My Ideal Calligraphy course

I stared writing a teaching book in 1993, then life took over and  we moved 1700 km away and I lost touch with that realm and outgrew the idea. It was going to be an all-colour-all-handwritten and illustrated book. Here is an early illustration: (and a detail of the 15mm plate from the bottom row) I just could not resist all little extra meticulous details - very much under the influence of Sarah Midda.

19 years later:
This is my ideal course if it was a weekly 3-4 hour workshop. Artwork is introduced gradually as part of the course but ideally one would be running three strands in a full-time course: disciplined lettering, gestural freedom and design principles.


This is a syllabus of 3-6 month modules, depending on intensity of study.
1) Uncials
i) because it is the most accessible of all edged pen alphabets.
ii) to enjoy the thrill using an edged pen.
iii) to learn to do clean sharp lettering, good circles and straight verticals.
iv) learn the basics of layout and the terminology of the calligrapher ("x" height, interlinear spacing etc).
v) Scriptorium or continuous writing for rhythm
vi) as a historical base students would analyse the Stoneyhurst Gospel c.AD 698, British Library
vii) for inspiration: Lindisfarne Gospel and the Book of Kells (maybe Greek Uncials)
viii) for artwork: I would introduce Celtic knots and copy some of the Celtic creatures.


This would be followed by
2) Gothic
i) because it is an accessible edged pen alphabet.
ii) to practise straight verticals, rhythm and inter letter spacing.
iii) to enjoy the patterns of black and white, letters, spaces and the abstract elements of texture.
iv) to see how a different approach to layout and space is required when using a different alphabet.
v) Scriptorium or continuous writing for rhythm
vi) as a historical base students would analyse The Bedford Hours and Psalter, British Library, late 14thC
vii) for inspiration: Erik Lindegren and Rudolf Koch.
viii) for artwork: I would do Gothic patterning using the diamond as a base. This might be a good moment to introduce illuminated or decorative capitals
I would also introduce my Gothic birds to loosen up penmanship and freedom.
NB: this course would not have any Gothic capitals as they are not historical. Students would use uncials - see this detail from Erik Lindegren:

This is from "ABC" by Erik Lindegren 1975. I would not have such flourished Uncials but I really like the way there is no interword spacing when there is a capital letter, The space within the capital suffices. These Gothic letters are rather more elongated but very handsome! Lindegren also gives a beautiful exemplar of Gothic Caps - quite the nicest I've seen, but we are learning Gothic for rhythm and Uncials will suiffice!

Of course, I'm itching to get on with putting modern stuff into my course, but the basics and discipline simply has to be there first!  Tomorrow I'll run through the rest of my syllabus. Its quite nice to design an ideal programme. In reality I like teaching people who already  have the basics of lettering skills and I adopt a modern approach with a strong art-based element rather than formal calligraphy.

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