Different flourishing techniques?
Today, I want to introduce you to two distinct techniques of flourishing — and two complementary approaches to learning them. You’ll first explore my own technique, focused on structured, drawing-based practice with pencil. Then, professional calligrapher Anindita Biswas will share her “text-flourishing” technique, demonstrating how to create and teach flourishing using nib and ink to craft beautiful, illustrative elements. By the end, you’ll not only gain insight into different flourishing styles, but also discover two unique technical methods — giving you a richer perspective on how flourishing can be learned, practiced, and taught.
My technique in Flourishing: Drawing, Structure, Understanding, and Clarity
When it comes to flourishing, there isn’t just one right way to do it. There are different techniques, different tools, and different ways of thinking — and yet, interestingly, all of them can lead to similar results. That means you can choose the approach that feels most natural to you.
My own style is based on lettering for flourishing. I started with lettering, brush lettering, and some classic calligraphy. These roots have deeply influenced the way I teach and practice flourishing today — mostly through pencil work. Over time, I’ve discovered many fascinating aspects of how flourishing actually works and how people best learn it.
Why You Can’t Learn Flourishing with Letters Alone
The first important thing I learned was this: you can’t truly learn to flourish just by practicing letters.
Flourishing and letters belong together — but they each require a specific level of quality and attention. Neglect one, and it shows in your results. While letters are about rhythm and repetition, flourishes demand flexibility, balance, and a sense of movement that adapts to each situation.
Some people ask: “But you teach flourishing to calligraphers — and you don’t actually write with a nib?”
That’s true. But the rules and principles behind flourishing don’t depend on the tool. In fact, most calligraphers start with a pencil before inking their work — because a flourish can easily go wrong with just one misplaced curve. Pencil gives you freedom to explore, correct, and refine before committing to ink. And when you’re learning, that freedom is essential.
Flourishing Is Less Predictable — and That’s the Beauty of it
Letterforms can be learned through repetition — each shape follows a pattern, each style has its logic. Flourishes, on the other hand, live in a world of controlled unpredictability. You can and should practice the forms, but each application will require slight variations, depending on the space, balance, and structure of your composition.
That’s why I always recommend sketching your flourishes beforehand. Even advanced artists benefit from visualizing the movement and the rhythm before executing it.
The Drawing-Based Approach: Flourishing Slowly and Intentionally
My technique is a slow process — guided by the hand and underarm. It’s not about writing quickly, but about drawing each flourish with purpose.
This drawing approach gives you more creative freedom. You’re not confined to the same movement patterns you use for writing letters. That opens a much wider range of flourishing versions and styles. Of course, at first, this can feel overwhelming — suddenly you have so many options. But with practice, you’ll grow comfortable with that openness. You’ll start to see possibilities that actually work everywhere.
Interestingly, drawing flourishes slowly also allows me to imitate more dynamic styles. The key lies in understanding what kind of curve expresses movement — not necessarily executing it at full speed. Once you know the character of a curve, you can make even a carefully drawn flourish look spontaneous and lively.
Breaking Down the Magic
People often tell me that I “break down every flourish decision to the bone” — and I take that as a compliment. Many see flourishing as something mysterious, almost magical — as if you need a secret gift to do it. But it’s not magic; it’s a skill. And like any skill, it can be understood, explained, and learned.
My teaching style is structured and transparent. I give students a clear path to approach flourishing — whether simple or complex. My goal is to take away the fear of flourishing, to show that it’s not unattainable, and to bring clarity to something that often feels abstract. Flourishing is a dance between logic and beauty — and once you understand it, you’ll start to feel at home in it.
Conclusion
While my teaching focuses on a structured, drawing-based method, there’s another fascinating approach: the off-hand technique used by many traditional calligraphers. It’s fluid, often faster, and performed in one confident stroke — mostly from the arm and shoulder. It relies on muscle memory and rhythm rather than pre-drawn structure. But let us explain this technique be calligrapher Anindita Biswas:
Anindita Biswas introducing Text-Flourishing
While flourishing often begins with drawing for many lettering artists, her own approach comes from the opposite direction which is from the discipline and movement of traditional pointed pen calligraphy. She would love to add this perspective to expand the conversation.
Anindita Biswas has always been fascinated by how flourishing reveals the personality of a script. In calligraphy, the flourish isn’t just an ornament added at the end, it is an extension of the writing itself. Every curve grows out of the rhythm already present in the letters and the movement begins within the script long before it becomes a visible stroke on the page.
The honesty of the pointed pen
Where the drawing-led method gives you freedom to explore shapes without consequence, the traditional approach places great importance on the honesty of the pen. The nib has a truth-telling quality: it shows hesitation, wavering, tension, or confidence instantly. Because of this, flourishing in the traditional sense is less about sketching an idea and more about performing it. The stroke must be whole, uninterrupted, and carried by intention from start to finish.
Planning happens in motion
This means the preparation happens in the hand through the pointed pen. Before the flourish appears, you are already thinking about rhythm, pressure, the direction of movement, the breathing room of the counter-spaces, and the underlying slant of the script. You’re considering how the flourish will support the letter, how it will entry or exit the previous form and lead the eye into the next, how light or generous it should feel. It is a quieter kind of planning and less visible on paper, more embodied in motion.
Movement in Off-hand flourishing and Text Flourishing is very different. So in Text Flourishing it’s more to do with Oval Drills and generally executed with finger, wrist and forearm movement. The movement is much more complex in Offhand and the grip is also different. Below you see how to hold the pen in text-flourishing.
Yet this is also where both approaches meet beautifully. The drawing method expands possibilities, allowing you to explore shapes you may not instinctively attempt with the nib. The traditional method refines those shapes, filtering them through the discipline of structure, spacing, and classical rhythm. When combined, they create flourish work that is imaginative but grounded, expressive yet disciplined. The flourish becomes both an artful gesture and a truthful stroke.
Create a line that feels alive
Flourishing, after all, isn’t a style it’s a way of thinking about balance and movement. Whether the idea begins with a pencil or pointed pen with the rules of the script, the goal is the same: to create a line that feels alive. When drawing and traditional penmanship come together, the flourish gains both freedom and integrity. It becomes a line that breathes with intention, created through exploration but completed with certainty.
This is the harmony Anindita believes flourishing thrives on: the openness of drawing and the discipline of calligraphy. One gives you vision, the other gives you clarity. Together they allow a flourish not just to decorate, but to belong.
Importance of the oval form
Flourishes may look fancy and complex, but at their core, they are simply made up of big and small ovals and loops (above). When we break them down, we see that every entry stroke, exit stroke, ascender, descender, crossbar swirl, and even an overlapping flourish is built from variations of smooth oval shapes. This is what gives our flourishes a graceful, flowing look and keeps them visually consistent.
In the above examples, you can see how each flourish element; whether it’s a gentle wave stroke, a curled descender, an infinity loop, or an overlapping swirl all share this same foundation. By understanding that flourishing is basically a structure of ovals, we can build our designs confidently and keep them looking harmonious and balanced.
A new class is coming up with Anindita
As she continues developing these ideas in her own practice, Anindita will be opening a dedicated class this March to teach Text Flourishing. You’ll learn how to build smooth curves, enhance simple letterforms, add light decorative terminals, and understand where flourishes belong for the best visual impact. Through guided drills and demonstrations, you’ll develop the foundational skills needed to flourish with intention rather than guesswork. This workshop is ideal for beginners stepping into flourishing for the first time, as well as calligraphers who want to clean up their technique before moving into more advanced work.
If you’d like to learn these principles and technique more deeply with me, the Waitlist is now open. You can sign up to receive early access and full details as soon as they’re released.
Bio
I’m Anindita Biswas, a Mumbai-based calligrapher and artist with an unconventional background in engineering, travel, MBA, and graphic design. I’ve specialised in traditional calligraphy and fine penmanship, earned my IAMPETH Certificate of Proficiency in Spencerian Script, taught workshops, and created bespoke commissions for clients including Google and Victoria’s Secret. I also co-host the Calligraphy Artists’ Club podcast, celebrating craft and community. To me, calligraphy is meditation, narrative, and a lifelong devotion to beauty and discipline.