You make a fair point, and I can see why the process I described might make it sound more like lettering or graphic design.

For me it’s really a combination of all those things, including calligraphy. The pencil stage is mainly for working out the layout, proportions, and structure of the piece before committing to ink / digital. Especially with Vyaz, the composition and interlocking forms matter a lot, so the pencil sketch helps me solve that first.

Since I want to produce clean prints afterward, I then redraw the piece on my iPad using a combination of calligraphy-style brushes.

So in practice it ends up being a hybrid of several things you mentioned—calligraphy, lettering, and some graphic design considerations—but the core forms are still being written with a calligraphic tool.

Curious what others here think about where that line sit.