve kicked off their enquiry with how much they love my style! It’s a helpful and kind thing to do. I’m pretty good on Google image search, and on recognising other calligraphers’ work. Maybe that will help someone find their dream calligrapher, even if it’s not me!
And I’ve learned to be really proud of my style of calligraphy, of my flourishing, and of my art and illustration. I don’t ever try to copy another designer’s work – but my own confidence in my lettering and botanical illustrations has been slow to grow.
This whole experience has taught me to be proud of what I create: and to use every gallery image and example I’ve ever made to show potential customers how beautiful and varied my work can be! The next time I’m shown a picture for inspiration, I’ll respond with one of my own, and say how lovely the inspiration is – but steering the conversation into safe waters by showing potential customers more of my calligraphy and art, which I’ve every right to be proud of.
Have a little browse of my calligraphy galleries here, and see my calligraphy on instagram too!