Copperplate critique request!

[nabeelah]

I've been practicing Copperplate for a couple of months from Eleanor Winter's book and from the really great video tutorials Erica posted here but feel like I've reached a point in my practice where I don't know how to progress. I only recently discovered the forum so this is my first real time showing my work. I'd love for you to be super honest and tell me what I need to work on and what's terrible. Apologies for the weird sentence, trying to copy exemplars from The Universal Penman and they're all strange and moral.

Thanks!

[AndyT]

It's nice, and I think quite quickly done?  The things which I like are the consistent slant, the regularity of the forms (the "e"s  for instance), and some nicely done pressure and release strokes: the final stroke of n, m and p, say.  The spacing is pretty good too.  It's a very promising start.  Keep going, and keep referring back to the exemplar is what I say.

Not being a fan of copperplate I'm not really the right person to say, but I get the impression that there's a tendency towards excessive roundness.  It could be that you're going for that look, in which case a thousand apologies, but to my mind if you were to base the proportions of the ovals on the "o" in "solitude" that would look more elegant.  Distinctly elliptical, in other words.  The other thing to keep an eye on is making all the shades the same weight.  (Why anyone wants to torture themselves with those long straight shades is beyond me, but hey - I'm one of those debased Spencerian types).  My tastes run to a lighter sort of appearance, so I'd lighten up on the d, l, g, t, h, and so forth, but you might want to make the shorter strokes heavier.  Whatever: consistency is the watchword.

Does that help at all?  I'm sure somebody better qualified will be along shortly. 

[Ken Fraser]

The other thing to keep an eye on is making all the shades the same weight.  (Why anyone wants to torture themselves with those long straight shades is beyond me, but hey - I'm one of those debased Spencerian types). 

You've made a very good start in a very short time and  I agree with most of Andy's advice and comments.

However, the careful drawing of the  long straight, evenly weighted shades, goes a long way towards the beauty of this style of lettering!
Far from being a chore, it can be immensely satisfying when done properly and under control. 

[AndyT]

'Evening Ken! 

Joking aside, Nabeelah, that's high praise from someone who really does know his copperplate, so give yourself a pat on the back. 

[Starlee]

You have received some great advice from two people who really know their stuff, and I agree with them, including on how nice this looks for practicing such a short time. Other things I would suggest: I think the small s's need some work (they are hard to master). The one in 'design' looks a little scrunched. Also, I think the pressure of the down stroke of the curve should be applied a little later in the stroke so that the top of the s is nice and thin. The big thing that really popped out at me, and this could be what Andy was referring to with the speed of execution, but with copperplate, the rounded tops and bottoms (e.g., rounded tops of m and n vs rounded bottoms of connecting strokes) should be equally round. Here, the tops are more pointy. And then lastly is a reminder to be mindful of dotting the eyes and crossing the t's.

[Ergative]

In addition to the other comments, don't forget to have entering strokes at the beginnings of words. You have a couple teeny little timid ones on design, companion, and himself, but the other words look downright naked without entering hairlines.

[Ken Fraser]

In addition to the other comments, don't forget to have entering strokes at the beginnings of words. You have a couple teeny little timid ones on design, companion, and himself, but the other words look downright naked without entering hairlines.

You are correct that the modern practice is to enter words with hairlines from the base line, but it may be worth remembering that traditionally, this wasn't the case. In the eighteenth century, the entry hairlines into words were very short and never appeared before a, c, d. e, g, and o. when these letters began a word.

Ken
.

[nabeelah]

Thanks so much for the critique Andy, Ken, Starlee & Ergative. I'm really appreciative of the detailed critique.

I've taken all your advice and been practising more. Here are the changes I've tried to do -
* make everything less round and more oval
* tried to make my shades lighter to reduce the contrast
* tried to practise making shades of the same weight
* switch from using an EF Principal to a Nikko G for more control

Ergative, the exemplar I'm using (from the Bickham book) doesn't have the hairlines at the beginning of words (as Ken mentioned), although I agree I am a fan of them!

So here's another go at the same piece of text. My slant gets quite odd on the last line but I'm really pleased at how much of a different it made to just work on lighter, more consistent shades.

Any critique on the new piece is welcomed. I think I still have to work on getting the shades on the short letters and those with ascenders and descenders truly the same, plus more consistency in my letter O.