Calligraphy Progress
I just realised that I haven’t really posted up much of the work I’ve been generating. It’s a little embarrassing to post up this kind of stuff because it’s never really conceived as something I should show to others, it’s process, so it’s messy and poorly done. But I’m willing to tolerate the embarrassment of showing some fairly ugly work to help people understand what the hell it is I’m actually doing here. So, the tolerance is generated from a sense of laziness in a way. Next time I might not have to explain to that slightly-less-than-interested acquaintance that I’m not actually in Sweden studying topography. The following are snippets of what I’ve created here. The pointed pen reacts to pressure, the broad nib reacts to the slant of the pen.
I’m off to Antwerp to go to Integrated Conference! I’ll be back on Monday or so and I’m not taking my laptop, so don’t expect any posts between now and then. Tot ziens!
Pointed Pen
Broad Nib Pen
Script(Pointed Pen)
Crawling
Monday was our meant to be our first class with Paul van der Laan but due to some kind of mix up with our timetable he didn’t come because it’s been moved to Wednesday instead. Paul is going to be teaching us some type history and also how to digitise type properly. With him, we complete the type revival project where we find an old typeface as redraw it. This is a really beneficial which I’m looking forward to.
Even though Paul didn’t come, most of us spent to day in the classroom, practicing the three main things we’ve been introduce to. Broadnib pen (translation contrast), pointed pen (expansion contrast) and python programming. Everyone in the class seems to only be practicing one of these three. I’ve tried to keep my options open and practice each of them equally. I’ve probably done broadnib the least. I enjoy the pointed pen because you have more control and can be more expressive.
I’m really trying to sink my teeth into python too. I’ve made a few little programmes which randomly generate letters from a few variables. Considering I hadn’t done any programming in my life before last week, I feel happy with my progress so far. Being able to have the time to commit to learning something new and practicing something I really enjoy is a total treat. It doesn’t feel like work yet and it sure beats practicing in my lunch hour or tired when I get home from work.
