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Needless to say, most Arabs, in their everyday life, usually write with ballpens, pencils and whatever they have at hand, over any kind of paper they have at hand.
Calligraphers and artists use reed pens, which is the only kind of writing implement that will work for artistic lettering, and special kinds of paper, but the common Arabic man and woman use those about as often as you use parchment and quill.
However, when YOU are learning the shape of the letters, you should avoid ballpens like hell. The tails of the letters won't look right if you use a ballpen, or if you use an almost dried-up marker on recycled paper.
For a beginner, the best tools to write the Arabic letters are a black marker and smooth paper. The best paper is notebook paper, the cheap, thin kind. It should have a grid (four-millimeter squares, or about six squares per inch). (If you don't have grid paper at hand, just use ruled paper or pencil some horizontal lines on white paper.)
Most cheap markers will work, the kind with a small round tip, which you can purchase mostly anywhere and is usually used for writing. "Permanent" markers, I mean, those that reek of alcohol or paint, and markers with square or broad tips, can stain through several layers of paper, and won't do.
If the marker makes a noise when writing, either the marker is too dry or the paper is not smooth enough or both. Get something better.
The picture shows four different markers. One of the markers is too thick, because the vertical stroke covers the hole completely. If that happens, switch to a thinner marker or to a grid with larger squares.
Two of the markers are too thin, because dots written with them are hard to see. In Arabic, dots must have some volume; if they look like fly shit, the letters will be hard to read. If that happens, use a bolder marker or a thinner grid.
Copyright (c) 2001-2009
Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/net/arabe/midarotu.en.html
Last revised: 2008-08-28
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writing_arabic -> Paper and Marker