Chapter 2 continued

Computer lettering
The following samples were all made using the SketchBook app on my iPad.

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Chapter 2: Lettering designs

In this chapter we were asked to choose a word and write it in many different ways. Licence to play!!

Fig. 1

In Figure 1 above example 1 was written using the edge of a piece of card dipped in ink and written until the ink ran out before replenishing. 2 - the edge of the card was used to make repeating lines to form each letter. 3 - the edge of the card was used to make individual lines and 4 - snips were cut from the edge of the card then dragged to form letters.

Fig.2

Examples 5, 6 and 7 in Figure 2 were all written with bleach on top of Spectrum Noir ink. This ink does appear as a very pale grey rather than black but at least it discharged with the bleach, unlike the Winsor and Newton India ink which can be seen on the page under the successful attempt.

Fig.3

In Figure 3 ... 8 - was written with a dip pen in Winsor and Newton ink; 9 - was written with a stick dipped in the same ink; 10 - a sharpened stick was used with the same ink; 11 - acrylic ink was applied with the pipette in the lid and 12 - cola pen dipped in Winsor and Newton ink.

Fig. 4

Figure 4 shows a cola pen with drawing ink written on the inside of an envelope. Some lines have been reversed. Some interesting patterns have emerged in this example, especially in the centre where the lines have overlapped more and it is more difficult to make out individual words.

Fig. 5

Figure 5 shows the word written repeatedly and very small with a stick dipped in India ink on brown wrapping paper.

Fig. 6

Figure 6 was written with a stick dipped in acrylic ink on printed tissue paper.

Fig.7

In figure 7 I decided to write out a phrase and to move one word along on successive lines so a definite diagonal appears though this appears more noticeable with the word day than any of the others - perhaps because the letters 'd' and 'y' end up closer together due to the height and depth of the letters.

Fig. 8

Figure 8 shows the same phrase but this time written with each word directly beneath the previous line.

Fig. 9

For Figure 9 my block of writing was over-written diagonally in two directions, one upside down. The darker patches have emerged as a result of having used hairspray to set the rubbing which is on the reverse of this page. It has seeped through the paper in some places and made some interesting patterns as the ink has blurred and turned a purpley-blue colour instead of the black of the rest of the page.

Fig. 10

In Figure 10 I wrote horizontally and vertically, forming a grid. I remember reading that people used to write in this manner in order to save paper when resources were scarce.

Fig. 11

Figure 11 shows me trying out some of the pens at my disposal.

Fig. 12

The top example in Figure 12 was  a rubbing on tissue paper over a plastic letter stencil using a stick of charcoal. The middle example was rubbed on the same paper over letters cut from corrugated cardboard, this time using a brown charcoal stick. For the bottom example I peeled one surface from the corrugated cardboard. This did not actually make as much difference to the rubbing as I had expected it would.

Fig. 13

Figure 13 sample was written with the pipette in the lid of a bottle of acrylic ink, allowing it to form blots and runs.

Fig. 14

A feather was dipped in black Indian ink to produce the sample in Figure 14.

Fig. 15

For Figure 15 I took photocopies of two of my earlier samples, cut each with wavy lines and then wove them together. I have left the excess in each direction as a contrast.

Fig. 16

The entire page was washed with Spectrum noir ink, brushed on with a sponge then overwritten with a bleach pen.

Fig. 17

Figure 17 - the bottom layer was written with a blue marker pen then overwritten with a finer gold marker.

Fig. 18

Figure 18 - a thick marker pen with a wedge shaped tip was used and I altered the angle of the tip as I wrote to make some letters finer than others.

Fig. 19

Figure 19 - Doodling inside fat letters.

Fig. 20

I particularly like the patterns which emerged in Figure 20 using a fine Sharpie marker pen.

Fig. 21

For Figure 21 I played with colour, filling in some of the spaces in and between some of the letters.

Fig. 22

Figure 22 - Fat letters each written in a 'box' with the remainder of each box shaded in with diagonal lines.

Fig. 23

Figure 23 - Colour again, but this time on alternate capital and small case letters.

Fig. 24

For Figure 24 I drew a series of wavy lines then made my words fit the spaces between them.

Fig. 25

Figure 25 - two more earlier samples cut this time into relatively even strips and woven together, taking no notice of which direction the wording was placed. I love the abstract nature of the larger letters on the envelope here.

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Figure 26 - This time just one sheet of lettering cut up into random sized pieces then pieced together in a random way with some scraps placed upside down again formed some interesting abstract patterns.

Fig. 27

Figure 27 - three different samples cut up and patched randomly in a zig-zag pattern.

Fig. 28

Finally, for this section, one sheet of lettering cut in half, pleated and then glued to the page in opposite directions.

Exploring Abstraction

A slight detour from my coursework as I did a workshop with Amanda Hislop and it has relevance to an earlier post on this blog. I commented that I had been struggling with trying to make my work slightly less literal so when the opportunity to take part in a workshop on abstracting landscapes came along I grabbed it with both hands.

Amanda first had us making loose marks reminiscent of a landscape on an A3 sheet of paper using a Cola pen dipped in ink. I had never come across one of these before but it is apparently literally made from a piece of metal cut from a cola can taped around a pencil or similar stick.

We then rubbed the paper with a wax candle loosely following the lines we had made, stuck on some torn scraps of tissue and tea bag paper, then painted on washes with diluted ink and Koh-i-noor paints.

Once our 'masterpieces' were dry we folded and cut them then folded them up into a zig-zag book form.

 The resulting small areas produced some surprisingly beautiful abstract landscapes. Not all were quite so inspiring, but some were definitely worth cutting out and sticking into a sketchbook for further work... some stitching and further drawing, continuation of lines etc.

I had felt completely out of my comfort zone at the beginning of the weekend but was delighted with the results and it is a process I will definitely use again.

Module 4 - Loosely Lettering

Chapter 1: Media research

I've been looking forward to this module as I love making books so was excited to be starting work on it. Our first task was to collect together inspirational media items.

Fig. 1

I quickly found a collection of business envelopes from recent junk mail and the patterns inside those reminded me of businessmen's shirts with their tiny repetitive patterns in shades of blue and grey and green. That in turn reminded me of the scrap quilts made from worn-out clothing so I made a little section of patchwork with the envelope pieces. I also had brown wrapping paper, brown parcel tape, string, postage stamps, Royal Mail pre-paid postage stamps, a bar code square from a parcel, a luggage tag, a recycle stamp, the window from a business envelope and the front of a book of stamps. I drew a few small patches of pattern from some of the envelopes too.

Fig. 2

I found that I had several types of paper clip and made these into a pattern together with some metal clips, stitched them down onto a page of my sketchbook and took a rubbing of the finished design.

Fig. 3

Figure 3 shows a selection of images of stationery items - folders, files, envelopes, clip-boards and books.

Fig. 4

The second part of this chapter was about collecting examples of different styles of lettering. Figure 4 shows some examples from magazine and junk mail advertisements. From my time working with members of the marketing department of my local university to make the prospectus accessible to students with sight and dyslexia problems I know that every organisation has its own 'house style' which has been carefully researched in order to portray their values and message to their customers/clients. 

Fig. 5

Figure 5 shows some alphabets from other countries and, in the case of the graffiti, cultures.

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Fig.7

Figures 6 and 7 show that some lettering is more art than writing. I particularly like the architectural images which have been chosen to represent letters and the modern 'illuminated' letter D in Fig. 7 with its dandelions.

Fig. 8

Figure 8 shows some handwriting styles, some, especially the ancient English hand, form particularly beautiful patterns. 

Fig. 9

Finally I made an alphabet from different styles of lettering cut from magazines and found that there are literally thousands of different font variations. I felt I could have continued gathering examples for a very long time!