Some Classical training

Time to do some formal capitals letters in order to fall in love with beautiful spacing, and modulated rhythms among other useful pursuits.
We begin with some time-honoured analysis from the Trajan Column.
I have some very large copies which are about 50cm long with 3cm high letters and that's great to work from, using a ruler and tracing paper.


i) Analysis of width, height and positioning of horizontals (if applicable) from the Trajan Column in pencil monoline
ii) Work out the width or family groups according to width:height ratios.
iii) Analyse the spacing beginning with two straight sided letters, then the various combinations.
iii) For some art-design input: A justified aligned project of stacked monoline capitals in pointed pen. All the spaces between straight sided letters are coloured or painted.
iv) One large capital letter including the serifs to be copied at 8cm height.
v) Look briefly at Catich "The origin of the Serif"


Here is another of my pages from the forgotten book from 1993. Note the fixation with adding fine detail painting!

This is basic training for any field of calligraphy - Foundational, Italic, Typography, Letter design, brush lettering and so on. Below is a detail of Bleu which I painted in 1999. 
The B is about 6 cm high and the artwork is 130cmX40cm.
See: www.linkerrdesign.co.uk/gallery.htm. 

And now we come to the fork in the road of our calligraphic journey.

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