Okay, I admit it, I'm obsessed. Today I read about a technique for transferring inkjet images using hand sanitizer (!). I tried it several times and am posting photos of some of the results. I transferred images of my versal letters onto yellow patterned scrapbook paper, then added a few spirals with gold gel pen. Some of the lines from the journal page also show up in the transfer, but I kind of like the look. I'm sure I'll be trying this technique again!
It's a bit difficult for me to share these elementary attempts at lettering on my blog (even if maybe there's only one person reading?:)). I guess as long as I don't compare my efforts too closely with the beautiful calligraphy I see online and in books, I'm OK. Anyway, I photocopied my versals practice page, and added some color to it.
Lately I've been obsessed with lettering and calligraphy. I found several used books on the subject in Austin, and yesterday I found a good one at Daedulus Books here in Columbia. It's called Calligraphy Stroke-by-Stroke by Annie Moring. It contains exactly what I was looking for-- a detailed guide to writing Versal letters. I've seen interpretations of this sort of lettering used in art pieces, and have always wondered how it's done. Here's today's practice page, drawn in a squared Moleskine notebook with a Sheaffer calligraphy pen. You can leave the spaces in the letters open, or fill them in with color or designs. It's kind of hard to master (hard to get the verticals truly vertical, for one thing) but I hope to be able to use it in my art journaling at some point. The "real" calligraphy class I'm taking this fall will teach a different alphabet, which could be confusing, but I'll persevere :).
These words are something to aspire to. I will also aspire to measure and draw lines correctly for lettering :).
Here's a version of last evening's face, with some color added. I used the Derwent Inktense pencils I bought at Jerry's in Austin. I applied a light coat of color directly from the pencils (the skintone in this photo looks a bit yellower than the original), then gently went over it with a Niji waterbrush. This spread the color quickly and smoothly- almost like a very light wash of watercolor. It was a much smoother application than with watercolor pencils. The Inktense color is supposed to be permanent when dry. Now I have to keep myself from buying all the rest of the Inktense colors...
PS: Yes, she has some silver in her hair :).
I think I'm going to have to start naming these, to keep track of which is which. I did this one today, using a woodless graphite pencil.
These are some of the recent face sketches I've done while traveling, using pen and ink and watercolor pencils. Still experimenting with face shapes, features, etc. I've started adding one fancy earring to most of my face drawings--a small memento of my jewelry-making days, I guess.
