Exploring Italic Calligraphy

I started learning Italic calligraphy through a Tutorial Program given by the Houston Calligraphy Guild (HCG) in 1999.  I had tried writing calligraphy on my own; I was OK but I wanted to get better.

The 6 month - 6 lesson - correspondence course randomly paired me with a teacher. I was lucky to have Fritzi Harry. She gave me encouragement and also let me know when I was faltering. 

I was given a detailed supply list: I had to write with a pen staff and a nib, no felt pens allowed! The 6 lessons included learning the basics of lower case: Minuscules - and upper case: Majuscules, ending with Design Principles and a final art piece using a minimum of 25 words.

I mailed my lesson to Fritzi and she mailed it back to me with a piece of tracing paper over my writing. She let me know where I succeeded and where I needed improvement. She even gave me gold stars!

We used this informative little textbook by Lloyd Reynolds. After 6 months I received a lovely Certificate at the September HCG meeting in 1999, written in Italic of course.

Practice and more practice

Through the years, I took other Italic hour-long workshops with the HCG. Recently I studied with Peter Thornton: Italic Variations at the annual calligraphy convention held in Dallas in 2014. I had fun learning how to loosen up after following the guidelines for many years!

If you want to learn Italic calligraphy, try it on your own first with the Lloyd Reynolds book, plus online courses, then find someone in person to share their experience with you about their hand lettering.

Please let me know how it works out for you. 

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Coloring Checkerboard Calligraphy

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

When I was in Paris I bought a calligraphy book at The Louvre Museum Bookshop called The Bible of Ornate Letters, the 2012 edition.

The book describes 4 alphabets with different calligraphic styles for each letter. The 104 different styles of letters span the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Here is one of the alphabets.

Each letter is given a page or two for a total of 190 pages in the book. This week I chose to focus on a lettering style from the 17th century, called a Checkerboard Letter. 

I make my own coloring pages with lettering. First I draw the letter, then I use an outline, drawing either a box or circle around the letter. Coloring with my Prismacolor by Sanford pencils, there is no waxy glow.

En damier = Checkerboard; Variation de couleurs = Color change. This checkered R is extracted from an Ordinary Usage of Orleans (L’Ordinaire) in the17th century kept in the municipal library of Orleans, Loiret. Oddly enough this book was made of parchment paper that was imprinted beginning two centuries earlier. L'Ordinaire is a liturgical book that contains the prayers said every day at Mass.

To paint this initial, start with the colors of the pattern; involuntary overflows will be well covered with body paint of the letter. - I also used three colors for the checkers.

I had fun copying my colorful ABC / XYZ page into black and white, outlining the letters and adding Italic calligraphy, still practicing... Not sure if I will work on the other 103 styles of letters, but I have enjoyed playing with this Checkerboard style. 

It has been a fun book! Here is the back of this pretty book. Please let me know if you try these letters - they are a challenge too!