Vectorized off-hand bird flourish

The original author of the off-hand flourished bird (that we relied upon while creating this  vector pattern) was Clinton H. Clark (1864 - 1937), one of the most skillful penmen in the United States ever. This flourished bird was published on the cover page of his scrapbook which, unfortunately, lacked the data about its purpose or year of origin.

Since we have created our vector by hand tracing of outlines of the original flourish, our version is slightly simplified – some tiny details and extremely fine strokes have been omitted, while some fine strokes have been executed a bit bolder than on Mr. Clark’s flourish. Off-hand flourishing (this technique is also called off-hand calligraphic flourishing, decorative flourishing, pictorial flourishing, or pictorial calligraphy) means quick execution of decorative curved lines, loops and spirals by free movement of the whole arm, using a pointed pen. The first examples of pictorial flourishing made by sequenced pen strokes were made by European calligraphers. Their images were meticulously planned and carefully executed, which resulted in a rather formal appearance. American penmen of the 19th century raised off-hand flourishing to an entirely new level, performing flourishing by quick and playful movements without any preliminary drawing. They developed this technique as a showcase of their extraordinary skills, because this kind of flourishing is quite difficult and requires a lot of practice and a well-trained hand.