As I was sorting out some shelves in my craft room, I came across a book that had a dirty torn cloth cover and was more or less falling apart. "Why did I buy this?" I asked myself. Then I...
The earliest example of multicolor printing is now available for the public eye, digitally available through Cambridge University Library’s Digital Library site. The 17th century book, Manual of Calligraphy and Painting (Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu), is so fragile that it was previously forbidden to be opened, its contents a total mystery before its recent digitization. The book was created in 1633 by Ten Bamboo Studio and is the earliest known example of polychrome xylography, invented by Hu Zhengyan. More
A German art student hand-illuminates Tolkien's bible of Middle Earth.
As promised , here are all my illustrations for the Rubiyt . Please be advised that this is an image-intensive post, and there's a considerable deal of text, too. I personally think that a number of these are among my best work so far. I certainly worked very hard on them. I still…
Hi guys! It's Megan and I am back today to talk all about the ampersand. I have a love/hate relationship with the ampersand. I love it: it's flexible. A super character. You can draw it in virtually infinite ways and people still seem to understand its meaning. I pretty much consider it the 27th letter of the alphabet. it can stand alone or join other characters together. I love the ampersand. Yet I avoid it. Because for some reason, this character has been tricky for me to draw. Until now, because I'm here guest posting on Alisa's blog today with the intention of mastering this tricky little fella'. To start off, I broke the ampersand character down into 3 basic categories: I then approached drawing practice, the same way I did the lettering practices. 1 Letter, 100 ways. I mixed in practicing all three styles above. (since my style of lettering is more calligraphic, I am not as drawn to the contemporary style, so you won't see much of this in my examples). Remember to keep in mind that even the slightest variation can totally change the feel of each character. I mentioned before using tracing paper for practice. If you struggle drawing the ampersand (or any letter/character), print out a few different fonts from the computer, and using tracing paper, let them guide you as you draw the basic shapes. I played around with flourishes and embellishments, line weight, and any variation I could think of. Below are some favorites from my practice session: I had so much fun practicing drawing ampersands, that I decided to take it up a notch and create a larger illustration based on this simple, yet complex, shape. After very lightly penciling in a line drawing of a traditional ampersand, I created a floral illustration. I made sure to use a black pen that didn't bleed (such as a micron, sharpie pen, or copic marker). Next, I used my favorite watercolors, Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Fine Art Watercolors, to fill in my doodles. And just for fun, if you enjoy Alisa's coloring pages, I created a fun page of my own for you to download and enjoy! Download HERE Have fun lettering and creating! You can check out all of my lettering posts HERE and don't forget to share your progress using #redefinecreativelettering. Xo, Megan @Makewells (instagram) www.makewells.com
Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta - Joris Hoefnagel, Flemish illustrator, 16th century
Title: Blossom II Original: 8 x 12 inches with acrylic and watercolor on Arches cold press
I have been teaching italic to both my classes this term and practising my own italic. I was given the most beautiful book recently 'Masters of the Italic Letter' by Kathryn A Atkins which contains this beautiful example of writing by Tagliente from 1491 complete with ink blot! This is the hand that I was referring to when trying to refine my italic for my Oxford coat of arms (still not finished!) and this example from a writing book from Siena in 1545 by Bennardino Cataneo. I had just downloaded the font Cataneo Lt BT to use instead of Monotype Corsiva when planning layout for commissions to be done in formal italic - to shorten the time taken by using a point size and expanding the font to match my own writing with various pens, particularly useful when writing long lists of names on invitations or place cards. This lovely book shows examples of the same letter written by 22 different writing masters from the Sixteenth Century. Ampersands ... and more ...ampersands...
Learn how to create watercolor calligraphy in this detailed tutorial! It's easier than you think, and makes for beautiful lettering.
Calligraphy Aeron Lasair, Illumination Maud le Letiere & Constanzia Moralez y de Zamora
Flickr is nothing without you, our community. We want to make sure this community continues to thrive, grow, and inspire, so we've made some big changes.
