Copperplate Minuscules - Group 1

[sarthina]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, well, those question marks are where I thought the letters looked good (better than others anyway) but wasn't really sure. Now you made that clear to me.
I'll post my latest worksheet - is there any progress or not? And a question: how long should I be practicing at such large scale? X-height on that pad I am writing on is about 7.5 mm (which gives me a total of 1.5 cm ascender height  ). It looks huge to me... And to my hand, of course. Although I understand now the theory behind it.

[AngieD]

Here is my first attempt at the new words you gave me.  As always, thank you for taking the time to critique and offer advice.

Angie

[cciele]

[deleted]

[Salman Khattak]

You can edit your post by clicking on the 'Modify' option to the top right of the box that contains your post. Alternately, you can just make a new post and I will delete the old one.

- Salman

[Salman Khattak]

@AngieD

OK - the spacing is much more uniform as is the shape of the letters .....but you have made the letters too wide now. Ideally a letter is half as wide as it is tall. A little wider is generally fine but yours are dangerously close to being square. The width in your previous attempt was good - it just needed to be consistent.

How about giving it another go with a slightly compressed width. Careful with the width of the shade - don't start to taper too early.

- Salman

[AngieD]

I worked on the letter width and tapers.  I look forward to your feedback.  Thank you.

[Salman Khattak]

@AngieD - your consistency and slant is pretty good Angie. The bottom loop of the 'j' is a thing of beauty.

Your letters are a bit too wide still though. It doesn't post much problems in this group but you will see it mess with the 'm's and 'n's in the next one.

Lets move on to group-2 and we will work on the width there.

- Salman

[Salman Khattak]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, well, those question marks are where I thought the letters looked good (better than others anyway) but wasn't really sure. Now you made that clear to me.
I'll post my latest worksheet - is there any progress or not? And a question: how long should I be practicing at such large scale? X-height on that pad I am writing on is about 7.5 mm (which gives me a total of 1.5 cm ascender height  ). It looks huge to me... And to my hand, of course. Although I understand now the theory behind it.

@sarthina - yes, there is an improvement in the bottom turns an there are hardly any with the wedge issue. This is well done. Please move on to group-2 :-)

- Salman

[AngieD]

Thank you for all your help and advice on group 1.  I am excited to move on to group 2.  I will continue to work on the spacing.  I find it slightly frustrating that I started out with good spacing, but when I worked to adjust the consistency of the spacing, I started to get too round with it and haven't been able to correct that since .  The good thing is that I know I can do it since I had it correct before.  I look forward to working on it along with the new learning group 2 will bring. 

I also realized that I never really introduced myself on this group.  I have always loved handwriting.  I had a speedball calligraphy kit when I was a teenager and I loved working with it.  I remember making cards and poems as gifts for my relatives.  I got interested in it again a few years ago when I took a small course in more traditional broad edge nib calligraphy.  Though I enjoyed it, I started following some blogs and online tutorials and realized that the pointed pen style is more appealing to me.  I practiced with a really loose modern style and even did some wedding envelope addressing for a friend.  As I did research, I started learning more about copperplate and Engrosser's script.  I  love the order and rules that apply to creating something so beautiful.  I felt like my calligraphy would benefit from learning the foundations of these styles and that I would then be able to, not only succeed at those styles, but also break off and experiment more with looser styles of modern calligraphy.  I, thankfully, came across the Flourish Forum and was immediately pointed in the direction of your lessons by another member.  I am so glad to be learning from you as well as the work of others participating in your teaching. 

Again, thank you for your time and help.

Angie

[Salman Khattak]

Thank you for the introduction Angie. It is great to know you a bit better :-)

I believe that learning the basics actually free us up to explore our own personal style even better. It is great to see you have come to a similar conclusion. Having a solid foundation is always better than trying to balance on a shaky one :-)

- Salman

[Funietchi]

Hi Salman,

Today is my day 41 of my Copperplate Challenge, I decide to start practicing my minuscules before I start with the Majuscules. It seems that I need to work harder 🙈 please help me.. Thank you so much.

[Salman Khattak]

@Funietchi - great to have you join us.

I would like to see the assigned words for this group but will start with a little bit of feedback you can incorporate in your practice:

- you seem to be moving from the shaded stroke to the hairline in one continuous motion. This is ok if you can do it with control but I can see a lot of inconsistency in your 'i' strokes. For example, the first 5 strokes in the letters on the las line should be identical. I suggest you try lifting your pen at the base line and make the hairline as a separate stroke.

- The crossbar of the 't' should be between the waist line and the top of the 't'. you are drawing it at the waist line.

- The exit stroke of the 'j' should match the slant of the other hairlines. The one in your example comes out in a wavy line at a shallow angle.

I will be looking forward to the practice words written with the above in mind :-)

Regards,
Salman

[Funietchi]

Thank you for your feedback,  Salman.. I really really appreciate it, I was trying to do your suggestion tonight, and I would love to hear your feedback again. I have overlapping problems especially with my "i". And also have inconsistency, slant and hairline problems too, I promise I will work harder to fix them.

[Salman Khattak]

@Funietchi

Your slant isn't all that bad Stephanie, It looks like your turns at the base line are causing you problems. I see 2 main issues with the turns:

1. You start lifting the pen at about 1/2 x-height. This is too early and causes the bottom turns to be too rounded.

2. You continue into the exit hairline with one continuous stroke.

This can be easily fixed by going back to the 'i' stroke and drawing it as instructed. It is well worth it to spend time on this stroke as it will be the foundation of everything you do in Copperplate.

I will copy the instructions here for convenience:

i - Start with a hairline at the base line and go up to the middle of the x-height or slightly above - this is the entry hairline. Now place the pen at the waist line and apply pressure to the nib to spread the tines and pull down towards the base line. The stroke should be placed such that it meets the entry hairline halfway down the stroke. Gradually release the pressure on the nib two-thirds of the way down while moving the pen to the right bringing the stroke to a point on the base line directly below the right side of the stroke. This will cause the left side of the stroke to have a curved shape. Now lift the pen for a beat, put it back down and draw the hairline back up to the middle of the x-height, this is the exit hairline.

The dot is placed directly above the ‘i’, halfway between the waistline and the the 1st Ascender line. It is the same thickness at the letter - no more. You can go back and make the top of the starting stroke ‘square’ now. In time, you will learn to square the tops directly at the start of the stroke but there is no need to spend time on it at this time.

It is worth your while to practice this stroke until you can do it without thinking. The best way to do that is to use Mr. Geoff Ford’s method of practising in groups of 5. Here is how you do it:

Write the letter 5 times. Now stop and look at each letter you have drawn and place a tick mark against ones that are good. Now pick the best one and try to replicate or improve on it 5 more times. Repeat.

This process not only take the boredom out of the practice, it helps sharpen the eye in the process. Once you can see what a good letter is, making it well is just a short distance behind.

So when do you know when you have it? When you can consistently make 3-4 out good ones in a group of 5.

Let me see your practice sheet for the 'i' stroke in groups of 5.

- Salman

[neriah]

Hi Salaman,

I just recently joined The Flourish Forum.
I've been practicing engrossers for four months using dr. Vitolo's videos and book. At the time I was in a hurry to learn all letters because I couldn't wait to start writing real sentences and make cards for my friends. Looking at my work I got impression I miss some basics so I decided to start from the beginning and learn all letters once again. This is my try, done with oblique holder, leonardt principle EF, Blots Iron Gall and Faber-Castel cold pressed paper.

Looking forward to your critique!

Katja