Author Topic: Guidelines and Slants  (Read 5223 times)

Offline prasad

  • Super Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 1130
  • Karma: 103
    • View Profile
Guidelines and Slants
« on: February 18, 2015, 10:24:07 PM »
HI all,
I had posted a couple of words on another thread and was asked where I got the guidelines from.  I do these guidelines myself using Illustrator.
I take a writing sample of the Old Masters that I like and draw guides and slants on it to understand how it is written and TRY to replicate it.   Most of the times, it's frustrating but it also gives me something to aim for.  Immediate aim precision and eventual aim-perfection.  ;D

I first draw in the horizontal (red) x heights and then make one pair of slants using an oval.  This slant is then replicated to get an idea of the size relation between the oval and other alphabets.
There is a lot of text in the instruction manuals of the Masters that explain the sizes, but this visual guide helps me a lot.

The one I am using now is written by Lupfer and it is for the capitals.
I made it so that there is a practise line for me after each of his words.  helps keep the focus on the page instead of having to refer to the computer all the time.



This is just a small example, but I made a printable pdf of the full thing and you could download  my guidelines here.

It has all the capitals and most of the minuscules.  The only ones not here are f,k,q,x and z.
It helped me a lot in getting spacing and sizes correct. 

Happy Writing :)
-Prasad

Never be afraid to try something new
Remember - An amateur built the Ark and Professionals built the Titanic
My Instagram

Offline Judy G

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 908
  • Karma: 26
  • I can be bribed with cookies and ice cream.
    • View Profile
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2015, 10:33:06 PM »
Yay! Thanks, Prasad!! :)
Judy G [joo-dee]
food blog | instagram | twitter

Offline Sarah K

  • Freshman Member
  • *
  • Posts: 23
  • Karma: 3
    • View Profile
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2015, 11:09:40 PM »
This is awesome, thanks for putting this together!

Offline Brad franklin

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 749
  • Karma: 26
    • View Profile
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2015, 03:02:58 AM »
thanks Prasad I will give it a try!

Offline prasad

  • Super Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 1130
  • Karma: 103
    • View Profile
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2015, 01:05:53 AM »
HI all,
BIG BIG apologies for the link I had given earlier.  I did not check the quality of the pdf I had linked to.   :(

I had been occupied with other stuff and it's just today that i printed what I had uploaded.  I admit it was a horrible quality.  IN my haste to upload, I did not realise that the Illustrator file was a low resolution image and should not print clearly.
The original that I had was about 8MB each page and that would have been to large to upload.

I figured out a way to  get the file size small but retain the quality of the guidelines so that it is printable.

I have redone it and here are the links if anyone is still interested

Page 1.

Page 2.

Page 3.

Again, huge sorry for the mess up
-Prasad
Never be afraid to try something new
Remember - An amateur built the Ark and Professionals built the Titanic
My Instagram

Offline camilleysan

  • Junior Member
  • **
  • Posts: 75
  • Karma: 8
    • View Profile
    • My Instagram Page
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2015, 05:29:28 PM »
OOH! Thank you Prasad! Wil give these a try after I use up the practice sheets I printed the other day :D
Instagram: @camilleysan

I'd love to hear your comments and critique on my work! Leave some at "Advice for a Newbie"

Offline ericp

  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 405
  • Karma: 16
    • View Profile
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2015, 04:05:28 PM »
Hi Prasad,

Thanks for these guidelines, very useful for me as a copperplate beginner!

I don't want to seem picky  :o but they would be even more useful if you added numerals and all lowercase letters (there are three or four missing like j q x - pardon my bad memory as I don't have my sheet in front of me  :-\ )

Dhanyavaad
Regards, Eric
P.S. And if you could share more of your wonderful flourishes like those I saw in your letter to Erica, that would truly be awesome!

Offline prasad

  • Super Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 1130
  • Karma: 103
    • View Profile
Re: Guidelines and Slants
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2015, 07:36:18 AM »
Hi Prasad,

Thanks for these guidelines, very useful for me as a copperplate beginner!

I don't want to seem picky  :o but they would be even more useful if you added numerals and all lowercase letters (there are three or four missing like j q x - pardon my bad memory as I don't have my sheet in front of me  :-\ )

Dhanyavaad
Regards, Eric
P.S. And if you could share more of your wonderful flourishes like those I saw in your letter to Erica, that would truly be awesome!

Hi Eric,
Glad these were helpful.  I know there are some lower case letters missing  :)  Most exemplars that are available on the IAMPETH site have the guides drawn in.  I made these with the slants mainly to understand alphabet spacing. 
I haven't done this for numerals as I have still not reached that far. :) 
Still working on Caps.

But i guess the same spacing principal would apply for the numerals too.

As for the flourishing,  it was a feeble attempt at copying from letters in the Universal Penman.  That is a book worth having to learn and copy from.  Just google it and look for images and you will find a LOT of examples. 

These are 2 more posts on here which have information on flourishing practise by none other than Mr. Fraser himself :)

http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=551.0
http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=2112.0

Happy writing
-Prasad
Never be afraid to try something new
Remember - An amateur built the Ark and Professionals built the Titanic
My Instagram