Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Letterforms

Nice two-hour workshop at the IPRC tonight with B.T. Livermore, talking about letterforms, sign-painting, different tools for hand-lettering, keeping stroke consistent, being inspired by the past.



Edited to add: One of the surprises of the class was when four of us students at the south end of the table discovered that we all hold our pens & pencils "wrong" in the same way--with the pen braced against the first knuckle of the ring finger, rather than against the middle finger. I've never met anyone else who does that with their pens, to my knowledge at least--though it's not a thing that often comes up in conversation, it could be more common than I know? Anyway, it was a surprise and a triumph to discover that we were a "gang" of holding-pens-wrong-folk, all sitting next to each other! (Gabi was the most awesomely rebellious, because she does it left-handed.) Anyone else out there hold their pencils funny?
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7 comments:

  1. hkMay 23, 2012 at 10:00 PM

    So cool! If I had any control of my fine motor skills, I'd love to be a sign painter.

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    1. KaturaMay 23, 2012 at 10:06 PM

      I was surprised how many of the movements were difficult and awkward at first...those basic strokes that make up the letters seem like a good way to practice fine motor skills! Sign painting--a now-obscure art for that I totally want to make a comeback. ::grin::

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    2. The BonMay 23, 2012 at 10:26 PM

      The hours I spent learning lettering in college were so handcramping, because they are crazy fine motor skills. I'm a lefty, so I hated it when they made us letter in pencil because I smeared everything everywhere.

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    3. KaturaMay 24, 2012 at 8:00 AM

      My hand was certainly getting sore after an hour of practice. I think that was partly from trying to force long wriggly brushes to make small controlled letters...when I was using a brush or pen to make marks that were at an appropriate scale, it wasn't nearly so difficult. (Right tool for the right job, as in all things!)

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    4. KaturaMay 24, 2012 at 8:09 AM

      Mz B--for the record, my favorite modern calligrapher, Dugald Stermer, was a lefty. He pretty much had to defy all his formal instructors' techniques and come up with his own way of working to create a technique that worked for him...but to lovely effect. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hdZh7ZUuPR0/TtsHGm3zmVI/AAAAAAAABMg/oDgMFh14XSE/s1600/stermer-mathewson.jpg

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  2. Darn kids with their newfangled gadgets.June 1, 2012 at 4:30 PM

    I'm a wrong-pen-holder as well! (A left handed one at that!)

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