How to avoid creating “visual chloroform” in calligraphy

When teaching calligraphy, I always take some of my calligraphy books along to let my students see what’s available. Although most of my books are quite old, second-hand copies do crop up from time to time on Amazon Marketplace or on eBay, so the students appreciate being given the opportunity to ‘try before they buy.’

Sample pages from Layout and Design for Calligraphers

Last week I was browsing through my books at home, deciding which to choose for the class, when I rediscovered my absolute favourite calligraphy book of all time, Alan Furber’s Layout and Design for Calligraphers (see cover above).

As regular readers of this blog will know, I taught myself calligraphy from books back in the eighties. Books by Tom Gourdie and Margaret Shepherd were influential in teaching me how to create letters, but Alan Furber’s book made me realise that there was more to calligraphy than simple letter-making… it showed me how it was possible to make lettering interesting and exciting, avoiding “visual chloroform.”

As Alan Furber describes in the book’s preface, “The emphasis in this book is on layout, not letters.”

Of all the calligraphy books I own, Layout and Design for Calligraphers taught me the most about applied calligraphy. It was indispensable in teaching me how simple (not necessarily easy) the process is of arranging letters into visually harmonious relationships. Suddenly, I became aware of balance, contrast, dominance, and the importance of white space… design elements that had never occurred to me during my initial study of calligraphy.

For years, the book sat right next to my drawing board, easy to access. I referred to it on a daily basis, keen to integrate its instructions into every piece of calligraphy that I created. And it worked.

Based on how beneficial the book has been to my progress as a calligrapher, I believe that everyone who has an interest in calligraphy, whether beginner or more experienced, would benefit from owning a copy of Furber’s book. It is a slim volume, at only 64 pages, but every single (completely hand-lettered) page is designed to be a perfect example of how balance and white space are essential to the creation of eye-catching calligraphic compositions. And, although the book is aimed primarily at students of calligraphy, its graphic approach would prove equally useful to students of more general design.

While writing this post, I checked Amazon Marketplace in UK and found three copies of the book available for just 1p (plus £2.80 p&p). This is the bargain of a lifetime, and three people are going to get very lucky indeed if they move quickly enough.

Alan Furber’s second book

I also own Furber’s only other book, Using Calligraphy: Layout and Design Ideas. Although that volume is full of excellent ideas on how to improve calligraphic design, and is definitely worth seeking out, it doesn’t hold as special a place in my heart as its predecessor.

One final tip… anyone who regularly purchases books from the main online suppliers, such as Amazon or The Book Depository, assuming them to be the cheapest, should instead try Book Butler (bookbutler.co.uk in UK, but there are international variations). For any given book, Book Butler shows the availability from every possible supplier in a list with the least expensive at the top. This is definitely my search engine of choice when seeking out books online. Hopefully others will find it useful too.

Above all, I hope I have turned a few incipient scribes onto Alan Furber’s two wonderful books. In my opinion, he is an unsung hero of calligraphy, and I cannot recommend his books highly enough.

My caffeine-fuelled morning of procrastination

My intention this morning was to surf the web briefly. A quick peek at the net, I promised myself, just until I finish my first coffee of the day. But it didn’t work out like that.

Unexpectedly, I found myself distracted by a succession of very interesting creativity-related links, which necessitated a number of refills from the percolator. Not that I’m complaining!

Since I found the links to be both interesting and useful, I thought I’d share them. They’re not strictly calligraphic in nature, but they are connected to the craft, in that they include a free graphic design book, a short video on creativity, and a podcast interview with a hand-lettering artist.

So here is a quick summation of the virtual gems I discovered this morning, (while drinking coffee and neglecting the work that should have claimed my attention).

Marion Deuchar’s hand-lettered Annual Report design

I started at Brain Pickings Weekly, a blog to which I subscribe. If you are a writer, a reader, or simply interested in creativity, you’ll love Brain Pickings, which describe itself as, “a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why, bringing you things you didn’t know you were interested in — until you are.” Through Brain Pickings, I have discovered many useful articles, books and links, including those described below.

From there, a link led me to an excellent FREE graphic design book, The Vignelli Canon, which you can download here in PDF format. A hard copy of the book presently costs £12.80 on Amazon. The book has earned 5 star reviews, so it’s worth grabbing a PDF copy while it’s available. Did I mention it’s FREE?

My next link led me to an excerpt from a lecture on creativity by Monty Python star, John Cleese, called “Five Factors To Make Your Life More Creative.” This thirteen minute Youtube video is both humorous and insightful, and more than a few of Cleese’s observations about procrastination struck a chord with me. In fact, this morning, this entire post of mine is borne of procrastination. I really need to knuckle down!
If you have more time, you can watch the entire thirty-six minute lecture here.

My final link led me to a Graphic Design podcast called Design Matters on iTunes. Find it here. I listened to the most recent broadcast, which features an interview with Marion Deuchars, a designer, illustrator, and lettering artist. Among the topics discussed are her views on the expressiveness of hand-lettering. Interestingly, in 2002 Deuchars designed an Annual Report for D&AD, in which she used no photography or typography. She wrote all 5946 words of text in pencil, and sketched all of the illustrations by hand. Due to such an original approach to the document’s design, it is one of the few Annual Reports that people actually want to read. You can see why in the pages that I’ve featured at the top of this post, and on the left. More of Deuchar’s illustrations and hand-lettering can be found at Marion Deuchars.com.

Uh oh, I’ve just realised that it’s now approaching midday. What began as a few minutes’ surfing has ended up stealing my entire morning. I’d better start my work now.

But first I’ll fire up the coffee machine… pour myself another strong cup of Java… maybe do a little more surfing while I drink it…

Last-Minute Birthday Card created with Pilot Parallel Pens

It was my wife’s birthday on Sunday. I’m ashamed to admit that it kind of snuck up on me.

I wasn’t totally unprepared… I had bought her a gift. Well, to be more specific, I had ordered her a gift. The reason I didn’t actually have it is because Amazon lied to me about its likely delivery date. So the only thing that stood between me and empty-handedness was a birthday card. Which I also didn’t have, although I can’t blame Amazon for that.

So, at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, I considered driving to a local 24 hour supermarket to purchase a card. That would have been quick and easy.

It would also have been folly on my part. Because, on their birthdays, my family won’t accept a shop-bought card from me. With my calligraphy skills on tap, they expect the real deal. They expect ink and effort and nibs-a-scratching and creativity and uniqueness and personalisation. And you can’t buy that kind of devotion in Tesco.

So, while the Birthday Girl slept, I pulled out my Pilot Parallel Pens and got to work. Using a simple process similar to the one I used when addressing my Sherlock Holmes envelope, I created a card for her in less than ten minutes (see image above).

She was so delighted with the card that she didn’t appear to notice the absence of a gift. So, with the Amazon returns policy in mind, I decided not to mention her oversight.

Happy Birthday, Liz. Next year, I promise to be better organised!

Autumn… a second spring

Autumn again, and time for me to celebrate the season’s spectacular beauty with a wee bit of photography and calligraphy. I can’t believe that a year has passed since I last did this. It’s actually my third autumn post (view my first and second), so it’s already beginning to feel like a tradition. To be honest, the only reason I feature autumn in a post every year is because it’s my favourite season, and my blog gives me an excuse to wallow awhile in its magic. I do appreciate the other seasons’ merits, but the sights and smells of autumn, to me, are the most evocative.

A few days ago I pulled on my walking boots and began my search for an autumnal scene with potential… one that I could photograph and feature in my still-to-be-written autumn post… but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I wanted atmosphere and colour and composition, but the scene also had to include an inviting empty space into which I could slip an autumn-related quote. The difficulty lay in trying to envisage such a final image, complete with quote, while walking in circles around various trees and mounds of fallen leaves, assessing their potential… a pastime that drew curious glances from a steady stream of dog-walkers.

On top is the original unprocessed photograph, complete with bench and lamp-post. Below shows the photograph after being horizontally flipped, and shows the cropped area that I used (note the absent bench and lamp-post). Click image to increase size.

Fortunately, when I eventually did discover a scene that I thought might work, I was carrying my mobile phone (a Sony Ericsson Xperia which has an absolutely amazing camera) so I was able to capture the scene without attracting too much attention. I intentionally snapped a bigger area than I would need (see top image on left), so that I could experiment with the composition. The resolution on my phone’s camera is so good that I was able crop the image at a later stage without losing too much definition.

As you can see, the original unprocessed photo definitely wouldn’t win any photography awards, but I saw potential in the golden-leaved tree and its carpet of fallen leaves, and I was able to manipulate the image quite easily on my iMac to suit my requirements.

First, I tweaked the basic image’s Levels and Curves in Photoshop, then I cloned out the bench and the lamp post behind the tree. Using PhotoTools, a Photoshop plug-in, I gave the image an instant HDR effect. I then placed two different textured layers above the image and set one to ‘overlay,’ and one to ‘hard light.’ Utilising the Rule of Thirds, I cropped the image’s dimensions to zoom in on the tree, then added the distressed border. Finally, I flipped the image horizontally, simply because I felt the quote would look best on the left side of the tree.

All that was left to do was find the perfect quote to write and insert into the image, but that task proved as difficult as finding the perfect photo. After reading dozens and dozens of autumn-related quotes, I eventually drew up a short list of four worthy contenders. I chose, “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower,” because I thought those sentiments best complimented the image.The other contenders, which I’ll hold onto till next autumn, were…

 “Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground.” (Andrea Gibson)

 “Autumn… the year’s last, loveliest smile.” (William Cullen Bryant)

 “Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.” (Chad Sugg)

With those three quotations already in the bag, all I have to do next October is search for another appropriate scene to photograph. But even if the perfect scene proves as elusive as this year’s, I can think of few better ways to spend autumn afternoons than wandering through my local park, camera in hand. Particularly when ‘every leaf is a flower.’

Amazing the difference a few days makes!

POSTSCRIPT

Today, I became aware of the fleetingness of Autumn’s beauty when I walked past the tree featured in the above post. Unbelievably, during the few days since I photographed the tree with its abundance of golden leaves, it has become stripped of its splendour, and its branches are now almost bare as shown on the left. Since it was more by luck than by design that I stumbled upon the tree in all its glory, I feel fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. Hopefully, I’ll be just as fortunate in my hunt for the perfect autumn scene next year!

The Demise of Calligraphy (according to one Edinburgh Bookstore)

A proper calligraphy bookshelf!

While visiting Edinburgh a few days ago, I entered a large high street bookstore to check if there were any new calligraphy books on offer. In the Craft section I found a sign that stated, “Craft books displayed alphabetically,” so I searched along the spines in the general direction of “C”.

Books on Basket Weaving, Beads, Bookmarks, and Buttons were all present and correct. As were Candles, Ceramics, Collage, Crochet, and Cross Stitch. But there was an obvious omission.

I considered that the books on calligraphy must have been misplaced, so I went back to “A” and carefully worked my way through the entire Craft section, all the way from Applique to Wreaths, but there was not a single calligraphy book to be found, misplaced or otherwise.

I approached an assistant and asked him where I could find calligraphy books.

“In the Craft section,” he said.

“I just checked there, and there’s nothing,” I replied.

He tapped his computer’s keyboard and peered at the stock list on his monitor. He shook his head and I feared the worst.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any calligraphy books,” he said.

“No calligraphy books?”

“No, sir.”

“You don’t have a single calligraphy book?”

“To be honest, there’s not much demand for calligraphy books these days,” he said, and I almost gasped out loud in the face of such effrontery.

During the 25 years that I have been involved with calligraphy, I have become used to seeing the same old familiar titles on bookstore shelves. But never before have I drawn a complete blank. Despite the assistant’s comment, I simply refuse to accept that there is no demand for calligraphy books, and my current class of sixteen incipient scribes would surely back me up on this.

The experience has been bugging me for a few days now, and I’m close to penning a letter to the bookstore to point out the error of its ways. I’m even considering writing it in a fairly flamboyant fashion, just to prove that calligraphy is alive and well, and is no less deserving of representation in the Crafts section than Crochet or Cross Stitch.

The next time I’m in Edinburgh, I’ll make a point of checking out the Craft section again. Hopefully, the inclusion of a few calligraphy titles will have pushed the Buttons and the Candles books a wee bit further apart.

And, you never know, their availability might even spark a resurgence of interest in calligraphy in Edinburgh. A demand for calligraphy books must surely follow.

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If your own local bookstore has an equally unenthusiastic attitude towards calligraphy (and calligraphers), I can recommend Calligraphity as the place to go for Calligraphy books online. You’ll be spoiled for choice!

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Incidentally, the bookshelf illustrated at the top of this post is my own, and contains some of the many calligraphy books I have collected over the years.

The Next Room

Sadly, my father-in-law recently passed away, aged ninety four. He was an amazing man, truly one of a kind, and I was extremely fond of him.

Since I have always appreciated the sentiments of The Next Room, by Canon Henry Scott-Holland, I have written it out in memory of Bobby, who will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him.

Song to the Siren

Song to The Siren, written by Tim Buckley, is one of my favourite pieces of music. And as regular readers of this blog know, I regularly get the urge to write out words that have got under my skin… hence the above artwork which features the lyrics of the song (see larger version on Flickr).

Yet, I’m not totally convinced that what I’ve created works… I’m not an artist, so unfortunately I couldn’t complement the words with a sketch of tall-masted ships and wailing women luring unwary sailors onto rocks (as portrayed by Greek Mythology). So I opted instead to suggest the colours of the sea… dark blues and greens, with a few suggested air bubbles for texture. It ended up a bit too dark for my taste, but I put a lot of work into it, so I decided to put it “out there,” on my blog anyway, despite my reservations.

There is a single aspect of the design, however, that I am really pleased about, and that is the shared stroke of the “g” in Song and the “S” in Siren. I suppose it’s an optical illusion of sorts, since that single pen stroke performs two entirely separate functions in a (hopefully) unobtrusive manner. Before I posted the artwork, I asked my wife and son to read the title. Without hesitation they both said, “Song to the Siren,” which I was relieved and pleased about. I had wondered if they would get it right first time, but my doubts were unfounded. Hopefully you, the reader, have made sense of the shared stroke in similar fashion (if you read it as Sono to the Siren, then my attempt at calligraphic cleverness has failed).

The song itself has been covered by many well-known singers and bands, and is one of those few songs where the original version isn’t the best (in my humble opinion, that is). So, for all the music-lovers reading this post, here is my list of the best versions of “Song to the Siren,” in no particular order. Hopefully, on listening to the haunting melody and lyrics, you will appreciate why I was compelled to interact with the song calligraphically.

This Mortal Coil
George Michael
Paul Charlier & Paula Arundell
David Gray
Brian Ferry
Sheila Chandra
Czars
Sinead O’Connor
Robert Palmer
Brendan Perry
and the song’s creator, Tim Buckley

I hope you like the song as much as I do. As ever, I’m interested to hear readers’ thoughts on the artwork (or the song), so please take time to comment.