Learning Foundational

This would be for people wanting to do formal calligraphy  such as certificates and citations and also people who are interested in drawn lettering for typography or letter design.

You may ask why I'm so adamant about this classical training?

Times Roman and other classical fonts have their origins in Carolingian, Foundational Hand or Bookhand as it is also called.

This is a good moment to chat about other historical scripts. Mostly, they are frozen in a time warp, so Gothic may be used for a Bierfest or Ye Olde Inn or anything with badde spellinye. Of course it also has fabulous potential if you think of its design qualities of Rudolf Koch's blackletter.  Uncials is cute and fat and too spaced out to be very useful – name tags would be loooong! But then it is breathtaking in its Book of Kells context and I really love Greek Uncials. (And I'm using the understanding of it a lot in my graphite cartouches)

But Uncials and Gothic are excellent starting points and can be revisited and refined. Other styles can also be useful and fun. But, for the moment, get one classical style "under the belt".

Capitals and minuscules:  Weekly, 3-4 hours for 6 months – 1 year

My Ideal Foundational Course – Minuscules

Tutor to supply an excellent exemplar or Pen Lettering by Ann Camp

i)  family groups

ii)  n-necklace – anbncndnen etc. Short alphabetical word-list: ant, bat, cat etc.

iii) long-word alphabetical list: anthurium, buttercup, calendular, dandelion etc.

iv) moving down nib sizes
v) begin using gouache or good quality stick ink and good quality paper (variety)

vi) layout of a block of prose

vii) as a historical base students would analyse the Ramsey Psalter, Harley M/S 2904.*

viii) to get rhythm: Scriptorium or Continuous writing – lay out a pamphlet book of 3 folios of A3 to make an A4 pamphlet with classical margins. Write form left to right filling wach line and breaking words at the end of the line even if its not logical.

ix) for inspiration: Edward Johnston*

viii) for artwork an introduction to fine detail painting – perhaps an illuminated capitals copied from a manuscript, including flat transfer gold on gum ammoniac. (This would need a generous time allowance)

x) various small projects, including some backgrounds


* Knight, Stan  Historical Scripts, Oak Knoll Press 1998

Copying a miniature from the Ashmole Bestiary (a postcard of it)
Everyone's art experience is at a different level, but there is so much to choose from.
Anyway, it was traced to start with!

My Ideal Foundational Course - Capitals

i) refresher course on monoline Trajan capitals

ii) refresher course on spacing

iii) edged pen alphabet in width groups.

iv) sentences in capital letters. (Not too much at this stage as it could be disheartening)

v) alphabet lists: Alberti, Beethoven, Chopin

vi) Scriptorium or continuous writing – lay out a pamphlet book of three folios of A3 paper. this time observe paragraph breaks and don't break words illogically, but still try for solid prose to get text blocks for rhythm.

vii) for artwork a modern stylised design such a lino printing

viii) Piece of work using at least three nib sizes.

*Edward Johnston, the Father of modern calligraphy. It is very interesting to study EJ's work. He had such fabulous rhythm and lettering charisma that there was an overall consistency, but a hard act to follow or learn from. So read and enjoy, but learn from Ann Camp who taught in his tradition.

(Whoops - for the first early readers, & subscribers, they sneaked a peek at tomorrow's blog & some beautiful work!!)

A bit more about Drawn letters

Working with an edged pen may not suit everyone who wants to create letterforms, but it certainly explains the historical formation of letter weight. It is assumed that most Roman Inscriptions in the first century began life as brush lettering (hence the serif?). It is for this reason that it is worth studying Foundational and Italic, but at the same time, students would want to begin drawing and copying letters by hand.


Capitals letters have many peculiarities not shared by minuscules.
i) Easy reading: A line of Capital letters is far more difficult to read fluently.
ii) Rhythms: These letters developed as individual letters, not as a cursive script, so without the natural flow, there are many subtleties to make them "hang well" together.
iii) Widths: If, say, the L was as wide as an O, there would be a huge gap in the middle of a word. So this is sorted out by narrowing the L and pushing the adjacent letter closer to it.
iv) Weights and pen angle: If the same pen angle was used throughout, N would be a very heavy dense letter and Z would be super-light in comparison to other letters. 
v) Flow: By making horizontals lighter in weight, the E is more comfortable and the B will fit into the same height much better.
vi) Consistency - Horizontal bars are usually in the same position in Trajan Caps -i.e. resting on the halfway line; but in the A it is dropped to make it visually balanced.
vii) It is a common mistake for beginners to make capital letters the same height as ascenders. they are shorter (unless the ascenders are stunted)
viii) And then there is the weight: If lettering is to be reduced for reproduction, the letter weight (X height) and serifs need to be chunkier. 
Once one understands these and many more nuances, one is better equipped to design a cohesive alphabet.
I remember Freda Sack of Foundry Types saying (in her own words) : "The aim in designing an alphabet is so that no particular letter jumps out and disturbs the overall harmony"
and in my own words - "unless on purpose", as Burgert did)

"t" reproduced with permission from Tom Perkins

Tom Perkins: detail of a final drawing for a letter carving

I'm not at all the expert here, but it seems to me that the triumvirate classical training of Foundational, Trajan and Italic can only be good. After that, I'd leave it to Tom Perkins and other teachers of his ilk to "design a drawn letters course"

And one more thing: You know Ben Shahn (one of my dearly beloveds) used all those funny naive scripts with odd N's and "painfully copied" decorative versals? Well, he began by learning drawn letters and could also draw the most immaculate Trajan O with consummate ease! So there!

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