We cannot begin without looking at the Roman caps. And that is what we will do. Going through the Roman proportions, but not in a very detailed way. The study of Roman caps is a workshop(s) on its own. But it’s important to know that all caps are derived from the Roman caps, so we cannot go without them.
But we will soon move on, on how to draw ‘simplified’ or casual caps, step by step, and explore lots of possibilities in both form and rhythm. First single skeleton pressure-release strokes, and subsequently built-up letterforms. Mechanical pencil 0,3 mm will be our main tool until now.
I take great care in filling up when it comes to built-up lettering, so there’s quite a lot to be said about how to fill up built-up letterforms.
Next tools in line are fine liners, ballpoint pens, fountain-pens, colour-pencil, speedball C5, hemispherical pen & pointed pen. We’ll be covering letters WITH contrast (thin & thick lines), and letters WITHOUT. (Weight of the lines within one letter=the same) Looking at different kinds of serifs is on the menu too. And pushing the boundaries of letterforms is something we will look at.
The purpose of this all is to provide you with a large ‘vocabulary’ when doing calligraphy or letter drawing.
If time allows us, we will be drawing bigger letters to look even more at all details of the letter. With Neuland, David Jones, Jan Rossey, Kristoffel Boudens and many different other calligraphers, in the back of my mind.
Recommended supply list:
Layout paper A3, Canson Croquis white 90 gsm or similar.
Some better papers (Arches MBM, Hahnemühle Ingres, for example.)
Ruler, or T-square, triangle
Various regular pencils (6B, 2B, HB)
Mechanicals pencils 0,3-0,5-0,7-0,9 mm
Eraser
Dip pens in assorted sizes (Brause, Mitchell, Speedball) and pen-holders, certainly C5-C6 Speedball.
Walnut ink(s) There are 8 colours, but you don’t have to buy them all.
Some gouache colours
Some watercolour colours
Swiss knife (sharpen regular pencil)
Fineliners 0,05/0,1/0,2 mm. Copic Multi-liners and others. Different colours if you find them…
Ink rags or tissues
Notebook Moleskine or other. Not mandatory, but interesting nevertheless. Blank pages, soft cover, light weight paper.
Papers A3 with squares of different sizes, to put underneath our writing page.