From yesterday’s pointed pen practice, cleaned up a bit and added color. I am learning with a broad-edged pen, but I always go back to pointed. I definitely feel more comfortable with pointed pen at the moment.
And this is definitely something to keep in mind as I boldly venture into the world of calligraphy!
Italic Hand portfolio
This was my final project for the Italic Hand class. Before you “ooh and ahh,” the beautiful writing on the folio is my teacher’s, not mine, LOL. I made the folio though!
The folio opens up to show five different Italic hand variations.
From bottom to top: Formal Italic, Chancery, Flourished, Pointed, and Rounded.
Okay, so the inside sheets are what I’ve written. Italic Hand is one of those that “look” easy, but very difficult to do well. You have to keep so much in mind (such as pen angle and letter slant) on top of everything else. I struggled for most of the class and didn’t start to get a feel of it until maybe a few weeks ago. That was when I tried the pointed variation after watching an inspirational video by Denis Brown. Do take the time to view the sample videos if you have a chance – his lightning-quick “striking actions” will leave you breathless! The flourished variation was the most difficult for me. I had so much help from my teacher but just couldn’t get it to look perfect. I definitely need more practice.
Italic Hand was super-challenging and I can probably use a whole year to do nothing but Italic. It’s definitely something I want to do well, since Italic is so commonly used. And having done more with a chiseled nib, I can say it’s definitely more difficult to learn than pointed nib.
We’re off for a summer break, and the next session will start in the fall. Guess what we will be diving into next – Blackletter!
I just started watching Game of Thrones and couldn’t resist writing this for practice! I’m working on getting the hang of Pointed Italic Hand and thought this would be a good phrase to write.
Of course, there hasn’t been too much calligraphy spotted in the scenes other than a few letters and a leather bound book of genealogy which looked amazing – I think it’s written in Uncial? It’s been such great fun watching the show!
Photo credit: National Geographic, Waikawau Bay, New Zealand. Photograph by Steve Burling
Some fun with calligraphy tonight.
I spent all afternoon at my desk practicing Casual Pointed Pen. This is the first time I sat down to concentrate and practice since the workshop with Jane Shibata a week ago. After trying out different penholders and nibs, I think I found a combination I like. I’m also just using Higgins Eternal ink. Next time I will try gouache.
After feeling a little more confident, I decided to write the Pie Day menu (March 14th) from one of my favorite eateries in Downtown LA, The Pie Hole. I was pleased with how it turned out, so I posted the photo via Twitter and got a response from them. It totally made my day!
Mike Kecseg’s Casual Pointed Pen from a to z
I braved traffic from the LA Marathon and drove out to Santa Monica to attend Jane Shibata’s Casual Pointed Pen mini-workshop last Sunday. It was my first time attending a workshop coordinated by the Westside Regional of the Society for Calligraphy and it was definitely worth the drive cross-town.
The Community Room was nice and bright, with great natural light. There is a small park nearby that offered a nice quiet atmosphere for a Sunday afternoon. I was really looking forward to the Casual Pointed Pen class with Jane because I wanted to try a more casual script with the pointed pen after having learned Copperplate and Spencerian.
Jane Shibata talks about Casual Pointed Pen
Jane gets ready to show us the letterforms
Getting ready to start the Copperplate workshop. Pat is standing in the far right.
I had a wonderful opportunity over the weekend to visit beautiful San Diego, which is about a 2-hour drive south of Los Angeles, to attend a two-day workshop with Pat Blair, Master Penman & Chief Calligrapher of the White House. The San Diego Fellow Calligraphers invited her to teach the workshop, and extended the opportunity to members of the Society for Calligraphy. I heard about it through my teacher in mid-January and emailed Rose Smutko, SDFC’s Board of Directors Workshop Chair, to ask for more information. Lo and behold, she told me there were only two spots left! I signed up as soon as I could – how could I miss the chance to spend two days doing nothing but copperplate with a room of calligraphy enthusiasts, and most of all, with Pat Blair!
Starting with the basics
We began Day One by doing the basic strokes for miniscule (lowercase) letters. It’s been a while since I really did Copperplate, so it was great to warm up and get re-acquainted with the beauty of this classic style of pointed pen calligraphy. Pat would demonstrate the letters in groups that are similar, then have us practice on our own while she walked around to give us individual attention and feedback. She is a wonderful teacher who explained everything very clearly and showed us a lot of great tips.
This is my final project for the Foundational Hand class. Our project is to interpret a book or a story, write a few pages out in Foundational Hand, and bind the pages into an accordion book.
I chose Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland because I’ve always loved the book, especially with the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, published in 1865. Since Foundational Hand was developed by Edward Johnston at the end of the 19th century, I thought it would be a good fit!