Scribbled Lives Week 37—Calligraphy Love

This week, we’re celebrating our affection for lettering by using any medium or style to communicate our perspective on what calligraphy means. 

Forty years ago, I took my first calligraphy class, not knowing that it would evolve into a lifelong passion. 

This month, in Brody Neuenschwander’s class, “Wrong Letters: Graphic Drama with an Automatic Pen”, we are designing novel letters. I call it lettering improv because we start with one letter, then create each subsequent letter by responding to the previous one—and later on to surrounding neighbours. Very intuitive way to work because there are no “mistakes”— just challenges to integrate! All students are working with the same legacy of alphabets, yet come up with infinite variations of new shapes—a sort of historical letters mash-up!

A text I composed 25 years ago is perfect for this prompt! (Text appears below the image if you prefer to skip the deciphering.) I just noticed that three of the R’s got a little rowdy with their neighbours. Don’t know how that happened… Maybe that’s the graphic drama…

“Lettering is shaped by the laws of perspective, of form, and of rhythm, like a musical score.
I discipline myself to learn the rules and to follow them.
Then I rearrange them to suit myself.”
Lily Yee
ABC Canada, 1996

Automatic pen size 4, pointed pen, pointed brush, and Bister inks on Saunders Waterford 140# HP.

Artwork available for sale as a giclée print.