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

Designing Uncial Lettering

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

A favorite quote of mine with one of my carved images.

Uncial calligraphy was the second hand (font) I learned when I was beginning my calligraphic journey. Italic, my first calligraphic hand, will have its own blog soon.

Uncial Exemplar by Anne Rita Taylor

Last week summer study began with the Houston Calligraphy Guild (HCG) on Gothic Lettering.  While I practiced the Blackletter hand I noticed Uncial was used for initials to introduce the rest of the text which was in Blackletter or Italic lettering.

An Uncial "A" and I need more practice with Blackletter.

After the summer study class I took a book out of the HCG Library called Medieval Calligraphy - Its History and Technique by Mark Drogin. From 1989, it is an interesting book.

Uncial had its beginnings in the 3rd to 6th Century. Examples in the Marc Drogin book are from 450 and 510. 

Yet I love Uncial because it seems so modern to me. 

Uncial is often called Irish calligraphy. The Celtic Design Book by Aidan Meehan has been invaluable. He talks about an early Psalm book circa 600, the Cathach of St. Columba, with letters decorated with spirals and small animal heads.

From Aidan Meehan's book

From Aidan Meehan's book

The Book of Kells from the year 800 has stylized Uncial lettering which has the Latin texts of the Four Gospels of the New Testament, Christian Bible. 

When my friend Carol traveled to Trinity College in Dublin she brought back a Book of Kells coloring book for me; here 

is the letter T. 

I make use of the Speedball Textbooks - the latest came out in 2015 and displays four types of Uncial Exemplars: Uncial Gothic, Celtic Uncial, Roman Uncial (my favorite), and Greek Uncial.

An early example of my Uncial lettering - even though it looks easy, it takes lots of practice.

Still practicing…

With one of my carved images, another favorite quote of mine.

Creating Roman Lettering

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

When I saw Roman letters I thought of capital letters I learned in elementary school. A famous example of Roman lettering comes from the inscription on Trajan’s column, a sculpted Rome pillar marking the triumph of the emperor Trajan (AD 98-117). 

I learned about Roman calligraphic rules by taking a Peter Thornton workshop several years ago. Each letter can be grouped according to its width. Below: Playing with Prismacolor pencils.

I have also learned from Sheila Waters’ book: Foundations of Calligraphy. 

And Annie Cicale’s book: The Art & Craft of Hand Lettering is another guide I follow.

Starting with monoline letters is easier. Within a Parent Box, O and Q fill up the space. About 1/4 wider is the M & W. The C, D & G fill up 7/8 of the Parent Box. Then you have the letters that fill 3/4 of the Parent Box: A - H - K - N - T - U - V - X - Y - Z.

B - E - F - J - L - P - R - S fill 1/2 of the Parent Box. The letter "I" stands alone. And spacing between letters can take years of practice! Some say spacing between words is equal to the small letter “o” yet others say spacing is between the stems of the “H."

omans are necessary 






for my White Vine calligraphy click here: https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/03/creating-white-vine-letters.html also my Checkerboard calligraphy:  https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/02/coloring-checkerboard-calligraphy.html

Alternative ways to write variations of Roman capital letters are fun! 

Playing around with calligraphy placement.

Fun experimenting with different kinds of paper and ways of writing! Writing on Strathmore Parchment Paper and bouncing the letters, writing every other letter above the line, gives a certain lightness to a quote.

This is the book I made in Peter Thornton's class with my notes and calligraphy exercises.

I enjoy the practice of calligraphy! Please send me any questions in the Comments section.

Visual Art Journaling Techniques

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

I recently met with ladies in Houston who have a Visual Art Journaling group. It was fun to catch up and make art while visiting. My supplies included a 9 by 12 pad of 90 lb. paper by Strathmore, Golden Fluid Acrylic paints and old calendars. These paints come in squirt bottles. Densely pigmented, a little goes a long way; and they dry quickly. Art Journaling helps me to express my feelings while I am playing. 

I cut out images: a flower and a tiger. I squirted Green Gold directly on the paper painting with a one inch brush. I used my 3.8 mm Pilot Parallel pen and Uncial calligraphy for the quote by George Burns. On the next page I painted Yellow Oxide for the background leaving some white space and used a UHU glue stick to attach the tiger. I chose a 1.5 mm Pilot Parallel pen for the quote in Italic calligraphy.

I was working quickly while we talked for a couple of hours.  I cut out a turtle from an old calendar. For this background I painted Ultramarine Blue, lightened a bit with Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache. My 3.8 mm Pilot Parallel pen was perfect with Italic calligraphy.

For my last page I cut out a seabird called a blue-footed booby and left in some of the rocks, water  and sky background. Using the Ultramarine Blue I lightened with Silver gouache paint by Pebeo. I used a 6.0 mm Pilot Parallel pen for the quote: I am my possibilities by Gabriel Marcel. 

The quotations are from a book by Richard Kehl, It Takes a Long Time to Become Young. I may add more collage elements or writing to each page. Visual art journaling is all about self expression, so we can see where it takes us.