Hey there, everyone! I just stumbled upon an incredible website that I think you’re gonna love! It’s called “Lettering Daily” by Max. It’s a treasure trove of all things written by hand. Trust me, if you want to improve your calligraphy skills or simply learn the art of beautiful lettering, this site is a must-visit!…
Telling the truth behind the skill to learn calligraphy. With conviction you can achieve the skills it takes to create beautiful letters.
Inktober is an artist challenge dreamed up by illustrator Jakes Parker. Its original purpose was to improve his personal inking skills. But the challenge has been taken on by others. It’s an excellent scribal experiment and personal challenge. A way you can play with new scripts, different papers, unique inks.
The way Medieval faces, feet, and hands appear in manuscripts varies by era or location, often in the details. Some appear cartoonish others more realistic. What’s the best way for you to learn how to draw period-looking people? Motifs I traced then transferred to M. Luciana’s Renaissance scroll. Most of us have been seeing since we were born…
Tracing is not cheating. Well, it is if you are passing something off as your own work. But meticulously copying a medieval manuscript you admire is excellent practice. It works well for copying illumination motifs and is a period practice. This image of the manual is from the Public Domain Review Tracing is even better for calligraphy….
My binder-portfolio with the early stuff I made. Nobody tells this to you who are beginners. Beginners in any creative craft. I wish someone told me. If you do creative work, you get into it because you have good taste built within you. But there’s a gap between starting to create and being good. it’s…
Mini Scrolls Prior To Illumination Have you ever had calligraphy practice come out of nowhere and fall into your lap? That’s what happened to me recently. With the new Baron and Baroness, Augustin and Aleit, came renewed inspiration for calligraphy and illumination. Their wish was to have a small 5″ x 7″ hand done scroll…
To warm-up for calligraphy or test different nibs, I write the “quick brown fox…” thing. For more practice, I have several pangrams I use or give to my students. When I’m waiting to leave for an appointment I sometimes use a chisel point calligraphy practice marker to doodle universal strokes or specific letters I want to improve. I try to fill a whole page,…
Iluminators were known to layer paints more than mix them. Yet there are written notes and illuminations that show they mixed colors too, especially later in the Middle Ages. Mixing colors makes its own problems. The more colors you combine, eventually ends with mud. Over-mixing also dulls the paint combination. Learn by doing: mix two gouache primary colors…
Confidence comes from physical activity. Just doing that thing you are interested in on a regular basis boosts faith in yourself. For me, it unleashed my calligraphy and illumination reliance. I started with little skill, as you see here. What I had was a desire to learn. To make mistakes. Mistakes are guideposts for…