The Promise Of Fine Lettering
Topic: Bible Journaling
Last week I tutored another class on lettering in a style I called 'Promise'. Thi was a combination of two different lettering alphabets that I tweaked to use together - one for the upper-case and wone for the lower-case.
As we go through the daily lessons you'll note some issues I had with some letters and how I solved them.
MONDAY
Welcome to another week of lessons in the Lettering Lodge! We are going be learning a semi-script that I call ‘Promise’.
I say semi-script because there are scrolls on both the upper- and lower-case letters (like a script) but there is no connection between individual letters (like a print). These letters are very upright, leaning neither to the left or right.
The height of the lower-case letters is slightly LESS than half of the uppers.
Work on getting those swoops right, you’re going to be using them a lot!
You’ll note that words written in all caps are not very readable. The word you’ll write out is just for practice.
So, have a go at this – remembering to draw in pencil until you have good forms, then ink, then erase your pencil.
TUESDAY
Since there are several loops, swoops and scrolls that are common between letters, practice some of these along the upper edge of your page. It will make it easier to write consistent letters if you get these forms into muscle memory first.
As you look over the alphabet page below, please note the two alternate forms for the letters ‘I’ and ‘T’. I actually did all the homework lessons this week with the original forms and found I did not like them. The original ‘T’ looks like a ‘C’ and the original ‘I’ looks like a ‘T’. So, I gave the ‘I’ to the ‘T’ and made a new form for ‘I’. IT IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE TO DO THIS YOURSELF IF THERE IS A LETTER THAT YOU DON’T LIKE! Just create a new letter form that uses elements common to the style. In fact, I noted yesterday that a couple of people have already switched out the upper-case S for a form they liked better.
So, as you write out your alphabet, substitute in the letter forms as YOU like them and this will become your personal reference sheet as you complete more assignments this week (and in the future).
WEDNESDAY
Find a song or quote about God’s promises and write it up as a reminder of His faithfulness. I used a quote from Rev. Billy Graham.
NOTE ON USE OF CAPITALS: I find that I like to capitalize every word (even the articles) when working on a full page like this. It looks nice and gives lots of practice on the large letter forms.
Unfortunately, all of those upper-case ‘T’s look too much like ‘C’s or ‘G’s so it is easy to read: “Go, Che and Chat”. This is why I gave those alternate forms yesterday!
Remember P-I-E (pencil, ink, erase) and decorate the page if you wish. I used the rainbow as a reminder of God’s promise.
THURSDAY
Today, use the ‘promise’ font to write out a ‘promise’ scripture in your journal, practice notebook or on plain paper.
NOTE ON CENTERING: If you want to center the words on your page, write and ink them on a practice sheet first. Then I usually pencil in a center mark on EACH LINE separately and pencil in a center line on the final page, top to bottom. This gives me a target. Then place the ‘final’ page over top of the practice piece and use a light box or a window to trace the words. You can slide the original sideways in whichever direction you need to center the lines on the page.
Another way to center them is to fold the practice paper right above the line of text and align its center line with the one on the final page. Then copy the letters on the final page just above the corresponding letter on the practice page. Repeat these steps as you move down the page.
If you want to decorate your page, do all the inking of the letters first using a heavier weight line and erase their pencil guides. Sketch your artwork in pencil and ink it in very thin line pen. Erase those pencil lines before coloring. I used a dove representing the Spirit of God. This is a fancier version of the Drawing Room dove, with swoops and swirls added to the wings and tail.
FRIDAY
Now we will bring the ‘promise’ font to our Bibles.
This is the point at which I swapped out the alternate ‘T’ and ‘I’ letterforms. Isn’t that so much more readable?
Don’t forget that all our work is done with the P-I-E (pencil, ink, erase) process.
So that wraps up another week of lettering lessons - I'm on the schedule to teach lettering in the coming week, too, so there'll be another wrap-up next weekend.
Ddd
Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net
at 9:24 PM PDT
