We cannot begin without looking at the Roman caps. And that is what we will do. Going through the Roman proportions, but not in a very detailed way. The study of Roman caps is a workshop(s) on its own. But it’s important to know that all caps are derived from the Roman caps, so we cannot go without them.

 

But we will soon move on, on how to draw ‘simplified’ or casual caps, step by step, and explore lots of possibilities in both form and rhythm. First single skeleton pressure-release strokes, and subsequently built-up letterforms. Mechanical pencil 0,3 mm will be the main tool until now.

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Jurgen will take a great care in filling up when it comes to built-up lettering, so there’s quite a lot to be said about how to fill up built-up letterforms.

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Next tools in line are fineliners, ballpoint pens, fountain-pens, colour-pencil, speedball C5, hemispherical pen & pointed pen. We’ll be covering letters with contrast (thin & thick lines), and letters without. (Weight of the lines within one letter=the same) Looking at different kinds of serifs is on the menu too. And pushing the boundaries of letterforms is something we will look at.

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The purpose of this all is to provide student with a large ‘vocabulary’ when doing calligraphy or letterdrawing.

 

If time allows, we will be drawing bigger letters to look even more at all details of the letter. With Neuland, David Jones, Jan Rossey, Kristoffel Boudens and many different other calligraphers.