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Inktober / Re: End of Inktober PARTYYYYY

« on: November 11, 2022, 08:57:10 AM »

@Zivio I'm late to the party too. And my husband being from French Guyana, I put a lot of that delicious Rhum in the bowl. Ti Punch anyone?

I've been meaning to post here for a while. But for one I'm so darn tired and my one year old won't let me stare at a screen for more than 5 seconds. And then I'm also kind of digesting Inktober. It was a great experience with a creative breakthrough for me (finding out about my personal style), leaving me wondering "where do I go from here?".
It's been great getting to know everyone and following everyone's Inktober journeys. I feel like I just spent a few days with a bunch of friends
I hope everyone is doing well and is having a great month of November.
@K-2 I'll be looking out for your thread!

See you around the forum, friends 

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Want to become an Expert?

« on: November 11, 2022, 08:50:16 AM »

@Zivio Nice to hear from you! I somehow missed your post where you mentioned me but I'm glad I found it anyway
@AnasaziWrites thank you for the link

This video resonates on many levels for me. It's great but it hurts a little, as I see how I made the same learning mistakes over and over in several areas of my life (academic, musical and creative) and crashed and burned a couple of times because of it.
Now I'm a brute force kind of person. When something is difficult I throw myself at it full speed and put hours and hours into it. But I was doing it wrong for years, because I wasn't having deliberate practice.

The missing element for me is that I didn't trust my brain to assimilate the info. I would just do hours and hours of repeating what I was learning, and when there was free time, more hours, no rest. I realize now I was just overwhelming my brain.

It ruined my relationship to the cello @Zivio (this is my nemesis instrument). A couple of years ago I started learning the harp and did the same mistakes, which made me good in the beginning, but then I hit a plateau.

I alse ruined my relationship to calligraphy 5 years ago when learning Italics. I completely overdid it, never stepped back, and ultimately drove myself sick and and tired.

This year I have learned deliberate practice, and one hour of that is better than 10 hours of non deliberate practice. It's also 10 times more exhausting to troubleshoot everything you do.

Becoming a mom a year and a week ago also helped me in a way, because in order to make the most of my free time, I have to set little goals (get those 2-3 measures straight, improve the letter spacing on this script), and move from one mini goal to another from one day to the next, which makes me much more consistent.

I still rage internally because I want to go back to bulldozer mode and go all wrecking ball through the various blocks I encounter.

But it doesn't exactly work that way does it?   

In a way, this is teaching me a lot about life. I am learning to trust that my brain was exposed to the info and will consolidate it if I just leave it alone. Knowing when to stop, realizing my brain won't benefit from any more practice for today and that continuing might actually be counterproductive.
It makes me accept that such things take time, when you want to generate what is beautiful and meaningful. Just like relationships, like healing, and like personal growth.

But darn, it's hard to accept sometimes 

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Inktober / End of Inktober PARTYYYYY

« on: November 02, 2022, 03:38:18 PM »

I don't know guys, I feel like there needed to be a thread to wrap up this month of awesomeness.
So here it is, post whatever you like 

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Inktober / Re: Day 31 - 2022: FARM

« on: November 01, 2022, 04:54:13 PM »

Today I printed the Engrosser section of the Zanerian manual, to try to straighten up my script.
The picture hurts my eyes, there's no harmony here. But hey, now I know what to work on.

I loved reading everyone's farm stories, they are so precious!

For me, as a healthcare professional, I have worked mostly in large cities but sometimes way out in the countryside. In the city the very old patients are often frail and ill.
Now, the elderly in the countryside, that was a whole other story. I had a number of huge, broad shouldered, 80 year olds with big strong arms coming in the hospital with chest pain, being like "I can't stay long, I have to return to the farm".
It was a great experience working with them, and food for thought too!

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Inktober / Re: DAY 30 - 2022: GEAR

« on: October 31, 2022, 04:27:45 AM »

Running one day late but lurking every chance I get!
@Erica McPhee  this is brilliant, it is giving me ideas.
@K-2 I love this, and I'm in awe with how much art you produce on a weekly basis on top of your work and being a dad. You haven't missed one prompt and your work is beautiful. I love the little hermit, your mosquito and jellyfish too!
@AnasaziWrites enjoy your time away!
@Cyril Jayant you are French aren't you? thanks for the encouragement
@tiffany.c.a thank you for the encouragements, I hadn't replied yet but was touched by the kind words.
@Zivio I loved your portrait from the other day! I hope you are having a great time

Cheers everyone!

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Inktober / Re: DAY 29 - 2022: Uh-Oh

« on: October 30, 2022, 06:56:49 PM »

Lovely work everyone! I feel like I am learning from every post you share, and I love love love following everyone's inktober journey.
Here is my Uh Oh of the day, I set out to do a nice poem, and as I was painting the last details of the vines, and almost finished, with miniatum already laid, a drop of water fell on the text and smudged it.

Admittedly, the word I used was stronger than Uh-Oh.

Still I learned a lot from this one, albeit the hard way.

See you tomorrow friends!

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Inktober / Re: DAY 28 - 2022: CAMPING

« on: October 28, 2022, 07:09:18 PM »

Hi friends!
I've been missing out because I have many a time fallen asleep in random places in the house, at random hours. However, I have been enjoying your posts and was impatient to come back!

No practice sometimes means more reflection on how to practice.
I have decided to come back to copperplate but this time being less constipated not trying so so hard to do it right, and matching the exemplars exactly, but trusting myself to achieve harmony and actually enjoying the process.
I realize that with Copperplate I constantly beat myself up, and I think it's creating a mental block. Interestingly, I don't feel that block with French Roundhand, or with drawing vines.

This is a wee catch up with no warm up, but it felt much nicer and much more instructive than my previous sessions. Yay for a new season in Copperplate for me!
Thanks for reading 

@Erica McPhee Camping with three kids heh, that's self-denial all right! I love how you have added drawings to your calligraphy, very cheerful!
@AnasaziWrites looking chill!

Have a nice rest of your October 28th, here it is already October 29th
See you tomorrow(ish)! 

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Inktober / Re: Day 25 - 2022: Tempting

« on: October 25, 2022, 06:28:33 PM »

Last night I got home from work and fell asleep, so I have some catching up to do.
Tonight, some Copperplate practice, and darn I screwed up the ligatures halfway through the word. Will be working on it.
The capital T isn't balanced either. But I have a no-redo rule, so I have to live with it 

I'm off to bed.
See you soon!

P.S.
@AnasaziWrites I love your Spencerian script!

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Inktober / Re: Day 23 - 2022: BOOGER!

« on: October 23, 2022, 04:50:27 PM »

I was not inspired by this word, so under non-rule 22, section b, paragraph 1 of the Inktober no rules policy, and in celebration of the discovery that my 12 oz. bottle of Sumi ink, sealed and unopened for 23+ years is still good, I've penned (brushed, actually) the word sumi in Japanese below said bottle. I've tossed out the contents of the similarly aged small bottle--it took more that a day to dry--and refilled it with the bigger bottle. Turns out, @K-2  it is Yasutomo sumi, not Kuretake, but should last me years unless I start using a larger brush.

I too rebel against this unesthetic prompt and decide to do my own thing
It started with layout practice on blank watercolor paper and ended up as a finished, gilded piece.

Cheers!

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Inktober / Re: Day 22 - 2022 HEIST

« on: October 22, 2022, 06:00:47 PM »

And here's a third experiment with layout and letter spacing, plus another exercise I did in spacing. I think Ronde looks nicer when the spaces between lines is larger.

@K-2 as I was experimenting with this layout a third time in a row, your advice came to mind aye, this is what is beginning to happen. It just took me 3/4 of the month to figure out where I wanted to take things XD.
P.S. I've gone back and admired your bad dog, and it seemed even more amazing than this morning.

2. You'll experiment with the relationship between the versal and the text - spacing, sizing, style, etc.  Again - some will look better than others.  Think about what makes some look better than others - you'll start to develop a theory about it.

3. You'll develop an instinct (or at least a written record) for what's going to work with regard to style/design/script.  Which will make future projects faster, easier, and more polished.  In other words, you'll get from "foul" to "fair" quicker, and the "fair" will be fairer.

@Erica McPhee Awesome H!! I want to try it but man is it intimidating

@AnasaziWrites love it!!!

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Inktober / Re: Day 21 - 2022: BAD DOG

« on: October 22, 2022, 04:30:52 AM »

This is very impressive @K-2! I know it's not what you want it to be but the knot work is stunning and really draws you in. Really epic feel. How were you thinking of arranging 2 distinct strands? I think it works and I honestly really, really like it.

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Inktober / Re: Day 21 - 2022: BAD DOG

« on: October 21, 2022, 04:47:47 PM »

@AnasaziWrites I love it! could say the same about my guinea pigs.

Really wasn't inspired by "bad dog", so here's a wolf. Arguably, it's the other way around, a dog is a bad wolf.

Still working on layout. I think it would look nicer if the lines were a little further apart.
I'm happy with the vine though.

Also, this is getting closer to what I want to do in terms of style

@Zivio I hope you're having a great weekend away!

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Inktober / Re: Day 20 - 2022: BLUFF

« on: October 20, 2022, 04:19:31 PM »

More layout practice. It is truly my greatest weakness (because it requires thinking and I'm lazy).
I watched a couple of youtube videos on layout and tried to apply the stuff. At the last moment I decided to use the inks as paint so as to keep the color palette coherent.

And I added gold... because gold covers a multitude of sins 

The splatters are unintentional  .

All feedback is welcome! And I have yet a lot of gems to dig up from the layout page on the forum.

@Erica McPhee wooooahhh that's one heck of a bluff! so many curls and whirls! amazing

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Inktober / Re: Day 19 - 2022: PONYTAIL

« on: October 20, 2022, 04:12:22 PM »

@Lucie Y - gorgeous! I am not at all familiar with French Roundhand but I have noticed on the examplars I have seen that the u and n are almost indistinguishable and need the context of the word to tell which one it is. But the w is distinguished from the m. I am so enamored with your work I am going to break out the broad pen as soon as I get time. 

Awww Erica, thank you for the kind words. When I post, all I can see are the flaws. The spacing issues, the lack of consistency, the mistakes... The next day when I look at my work I'm a little less hard on myself though, I troubleshoot and I get back to it.

It is hugely encouraging to me that my work makes you want to get your broad edge nibs out 

And yes, the U's, N's and M's can look really alike depending on exemplars. I just received my Calligraphy book by Julien Chazal. If at some point you would like his Ronde Exemplars for comparison, I'll send you a pic

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Inktober / Re: Day 19 - 2022: PONYTAIL

« on: October 19, 2022, 08:09:51 PM »

Hi everyone! it's 2AM (on October 20th)
This morning, I had this glorious idea of minimalist cards with greetings written in French Roundhound with walnut ink and a simple gilded drawing. Well, I tried all sorts of things tonight and couldn't get anywhere close to what I wanted.

So, I practiced on "Ponytail", using gold leaf and miniatum ink.
If you have ideas or advice on what ornaments might best suit French Roundhand, please share! I think I prefer the first 2 (vines and butterflies), and the wee ornaments in general, rather than the larger ones.

@Zivio this forum is becoming an important part of my calligraphy journey too, and I am incredibly grateful @Erica McPhee. And @K-2 , I really want to thank you for getting me on the Inktober train! These past two weeks have incredibly encouraging and have given me a chance to grow in doing what I love, with awesome camaraderie too!

@AnasaziWrites so glad you brought up the Flintstones, I need to find cups like that