Sketching is good. I must say that my sketching habits are gotten a bit down, but sketching is the key. Just sketch whenever you can, every free second is an opportunity.

As you can see, right now I am lurking in forums instead of painting. But Last month I painted almost every day, now I just take some time off and try to focus on school stuff. Gah, I too have so many ideas and commissions, promises for friends that I have to achieve. I remember not sleeping almost at all when I had my exams and I painted at night, lol. Painting is kind of relaxing when you have stuff in your head for example.

And yes, calligraphy is a lost art. Even todays typography is suffering from it. Only left masters of it are the Arabians (who have always been the leaders of typography, btw, whole latin style is derived from them) who still do most of the stuff by hand. I had calligraphy at previous school, but unfortunately I never got good enough in it... Maybe I should give another try.