How to Draw Brush Strokes

1Choose Brush Tool

On the Main Ribbon Bar, switch to the "Edit" category. Find the "Brush Tool" tool button on the "Edit Tools" panel. Click to select it. As shown below.

2Choose the most Suitable Drawing Options

When the Brush Tool is used as the current editing tool, a series of related options will appear on the right control panel. As shown below.

• Width & Thinning: This pair of options control the width of your pen. The Width can vary from 1 to 100 and (by default) is measured in units relative to the size of your editing window, but independent of zoom. This makes sense, because the natural “unit of measure” in calligraphy is the range of your hand's movement, and it is therefore convenient to have the width of your pen nib in constant ratio to the size of your “drawing board” and not in some real units which would make it depend on zoom.

  Since pen width is changed often, you can adjust it without going to the toolbar, using the Left and Right arrow keys or with a tablet that supports the pressure sensitivity function. The best thing about these keys is that they work while you are drawing, so you can change the width of your pen gradually in the middle of the stroke:

  

  Pen Width may also depend on the velocity, as controlled by the Thinning parameter. This parameter can take values from -100 to 100; zero means the width is independent of velocity, positive values make faster strokes thinner, negative values make faster strokes broader. The default of 10 means moderate thinning of fast strokes. Here are a few examples, all drawn with width=20 and angle=90:

  Thinning = 0 (Uniform Width)	Thinning = 10	Thinning = 40
  Thinning = -20	Thinning = -60

• Angle & Fixation: After width, Angle is the most important calligraphy parameter. It is the angle of your pen in degrees, changing from 0 (horizontal) to 90 (vertical counterclockwise) or to -90 (vertical clockwise). Note that if you turn tilt sensitivity on for a tablet, the angle parameter is greyed out and the angle is determined by the tilt of the pen.

  

  Each traditional calligraphy style has its own prevalent pen angle. For example, the Uncial hand uses the angle of 25 degrees. More complex hands and more experienced calligraphers will often vary the angle while drawing, and Banner Maker Pro makes this possible by pressing and arrow keys or with a tablet that supports the tilt sensitivity feature. For beginning calligraphy lessons, however, keeping the angle constant will work best. Here are examples of strokes drawn at different angles (fixation = 100):

  Angle = 0	Angle = 30	Angle = 60
  Angle = 90	Angle = 15	Angle = -45

  As you can see, the stroke is at its thinnest when it is drawn parallel to its angle, and at its broadest when drawn perpendicular. Positive angles are the most natural and traditional for right-handed calligraphy.

  The level of contrast between the thinnest and the thickest is controlled by the fixation parameter. The value of 100 means that the angle is always constant, as set in the Angle field. Decreasing fixation lets the pen turn a little against the direction of the stroke. With fixation=0, pen rotates freely to be always perpendicular to the stroke, and Angle has no effect anymore:

  Flxation = 0 Angle = 30	Flxation = 80 Angle = 30	Flxation = 100 Angle = 30

  Typographically speaking, maximum fixation and therefore maximum stroke width contrast (above left) are the features of antique serif typefaces, such as Times or Bodoni (because these typefaces were historically an imitation of fixed-pen calligraphy). Zero fixation and zero width contrast (above right), on the other hand, suggest modern sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica.

• Tremor: Tremor is intended to give a more natural look to the calligraphy strokes. Tremor is adjustable in the Controls bar with values ranging from 0 to 100. It will affect your strokes producing anything from slight unevenness to wild blotches and splotches. This significantly expands the creative range of the tool.

  Tremor = 0	Tremor = 10	Tremor = 20	Tremor = 30
  Tremor = 40	Tremor = 50	Tremor = 60	Tremor = 70
  Tremor = 80	Tremor = 90	Tremor = 100

• Wiggle & Mass: Wiggle is the resistance of the paper to the movement of the pen. The default is at minimum (0), and increasing this parameter makes paper “slippery”: if the mass is big, the pen tends to run away on sharp turns; if the mass is zero, high wiggle makes the pen to wiggle wildly.

  In physics, Mass is what causes inertia; the higher the mass of the Banner Maker Pro calligraphy tool, the more it lags behind your mouse pointer and the more it smoothes out sharp turns and quick jerks in your stroke. By default this value is quite small (2) so that the tool is fast and responsive, but you can increase mass to get slower and smoother pen.

• Tilt: Use the tilt of the input device to alter the angle of the pen's nib.
• Trace Background: Trace the lightness of the background by the width of the pen (white - minimum width, black - maximum width).
• Pressure: Use the pressure of the input device to alter the width of the pen.

3Draw Calligraphics or Brush Stroke by Drag