Author Topic: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)  (Read 5979 times)

Offline camilleysan

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Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« on: January 12, 2015, 09:49:33 PM »
When I asked where can I post my progress photos on this forums, I was lead to this thread.

Here are my first attempts at Dip pen calligraphy. I made these before I found this forum and would like comments and what I should improve first based on these two. I will be starting the lessons posted by Ms. Erica McPhee in Pointed Pen Nirvana and will be posting my work as soon as I finish printing the worksheets  ;D.

For now here are my initial attempts:



« Last Edit: January 14, 2015, 04:49:47 AM by camilleysan »
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2015, 04:48:38 AM »
Started on the exercises on the Pointed Pen Nirvana today and here is what I have. I used Walnut ink from the calligraphy starter kit I bought from an online shop and a Brause 66EF. I find the Nikko G to be too stiff(?) I think light-handed (is that the correct term for it?) so more flexible nibs are easier for me to use. I also did not know the concept of "squaring off tops" before starting off and now that I know that I shall try to consistently do it (it's much harder than I thought  :o Erica McPhee makes it look so easy and natural in her tutorial videos) . ;D

Self-Critique:
  • my slants are pretty inconsistent
  • my hands are super shakey  :'(
  • the shape of my o's are not consistent
  • I find that the nib gets snagged on the paper very often (is it the positioning of my hand? the nib? or the paper?)

I would love to hear your opinions on how to improve :)
« Last Edit: January 14, 2015, 04:51:16 AM by camilleysan »
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Offline schin

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2015, 12:58:33 PM »
It's beautiful, you're too hard on yourself!
Your walnut ink looks really thin and watery, it is hard for you to create sharp and precise turns with it. Could you switch inks and try maybe sumi or an iron gall?
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2015, 07:26:20 PM »
It's beautiful, you're too hard on yourself!
Your walnut ink looks really thin and watery, it is hard for you to create sharp and precise turns with it. Could you switch inks and try maybe sumi or an iron gall?

I do tend to be hard on myself but thank you for your kind words   :-*

I've actually read a lot of good things about sumi and iron gall ink in this forum but haven't gotten a chance to buy some myself (most of my materials come from a calligraphy set I got from an online shop XD). I shall go find some and try it out :D
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2015, 07:13:53 AM »
Here is the  piece I made today after reviewing the worksheets in Pen Nirvana :) (The poem is from @thewordvirus on instagram)

P.S. my camera isnt very good >_>
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Offline Erica McPhee

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2015, 09:08:37 PM »
Hi Camille,
You have an excellent eye for detail and you did a really good job at self assessing your work. I work with walnut ink almost exclusively for practice and it looks fine to me. Once you try a few inks you will develop a personal preference.

In terms of the nib scratching and ripping the paper, be sure you have properly prepared the nib. This can help smooth it out. Be sure it is inserted into the nib holder properly and watch your angle. If all of those things don't help, you could just have a bad nib or it may smooth out a bit with further use. You'll only know with a little more use. If it continues to be scratchy or gets worse, bad nib. If it smooths out a bit, it just needs a bit of warming up. I find Nikko G's do need a bit of warm up before it is smooth.

I would suggest practicing daily if you can and do a warm up sheet of those first strokes. You will find in a week or so that your consistency greatly improves.

A few notes for your last piece:

Your t's are a bit too tall. They are shorter than an l or b. Same for your d's. Look at the worksheet and note their height in comparison to the h's and l's.

Watch the shape of your a's. You want a nice oval and you don't want the second stroke to bump into the oval.

The spacing within the words is a little squished. The letters need a little more room to breathe.

Overall, you are doing very well. You have a good eye and good letter forms. With more practice, you will be doing great!  ;D
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2015, 10:26:48 PM »
Hi Camille,
You have an excellent eye for detail and you did a really good job at self assessing your work. I work with walnut ink almost exclusively for practice and it looks fine to me. Once you try a few inks you will develop a personal preference.

In terms of the nib scratching and ripping the paper, be sure you have properly prepared the nib. This can help smooth it out. Be sure it is inserted into the nib holder properly and watch your angle. If all of those things don't help, you could just have a bad nib or it may smooth out a bit with further use. You'll only know with a little more use. If it continues to be scratchy or gets worse, bad nib. If it smooths out a bit, it just needs a bit of warming up. I find Nikko G's do need a bit of warm up before it is smooth.

I would suggest practicing daily if you can and do a warm up sheet of those first strokes. You will find in a week or so that your consistency greatly improves.

A few notes for your last piece:

Your t's are a bit too tall. They are shorter than an l or b. Same for your d's. Look at the worksheet and note their height in comparison to the h's and l's.

Watch the shape of your a's. You want a nice oval and you don't want the second stroke to bump into the oval.

The spacing within the words is a little squished. The letters need a little more room to breathe.

Overall, you are doing very well. You have a good eye and good letter forms. With more practice, you will be doing great!  ;D

Thank you for the advice Erica!

:D I shall keep trying out the Nikko G then! I'll continue practicing based off your comments <3 <3 Will post an update soon  ;)
Instagram: @camilleysan

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

Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2015, 09:49:16 AM »
Hello!

It has been a while (school has been a bit demanding hehe).

But since I last posted, I was able to buy myself "Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy" and now i can see why everyone keeps recommending it  ;D. Also as advised I gave my Nikko G another try and used it for warm-ups. I was pleasantly surprised to find it working so smoothly when I tried to do drills with it <3

In this piece I made (I made valentines day letters for my layout staffers who I manage for my org in school... hopefully none of them are on this site because it is supposed to be a surprise >_>) I bought myself white Bombay India ink and had a lot of difficulty using it  :'(. Is there a way I am supposed to handle it (like should I be watering it down etc)? In the description of the store i bought it from it said that it could be used for pointed pens so I got it XD

Anyway here is my work :)

Some self-critique:
- My slants are pretty inconsistent >_>
- My "o" forms are also still inconsistent (my hands are still struggling to keep the shape consistent)
- I sometimes forget to square off my tops and bottoms XD

What do you guys think?
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Offline Chandra

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2015, 10:35:58 AM »
Love to see your progress and pictures Camille !

I'll try to upload my work and hope to get advices from you and other more experienced calligrapher !

Cheers,
Chandra

Offline Erica McPhee

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2015, 12:52:21 PM »
Beautiful! I can definitely see improvement! Your slant is much more consistent. You have developed a nice rhythm. Lowercase t's are still a little tall.

So now you are ready to really study the letterforms and work on strengthening (fine tuning) the shape of the letters.

But overall, well done!  :)
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Offline Diana S.

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2015, 07:40:33 PM »
Wow! This looks amazing! You don't look like a newbie to me! If it's okay, I'm going to duplicate your idea of linking your improvement thread to your signature.

Good luck in your next practices, can't wait to see how much more better you get!
« Last Edit: February 09, 2015, 07:58:33 PM by Diana S. »
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2015, 08:42:51 PM »
Love to see your progress and pictures Camille !

I'll try to upload my work and hope to get advices from you and other more experienced calligrapher !

Cheers,
Chandra

I'll look out for it  ;) The advice from experienced calligraphers really does help you figure out where to focus your practice :D

Beautiful! I can definitely see improvement! Your slant is much more consistent. You have developed a nice rhythm. Lowercase t's are still a little tall.

So now you are ready to really study the letterforms and work on strengthening (fine tuning) the shape of the letters.

But overall, well done!  :)

Thank you so much Erica! :D I shall continue to practice with your advice  :D

Wow! This looks amazing! You don't look like a newbie to me! If it's okay, I'm going to duplicate your idea of linking your improvement thread to your signature.

Good luck in your next practices, can't wait to see how much more better you get!

Thank you Diana :">

It helps a little when link the improvement thread in your signature ;) Especially if you post a lot :)
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2015, 06:49:17 AM »
New practice photo! :D

I used the palindrome suggestion of artcyva to be able to practice all the letters in one sentence :D

I have not yet practiced the letter "x" too much ( I find the formal "x" in the "mastering copperplate calligraphy" book difficult to do >_> so i skipped it out for this practice)

I'm not too sure about the height of my letter "t" :-S

My next course of action it to study the connectors (which i just saw in the book of eleanor winters) but i'd like to hear what you guys have to say :D
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Offline prasad

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2015, 07:59:48 AM »
New practice photo! :D

I'm not too sure about the height of my letter "t" :-S

Hi Camille,
Amazing work.
I will leave the letterform critique and improvement suggestions to the more qualified people here.

Just the letter t-  It should go upto the 1st ascender line like the d. d and t are same height.   All your other ascenders and descenders are great.

When you cross the "t" , I remember Erica saying in some post, make the horizontal bar on the left shorter than the right.  If it is the other way, the eye tends to go right to left, when it should read left to right. :)

That's my 2 cents worth
Happy writing
-Prasad

« Last Edit: February 13, 2015, 08:58:20 PM by prasad1970 »
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Offline camilleysan

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Re: Advice for a Newbie (progress photos)
« Reply #14 on: February 21, 2015, 12:56:52 AM »
New practice photo! :D

I'm not too sure about the height of my letter "t" :-S

Hi Camille,
Amazing work.
I will leave the letterform critique and improvement suggestions to the more qualified people here.

Just the letter t-  It should go upto the 1st ascender line like the d. d and t are same height.   All your other ascenders and descenders are great.

When you cross the "t" , I remember Erica saying in some post, make the horizontal bar on the left shorter than the right.  If it is the other way, the eye tends to go right to left, when it should read left to right. :)

That's my 2 cents worth
Happy writing
-Prasad

Oh! okay I shall remember that for the t and d :D

The crossing of the t being shorter on the left makes so much sense!

Thank you for the advice  ;D
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