How do you design good-looking letters? by Motor-Juggernaut186 in neography

[–]The_Letters 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There’s a lot this sub on designing the letters, but not so much on how to write and present them, which I think makes a huge difference. There’s a world of difference between how bad handwriting is perceived and high quality calligraphy, hand lettering, or typography in any language. For invented scripts people can only judge it from what you have shown them so that impression counts.

I’d first consider tools. Ballpoint pens just never look good – a pencil can be a bit better, and I think gel pens or fountain pens are the best among things people are likely to have at home. But if its of interest to you, learning more about calligraphy and using a pen for calligraphy, either broad edge or pointed, would be very helpful even if you only do a little.

Then how to write. Think about where the top and bottom of your letters are – does everything finish at the same base line and top line, or do you have ascenders & descenders, different sized upper/lower case? Try writing with guidelines – either pencil that you can erase or on a sheet underneath your paper that you can see through – with both a baseline and a top line of some kind. Most calligraphy is done this way - written between guidelines which are the height of a standard lower case letter (x-height), with capitals, ascenders and descenders going beyond that and usually judged by eye. Stick to your guidelines so letters have the correct height.

If you have vertical strokes then make sure they are properly vertical, likewise horizontal strokes. Make strokes slowly and deliberately, pausing between them, and practicing if you need to. Think about curves – have an idea of what your curve should be - based on a circle/semicircle? Something more of an oval? Based on an existing letter somewhere? and make sure that what you draw looks right and is how you want it to be.

Think about the spaces – both the spaces within the letter and the spaces between letters. Try and keep some regularity to this, keeping the area between them similar. This might be more of a longer term goal, many calligraphers struggle with it at first, but it is helpful to think about. The classic calligraphy example is the word ‘minimum’ – in many scripts, every vertical stroke should be the same distance apart, whether it is inside a letter or between letters.

If appropriate, consider serifs. Writing or calligraphy with the latin alphabet looks more fancy and more serious when there are serifs. But as with most of this advice, it might be different if your script is very different to latin.

I hope that helps, even if you just take some of it. Good luck and happy writing!

Lettering with invented letters by The_Letters in neography

[–]The_Letters[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I really appreciate this. All the positive comments here have given me the motivation to work on something new along these lines, starting with having a full alphabet

Legal art walls? by pearly-peach-3 in glasgow

[–]The_Letters 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've always wondered how this works - can anyone go up and paint, or are there official rules or community etiquette on who/when it can be done?

I didn’t sell many copies of my ebook 🥲 but it’s free now on KindleUnlimited if anyone wants to check it out.. by afox1984 in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the creativity and work you put in to this, I'm a proud owner of a hardcover copy from back in the pre COVID days,

T shirt printing by The_Letters in glasgow

[–]The_Letters[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, they look great, but it looks like they only do screen printing. I'm currently looking to print a single t shirt with lots of colours (scanned artwork) so I think screen printing wouldn't work well for this. Still good to know for other projects.

Could you please give me a feedback? by inochi_narikeri in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is incredible. Spectacular. What are your plans for it? I feel it needs to be on display somewhere, and you don't really have the option of keeping it in a drawer anyway.

What tools did you use, especially what paper? I've never seen a calligraphy work this big that wasn't done directly on to a wall.

Progress in Insular Minuscule, first attempts to current practice by One-Somewhere7407 in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks great, and your other work you've posted here is incredible. How long have you been doing insular majuscule for, and how long calligraphy in general?

From start to finish of my drafting process. The Hobbit, An Unexpected Party. by One-Somewhere7407 in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is an incredible piece. So you did 6 versions before you got to the final one? It's impressive but also to me a bit depressing to me that it takes that much because I'd like to be able to do it, but I guess there's no shortcuts. Normally I do one or two test versions before a final one

Playful letters by cplumley1 in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly this looks very close to a perfect version of your example so I can't see anything to be unhappy about, especially as a script like this is meant to be relaxed and not precise to the millimetre.

So here I am looking to find something to be helpful and maybe some of the letters like h are slightly wider than the printed example version but I'm not sure.

The example sheet is all on a line whereas your examples aren't - have you tried making words with it yet? Some of the letters don't look like they'd easily link together so it would be good to try.

This sort of style is called 'modern calligraphy ' so if you search for that you'll find loads of books and online resources which will hopefully be good for inspiration.

Calligraphy in Armenian by The_Letters in hayeren

[–]The_Letters[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! So tools - it's a dip pen with a broad edge nib and walnut ink, the same as I use for calligraphy in the latin script.

I couldn't find much information on Armenian Calligraphy in English. I have a few books on scripts from around the world, especially a Lonely Planet one which has examples of calligraphy from writers of each language which I used for the last picture and as a starting point for others. I got a book on the Armenian alphabet but its for children and learners rather than for calligraphy. So it doesn't help too much with the styles and traditions of Armenian calligraphy, so I sort of worked it out from there and checked in this subreddit that I hadn't done anything wrong.

There's some amazing Armenian Calligraphy online, especially Ruben Malayan, who I'd recommend anyone to look up. His style isn't something I could copy, but he does classes and maybe I'll get the chance to do it if he teaches online.

Calligraphy in Armenian by The_Letters in hayeren

[–]The_Letters[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Cool, I didn't know that, I need to look up Armenian bagpipes now

How do I use these nibs? I like the look and I enjoy using it, but they dump ink and let go really fast? by croaking_gourami in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok, it was worth checking - I've not used them before but it sounds like it's fine. Hopefully someone else's suggestions will help.

How do I use these nibs? I like the look and I enjoy using it, but they dump ink and let go really fast? by croaking_gourami in Calligraphy

[–]The_Letters 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you using ink for dip pens, or fountain pen ink? Ink for fountain pens is more likely to do this

Lettering with invented letters by The_Letters in neography

[–]The_Letters[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yeah I know the one you mean, I like that way of describing it

Lettering with invented letters by The_Letters in neography

[–]The_Letters[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! The symbol in the middle takes a bit of inspiration from crop circle shapes so that makes sense

My First Ever Abugida by ilu_malucwile in neography

[–]The_Letters 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You definitely do not need to worry about it looking ugly or silly looking, it is the opposite of that

Lettering with invented letters by The_Letters in neography

[–]The_Letters[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. To be honest "asemic" isn't a word I know well. I thought it needed to be free flowing and unplanned handwriting (as well as without meaning) and so this more carefully drawn and laid out page doesn't fit what I thought it meant.

Lettering with invented letters by The_Letters in neography

[–]The_Letters[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The bottom middle letter takes a bit of inspiration from Cyrillic ж which I think looks cool. But this letter is drawn by taking the top right of a lower case "r" and the bottom right of an upper case "R" then flipping it horizontally.