Kerning anyone?

[lisanjones]

Hi, friends...I am having some big trouble with this kerning thing...I have been  practicing daily now for a month and some days I feel like I am backsliding. I am in the first trimester of a surprise pregnancy and am not certain if it is my hormones raging, or if they are causing me to be unsteady. Have any of you experienced this during pregnancy? I can't seem to keep my hand steady either. I am trying to move from my elbow and steady my hand more, but the work space I have is so tiny, this isn't working out very well. I do hope this passes quickly, I am so excited to be mom again, but I had my heart set also on steady calligraphy practice. Any advice?

[Erica McPhee]

Congratulations Lisa! How exciting! 

I'm not sure what you mean by kerning in relation to your lettering and/or pregnancy. But I will say when I was pregnant, I had difficulty with lettering. Pregnancy hormones touch so many different things. They can affect your muscles and ligaments causing your joints to be more lax. I had problems with balance and developed tendinitis in my writing elbow and shoulder. I also had swelling in my hands and ankles making it difficult to sit for long.

It did improve somewhat by the second trimester but didn't go away completely until several months post-labor (however, I nursed for a long time so that still contributed). 

I hope you find it differently! 

[JostenD]

What about if you practiced using a dot grid sketchbook. I've been told that helps a bit with kerning.

[joi]

kearning...you mean spacing between letters? 
my only advice is keep practicing and go slowly

[Linda Y.]

Sorry to be off-topic here, and PLEASE don't mind me for being a stick in the mud (and feel free to roll your eyes at me, everyone!), but I'm speaking strictly as a typography nerd here - the definition of kerning (according to Wikipedia) is "the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font." Strictly speaking, it is typically used for typesetting, whether it be physically setting lead type on a printing press the old-fashioned way, or doing it on the computer. in calligraphy terms, it is generally referred to simply as "letter spacing." Leading, which is also used commonly in typesetting, is used to refer to the spacing in-between lines. In the old days, printers would put in pieces of lead in-between the lines, so that is where "leading" comes from. In a calligraphy setting, it is referred to as "line spacing."

 

[Heebs]

Sorry to be off-topic here, and PLEASE don't mind me for being a stick in the mud (and feel free to roll your eyes at me, everyone!), but I'm speaking strictly as a typography nerd here - the definition of kerning (according to Wikipedia) is "the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font." Strictly speaking, it is typically used for typesetting, whether it be physically setting lead type on a printing press the old-fashioned way, or doing it on the computer. in calligraphy terms, it is generally referred to simply as "letter spacing." Leading, which is also used commonly in typesetting, is used to refer to the spacing in-between lines. In the old days, printers would put in pieces of lead in-between the lines, so that is where "leading" comes from. In a calligraphy setting, it is referred to as "line spacing."

 

Heh, typography nerd  I usually go with typomaniac but that works as well.

[lisanjones]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! Linda, that is very good to know- I was indeed referring to my spacing...I will refer to it now on as letter spacing- makes more sense too I am struggling with it. I have been using the Rhodia graph pad (as required by the instructor I learned from), and it is wonderful, but as the course was more oriented toward modern calligraphy, traditional aspects were not dwelled upon. I have looked up some other resources...one I found stated to space the letters the same distance as the counter-space within. This is difficult for me to "think ahead" while lettering. I have also tried to implement spacing that is rounder and I am trying for one-letter-per-grid-square on the graph pad (as the norm), but it always gets off due to the outlier letters. So, I am at least trying to be visually appealing in my spacing. Thank you again everyone for your input...it is very appreciated by this newbie!!