Flourish Friday - Calligraphy Practice

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

The first evening of the 2011 IAMPETH convention, we were treated to a viewing of the Horace Healey Collection.  (You can read more about the collection by clicking HERE.)  There was one particular alphabet that really caught my eye with its over-the-top but gorgeous flourishes.  I enjoy trying to figure out how these letters were constructed.  I spent some time yesterday playing with the letter M.  Not an easy thing.  I tried it on graph paper first, not the best paper... or was it the nib....or was it the ink?  After changing paper, then nib, then ink, then paper again, and then nib again... I figured it was Finger-Movement-Only-Death-Grip-Jane that was the problem. :)

 As it is, this M makes no sense if you want to have lower case letters following it, but I think the original is just so beautiful.  You should go see it. I hope the following link to The University of Scranton Special Collections works:

Zaner-Bloser Online, Undated Alphabet

The photo should be filename: iampeth_02_089. I'm not very knowledgeable about identifying which penman did this. Does anyone know?  The University of Scranton's Zaner-Bloser Online collection is an incredible resource. The home page for the collection can be found by clicking HERE.

Wishing you a wonderful and reflective weekend!

xo

Jane

Leaf Script - Calligraphy Flourish Friday

Happy Friday everyone!
I thought I'd share some more from my IAMPETH experience.  Another session to which I was really looking forward was Master Penman Rick Muffler's presentation of Leaf Script Capitals.  I love ornamental capitals.  Rick's Leaf Script was influenced by the work of both Master Penman Bill Lilly and engraver Sam Alfano.  Rick directed us to Sam Alfano's excellent online tutorial.  See it by clicking here. 

First, rough out your capital. I based this L on Bill Lilly's Engrosser's Script but without the thins.  I intentionally made it pudgy.

I then outlined the letter - or attempted to - with a .05 marker.  You don't have to do this step, but I want to save my original L, warts and all, in order to use it again. :)

Using my light table, I sketched the L onto my good paper.  Next, add an inner line just inside the outer line.  This creates a narrow channel of space. Then place the left and right strokes for the leaves.  Rick warned us this part can be a bit tricky, and he's correct.  Sam Alfano's tutorial does a good job explaining this step.

Add the details of the leaves.

Go over the lines with a technical pen. I used a .03 Millennium ZIG marker.  Erase the pencil lines.  Add texture and shading.  Rick gave us plenty of cross hatching and stippling ideas for adding texture. 

I added a bit of shading with a pencil. I could spend hours playing!!

Rick also taught us how to create lower case letters to pair with the capitals.

Putting it all together.
I think Leaf Script is beautiful; what do you think?

Thanks to Rick Muffler for introducing me to Leaf Script.
(Sorry, I couldn't find any website or blog links for Rick.)
Thanks to Sam Alfano for his online tutorial.  To visit Sam's websites, click here and also here.

Go forth and flourish!

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Awesome Photoshop

©Jane Farr Calligraphy & Design LLC

Wishing everyone in North America an awesome holiday weekend!

I just finished Harvest Crittenden's Photoshop for Calligraphers online course. I loved it. It is a good thing I rarely throw anything away - and I am talking about my digital housekeeping. (There are over 41,000 emails in my inbox!)  Using my new Photoshop skills, I put this word together from my old lettering which I had scanned and saved.

I am having too much fun!

Go 4ourth and flourish!!

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Exercises

I confess. I am a sucker for ornamental, capital letters. (Capitals, upper case, majuscules - whatever you want to call them.) I love to find different examples of each letter that I can practice. The more they are flourished, the more I drool over them.  I also enjoy trying different nibs.  It makes practicing fun, and I learn so much in the process. (For instance, I learned this paper and the pointed pen despise each other! lol!!)

You can find all sorts of delicious examples at the IAMPETH website.

Thanks for stopping in at A Place to Flourish!

Enjoy your weekend!!