creative arabic calligraphy square kufic -
Kufic - Wikipedia
Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts. The name of the script derives from Kufa, a city in southern Iraq which was considered as an studious scholarly center within the into the future Islamic period. Kufic is defined as a intensely deeply angular form of the Arabic alphabet originally used in into the future copies of the Qur’an. Sheila S. Blair Kufic script (Arabic: الخط الكوفي) is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence to come going on for as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has before become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It developed from the Nabataeans of Iraq alphabet in the city of Kufa, from which its read out is derived.[1] Kufic script is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation.[1] There are many oscillate versions of Kufic script, such as square Kufic, floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others.[1]Calligraphers in the further on Islamic times used a variety of methods to transcribe Qur’an manuscripts. Arabic calligraphy became one of the most important branches of Islamic Art. Calligraphers came out considering the extra style of writing called Kufic. Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts. The say of the script derives from Kufa, a city in southern Iraq which was considered as an hypothetical center within the to come Islamic period. Kufic is defined as a severely angular form of the Arabic alphabet originally used in in advance copies of the Qur’an. Sheila S. Blair suggests that "the reveal post Kufic was introduced to Western scholarship by Jacob George Christian Adler (1756-1834)."[2] Furthermore, the Kufic script plays an important role in the enhancement of Islamic calligraphy. In fact, "it is the first style of Islamic epoch writings in which the manifestation of art, delicacy and beauty are explicitly evident" says Salwa Ibraheem Tawfeeq Al-Amin.[3] The rule set for this writing was about the angular, linear shapes of the characters. In fact, "the rules that were defined at the outset of the Kufic tradition essentially remained the same throughout its lifespan" says Alain George.[4]
The main characteristic of the Kufic script "appears to be the transformation of the ancient cuneiform script into the Arabic letters" according to Enis Timuçin Tan.[5] Moreover, it was characterized by figural letters that were shaped in a way to be nicely written more or less parchment, building and decorative objects bearing in mind lusterware and coins.[6] Kufic script is composed of geometrical forms similar to in the same way as straight lines and angles along with verticals and horizontals.[7] Originally, Kufic did not have what is known as a differentiated consonant, which means, for example, that the letters "t", "b", and "th" were not distinguished by diacritical marks and looked the same.[7] However, it is still used in Islamic countries. In highly developed Kufic Qur'ans of the ninth and in front tenth century, "the sura headings were more often designed afterward the sura title as the main feature, often written in gold, gone a palmette extending into the margin " comments Marcus Fraser.[8] Its use in transcribing manuscripts has been important in the further of Kufic Script. Earlier kufic was written nearly manuscripts following precision which contributed to its development. For instance, "the exactness truth achieved in practice is all more remarkable because Kufic manuscripts were not ruled" says Alain George.[9] Moreover, he explains that Kufic manuscripts were laid out past a stable number of lines per page, and these were strictly parallel and equidistant.[9] One impressive example of an further on Qur'an manuscript, known as the Blue Qur'an, features gold Kufic script almost parchment dyed following indigo. It is commonly official to the early Fatimid or Abbasid court. The main text of this Qur'an is written in gold ink, so the effect just about looking at the manuscript is of gold around blue. According to Marcus Fraser, "the political and artistic sophistication and financial expense of the production of the blue Qur'an could unaccompanied have been contemplated and achieved by a ruler of considerable gift and wealth".[8]
The Qur'an was first written in a plain, slanted, and uniform script but, in the same way as its content was formalized, a script that denoted authority emerged.[12] This coalesced into what is now known as Primary Kufic script.[12] Kufic was prevalent in manuscripts from the 7th to 10th centuries. vis-а-vis the 8th century, it was the most important of several variants of Arabic scripts in the same way as its austere and fairly low vertical profile and a horizontal emphasis.[13] Until approximately the 11th century it was the main script used to copy the Qur'an.[14] Professional copyists employed a particular form of Kufic for reproducing the archaic unshakable copies of the Qur'an, which were written as regards parchment and date from the 8th to 10th centuries.[15] It is distinguished from Thuluth script in its use of decorative elements whereas the latter was designed to avoid decorative motifs.[16] In place of the decorations in Kufic scripts, Thuluth used vowels.[16]
The Kufic script is inscribed regarding textiles, coins, lusterware, building and so on.[17] Coins were no question important in the momentum of the Kufic script. In fact, "the letter strokes on the order of coins, had become perfectly straight, taking into account bearing in mind curves tending toward geometrical circularity by 86" observes Alain George.[18] As an example, Kufic is commonly seen re Seljuk coins and monuments and on the order of to the fore Ottoman coins. Its decorative feel led to its use as a decorative element in several public and domestic buildings constructed prior to the Republican grow old in Turkey. Also, the current flag of Iraq (2008) afterward includes a kufic rendition of the takbir.
Similarly, the flag of Iran (1980) has the takbir written in white square kufic script a total of 22 times approximately the fringe of both the green and red bands. Kufic inscriptions were important in the emergence of textiles too, often keen as decoration in the form of tiraz bands. According to Maryam Ekhtiar, "tiraz inscriptions were written in Kufic or floriated Kufic script, and later, in naskhi or throughout the islamic world." [19] Those inscriptions complement the pronounce of God or the ruler. As an example, the inscription inside the Dome of the Rock is written in Kufic. Throughout the text, we can message proclamation the calligraphic line created by the reed pen which is usually a steady act subsequently various thicknesses based nearly the changes in paperwork of the pursuit that has created it.[20] There is square or geometric Kufic is a no question simplified rectangular style of Kufic widely used for tiling. In Iran sometimes entire buildings are covered once tiles spelling sacred names past those of God, Muhammad and Ali in square Kufic, a technique known as banna'i.[21] Moreover, there is "Pseudo-Kufic", moreover then "Kufesque" which refers to imitations of the Kufic script, made in a non-Arabic context, during the Middle Ages or the Renaissance: "Imitations of Arabic in European art are often described as pseudo-Kufic, borrowing the term for an Arabic script that emphasizes straight and angular strokes, and is most commonly used in Islamic architectural decoration".[22]
Square Kufic (Arabic: ٱلْكُوفِيّ ٱلمُرَبَّع), furthermore sometimes known as banna'i (بَنَائِيّ, "masonry" script), is a bare Arabic writing form that developed in the 12th century.[23][24] The calligrapher Mamoun Sakkal described its enhancement as an "exceptional step towards simplification in Kufic styles that evolved towards more complexity in the preceding centuries."[23] Square Kufic was originally created in architecture behind bricks and tiles energetic as pixels.[24] Legibility is not a priority of this script.[24]
Geometric Kufic sample (Surah 112, al-Ikhlas or "The Surah of Monotheism", of the Qur'an), entrance clockwise, starting at bottom left (begins like the Basmala).
Another example of geometric or square Kufic script, showing four instances of the publish Muhammad (in black) and four times Ali (in white); often used as a tilework pattern in Islamic architecture
Bifolio of Surat Al-An'am in the "Nurse’s Quran” (مصحف الحاضنة), commissioned by a patron named Fatima out cold asleep the Zirid Dynasty in the further on 11th century.[25]
Drawing of an inscription of Basmala in Kufic script, 9th century. The indigenous native is in the Islamic Museum in Cairo (Inventar-Nr. 7853)
Creative Arabic Calligraphy for Beginners: Introduction
For those who nonexistence to learn Arabic calligraphy (which I'll refer to as khatt) in creative ways, I have put this course together, a web adaptation of the one I teach in London. Here we'll cover: Kufic vs. rounded scripts: a history of Arabic scripts; The Arabic alphabet How to write Arabic letters in calligraphy; Easy Arabic calligraphy exercises So that this course can be enjoyed by everyone, including those without previous knowledge of Arabic, an establishment to the script and to the basics of that alphabet is necessary at the forefront we put into action energetic once calligraphy proper. This is why this first lesson is unusually lecture-like. However, even Arabic speakers may rule here something they didn't know before, as we don't necessarily learn much just about the script itself in theoretical or daily life.What I drive to teach in this further other series of easy Arabic calligraphy lessons is not the established flowing scripts that the words "Arabic calligraphy" evoke. As beautiful as they are, they are very formal, and it takes a long and repetitive apprenticeship to learn to draw them properly, and even longer to be accomplished to circulate oneself in the same way as them ("Make compliant long-suffering imitation your habit", said Ibn al-Bawwâb, one of the great names of the art).
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For those who deficiency dearth to learn Arabic calligraphy (which I'll refer to as khatt) in creative ways, I have put this course together, a web adaptation of the one I teach in London. Here we'll cover:
The course content is categorically original, as I have crystallized it from my own practice, the basis of which I acquired from a non-traditional master who taught no theory at all but put me to achievement for many years until this material was second nature. It may not, therefore, intersect later than any credited courses taught by calligraphers next an official license (ijâza).
The drive of the learn Arabic calligraphy series is not to teach you how to faithfully change forms, but to allow you an pact of the letters and how they are put together, so that you can after that create in the same way as them and make them your own, as I have done. To this end, we will be operational following the Kufic script.
Arabic calligraphic scripts can be not speaking into two loud families: the so-called rectilinear scripts (Kufic), and the cursive or round scripts. Although Kufic is too often presented as if it were a single, specific script in the course of the rest, that is a mistake, and it can be unaided be edited to a formula in an artificial way. To expand develop this, I will briefly describe the respective history of these two families and interpret make notes on their fundamental differences. (Note that all the names by which we ration the scripts are applied in retrospect. epoch sources used them more fluidly if at all.)
In pre-Islamic days, writing was known to the peoples of the Arabian peninsula, and a rudimentary Arabic script was in use. It was rudimentary because they had little use for it, living thing monster a culture considering a sealed oral tradition, and the antediluvian texts that have come to us comport yourself all the awkwardness of a system that hasn't yet found its legs.
Then, on the order of overnight, they found themselves in the possession of something that needed to be preserved not single-handedly word for word, but beside to the pauses amongst the words. That was the Qur'an, and it required a worthy transcription, similar to Arabic acquiring a special status, living thing monster seen as the language God chose for His revelation. The letters of the alphabet were now magical beings since they were gifted competent of holding and preserving the divine Word.
So the beforehand scribes gave the script a makeover: Kufic was the first Arabic script to be made consciously beautiful. These were yet nevertheless days next those in charge of reciting the Qur'an knew it by heart, so the practical aspect of legibility was of secondary concern: much more important was the sheer beauty of the text, its balance, harmony, and the feeling of wonder it inspired.
This was an venturesome get older for calligraphy, following no rules yet existed and calligraphers played in a sports ground of endless possibilities. The system that crystallized was coherent, but not pinned next to to forms: Kufic is an essential system, where form can be all the time continuously reinvented.
Thus we see versions of it that are adapted to the medium of ink on the order of vellum, and others enjoyable for stone, mosaic or even brickwork (the world's first "pixel" fonts!), all recognizable as Kufic, but no two truly identical. One variant, variously called Eastern Kufic or blinking flashing Cursive, is slender like full of life contrasts and diagonals, as if influenced by round styles but without losing Kufic traits. The one Kufic style that can truly be pinned beside is Square Kufic, and that because it's the most minimal attainable form of Arabic script.
For 300 years, lonely Kufic was beautiful and monumental sufficient to write the Qur'an, and in the Maghrib (which means "sunset" or "West" in Arabic, i.e North Africa, the lands West of Egypt) it never drifting its status but evolved a utterly particular cursive form, equally entry to variation: the Maghribi script.
On the other hand, in the Mashriq ("sunrise" or "East", the Levant and Middle East), where the capitals of the Muslim world were always situated, vast amounts of administrative perform meant a multitude of professional scribes, and that inevitably led to the rise of cursive or round scripts, quicker to write and more adapted to the smaller scale of letters and credited documents.
Eventually attempts were made to put on a pedestal praise a round script to the status of Kufic, to make it worthy of sacred texts, particularly because paper appeared nearly the scene, and as a surface had properties quite swap from vellum.
This was likely a gradual evolution, but folklore attributes to one man, Ibn Muqlah, a radical rebellious invention, turning him into the legendary father of classical Islamic calligraphy. He is said to have invented a system of proportions so that all the letters are based almost the height of the Alif, which itself is drawn in relation to the thickness of the pen used.
This created consistency and agreement in the script, and, just as the invention of glass blowing changed the course of glassmaking, this put calligraphy going on for a further other track—no comparable advances have been made back (stop and think virtually this: this means khatt has not significantly evolved before the 10th century).
The Six Styles (Aqlam el-Sitta) of the classical tradition of Islamic calligraphy were created and perfected by Ibn Muqlah and his successors Ibn el-Bawwâb and Yaqût. They are the Naskh (basis for most Arabic fonts), Thuluth, Muhaqqaq, Rayhani, Riqa' and Tawqi' scripts.
This was the last contribution of that ration of the world. After the subside of the Abbasids in 1258, the cultural and capacity centre of the Islamic world moved from Baghdad to Persia, where the Persian scripts were developed: Ta'liq, Nasta'liq (still the approved script of Persian and Urdu), and Shikasteh. In 1517, it was the Ottomans' face to come to succeed to the Islamic world, and Turkish developments gave us the superstructured Diwani, and Ruq'a, roughly speaking which today's handwriting across the Arab world is based. Other lesser scripts arose as far as Indonesia, but had no bearing more or less the history of khatt as a whole.
The round scripts are called in Arabic al-khatt al-mansûb, which is "the script that conforms, that is regulated". That is the main difference past Kufic: the round scripts are formal. There are totally specific rules for writing each letter and connecting them, rules to be skillful till the hand follows them automatically.
This is to earsplitting effect, but at the expense of creative freedom. Indeed it was the mark of a loud calligrapher that his do something looked as if no human hand had been full of life in it, let alone his own personality. This is why round scripts are simpler to teach (literally a no-brainer), but more demanding to master.
Kufic, in contrast, is tricky to teach and demands much participation and subtlety from the student, but as it is an right of entry rather than a visual formula, each student's accomplishment is subsequently next uniquely their own. As my teacher put it: "The return to Kufic is the return to the moment of first creation."
To learn Arabic calligraphy, you don't have to speak Arabic. You can operate discharge duty in imitation of khatt, and in fact this script is used for a number of languages, including Persian and Urdu. But you pull off infatuation a certain intimacy past the letters, so in this first tutorial, upfront starting to learn calligraphy or "beautiful writing", we habit to learn writing itself.
The Arabic and Latin alphabets originate in the same, Phoenician alphabet. They consequently have similarities (by and large the letters match, for instance), but they are in addition to totally alternative in extra respects. Here are the features to be aware of, that a Western user may believe to be most challenging:
Here are the letters, arranged to work same thesame shapes together, in a sequence known as the graphic sequence (used in highly developed dictionaries). This chart shows the letters' without help form only, and how groups of letters share the same letterform. It as well as gives you their names, which are useful to know, and the sounds they be the same to, which is not so important for our purposes.
(Note: the pronunciation of some letters, such as jîm ج , can modify considerably across the Arab world. As we are only full of life taking into consideration the written letter, this is of little consequence for our purposes.)
This adjacent chart shows you the 18 letterforms only, in their final, medial and initial forms, and the non-connecting letters, marked once red crosses. The forms in black are the ones that are actually different, and the greyed-out ones are there just to meet the expense of offer a unqualified picture.
If you appearance manner at them closely, you'll pronouncement they are not rotate forms of those letters at all, just a preview of how they sky gone a link re the right, so it's safe to ignore them. But the black ones actually tweak altogether, and we're going to song at this "letter anatomy" closely in our next-door lesson.
Here's one last chart showing the original and more meaningful numeric sequence. help in the day, as was the exploit for many alphabets, Arabic had no separate symbols for numbers (1234 ): each letter had a numerical value and could be used to indicate a number. The numeric sequence reflects that order. It is known as abjad hawaz, a showing off of vocalizing (starting from the right!) and remembering it: Abjad Hawwaz Ḥuṭṭi Kalamon Sa'afaṣ Qarashat Thakhadh Ḍaẓhagh.
These "words" accomplish not direct anything, but in esoteric symbolism, they are the names of eight angels supporting the divine Throne that surrounds all the worlds. This gives you a air of the cosmic importance imparted a propos the alphabet, said here to surround and urge on the known universe.
Today's exercises desire to conveniently make you familiar behind these two basic behaviours of the letters in a word: how they modify form and how they member (Arabic speakers may skip them). So following no concerns not quite aesthetics, grab any paper and pen to practice the below. The answers for these two exercises are in the source file attached to this lesson: download and unzip (after you're done!).
1. Here is a list of words written in imitation of standoffish letters in their without help form. Using the alphabet charts for reference, rewrite the words properly connected, behind the letters in the perfect form for their face (they are in the truthful order).
2. Pushing it a notch: transcribe the following into Arabic. Remember the letters infatuation to be rearranged from right to left.
3. I would along with direct give an opinion an image search of "Kufi calligraphy" to accustom yourself your eye following its various forms. If you can take some of the letters above in the results that come up, kudos, but if not, it's OK. We're going to ventilate at them truly closely in our neighboring bordering lesson.
Now you know how to write Arabic letters in calligraphy. I aspiration you've enjoyed my Arabic calligraphy tips and exercises.
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