Calligraphy was used all around the world before the invention of the printing press, and has maintained popularity afterwards as an art form. It looks beautiful, polished and carefully created – and that kind of perfection makes calligraphy seem difficult to master. Now that computers have taken over the pen and paper, writing often ends up looking like scribbles. But with the right tools, skills and attitude, anyone can perfect the art of calligraphy. Junior Mayumi Tabungar began her sophomore year, and has been practicing ever since. Scroll through for Tabungar’s steps on how to start learning calligraphy.

1) Familiarize yourself with cursive
“Most of the structure of the strokes come from cursive, so if you properly know how to write in cursive it will make calligraphy much easier. If, at first, your hand starts shaking, that’s okay because eventually you’ll get used to it and stabilize.”

2) Start with faux calligraphy
“Use a normal pen or pencil and mimic the way the letters look in calligraphy. Start with cursive, then draw in the thicker lines for every down stroke and color it in. Eventually, you can transfer to using watercolor brushes.”

3) Get inspired by social media
“Instagram and Tumblr have a huge calligraphy community where they post a lot of videos and tutorials. I learned a lot from those platforms, and there’s a lot of inspiration on there.”

4) Keep trying
“Never give up. A lot of people start and then quit because they don’t think it looks good. But honestly, anyone can learn this with practice – and I think that’s what’s so great about it. All you need is a pen.”