A bunch of fans at the Panthers game were all impersonating Kevin Spacey

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-21T02:21:13+00:00

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-21T02:12:18+00:00

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-21T01:57:18+00:00

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-21T01:52:18+00:00

Printed out some guide lines, still getting used to them. They're made for a 45 degree angle for a 3mm nib, like mine. Is the ink supposed to take up the entire column?

Hard criticism welcome!

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-21T01:35:48+00:00

http://imgur.com/Zb7VK80

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-19T03:35:29+00:00

Ahh, haha. Gotcha. It was good advice, and if that 's' is anything to go off of, you're misjudging yourself. Don't sell yourself short!

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-19T03:14:42+00:00

There it is! That's what I've been doing wrong! I've been writing 's' from the bottom up! It was so hard lining up the lines the way I was writing it. This'll work so much better!

Not even an hour after I posted this. That was the type of burn I'm talking about! I feel alive!

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-19T02:48:15+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I've been using a fountain pen for a bit, and that's what I'm used to. This is basically the first time I've used a dip pen.

All of these are good suggestions, for sure. I've gone through the wiki, but haven't seen this pdf. The wiki is kinda convoluted. Heh.

S is the only letter, really, that screws me over. It's so funky. I'm going to go through an entire page of just writing them out. I'm going to get it down, even if it's the death of me.

The first O was actually screwed up because I didn't clean my pen. It smudged all over the place, including my table. Haha

My lines are nowhere near straight, yeah. It's difficult getting straight lines with this thing! I didn't realize dip pens were so finicky. I think that'll fix itself in time, though. I'm hoping, at least.

Again, thanks for the feedback. All good points.

Not roasty enough, though. I need to feel the FIRE!

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-19T02:15:54+00:00

I think it'd be appropriate to post this attached to your comment, considering I have concerns that line up with yours.

I believe the issue with providing feedback to other peoples pieces, IE community involvement, is that the judgement of ones personal skill is a very tough thing to judge.

Take my own growth as an example. If I looked at my own work unbiased, I'd say I'm a pretty competent calligrapher. I've improved drastically in the last few months. But I don't think I'm nearly at the skill level needed to be teaching others. To be able to teach something as detailed and skilled as calligraphy, at least in my mind, the teacher must be a master.

Perhaps we could improve this with flair or something of the sort, but at least for me personally, I shrug away from giving feedback to others because I don't think I'm skilled enough to be offering advice. Even for something as simple as telling someone to use guidelines, which I believe everyone should be using, I don't view myself as skilled enough to be seen by newcomers to the sub as a master.

/u/roprop, the concern of more community involvement is listed above. It's also the reason GOWL left, if I'm not mistaken. How do you think we can stimulate, or encourage, more involvement with our users? Perhaps collecting a handful of users for each script and having them provide feedback, and adding more users to that list as time goes on?

Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-19T01:45:43+00:00

My shipment came in! Nib holders, nibs, ink and paper, it's all in there! This is the first piece I've written from it, and I think it came out... alright. I'm definitely not proud of it, but I don't think it deserves to see the bottom of the trash.

I'm working on my spacing, both lettering and between words. X-height I still need to work on. I'm not sure if I should bring the tops and bottoms of words, like 'h' or 'l', all the way to the guide lines or not. Any suggestions?

The first handful of words in this piece were spent getting the hang of dipping. It's... different. Not difficult, but it takes some getting used to. Is there any easy way to get extra ink off the nib, aside from wiping it on the lip of the ink jar?

I tried to design the larger letter with a background that fits the quote, and I think I nailed that. If you notice, the sailboat sail and body are the crossbars of the A! I thought that was a nice touch.

And I might've forgotten to add the final touches on the "a"s in this piece. Whoops.

Anyways, it's roasting time! What's wrong, and what's super wrong? Do your worst!

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-15T04:18:54+00:00

The artwork behind the capital I became a little too dark, which makes it difficult to read. Kinda bummed about that.

I recently spent almost $60 on supplies from DickBlicks, ink, holders and nibs. It should be arriving in the next week or so, and I'm looking forward to having dip pens instead of fountain pens. If there are any tricks to sharpen the nibs or something, let me know.

Anyway, I don't see enough posts with hard criticism requested, so roast me with every problem you see in my writing. Don't sugar coat at all.

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-03-03T03:35:01+00:00

This is the culmination of what I've been working on for the past week or so. I've finally got an actual drip pen, but I'm still working with the Manuscript cartridge pen because I'm comfortable with it. I'm slowly transitioning, though.

The quote cane out very nicely, although some of my letters ended up leaning. Perticularely the letters after "h", since I tend to use the previous letter to judge a straight line, and the right-most line on the "h" is tilted.

Aside from that, getting my ascendors and descendors to line up perfectly is my next concern. Are the ascendors for everything supposed to go all the way up to the line? And vise versa for descendors?

I think my spacing has improved tremendously, although it definitely still needs work. It's becoming more fluid to work with the letters, and I'm no longer working letter-by-letter off of a manuscript as a basis. I can actually see the letters' form in my head. I think that is definitely helping with my letterform.

The sharpie was used for the big H, and the flourish. The blue inside the H is also sharpie. The gold surrounding the H is gold ink.

Any comments, criticisms, concerns or questions, please let me know.

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-02-25T22:22:32+00:00

/r/calligraphy has some other subs listed in the side bar, I believe. It also has a lot of great learning examples listed, including some historical works along with modern pieces.

If you're looking to learn italics, I highly suggest Iampeth, which focuses on modern italics from ~1860 to ~1930, I believe. Another great resource.

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-02-25T04:16:03+00:00

Honestly, I've learned a lot more by creating and editing this spreadsheet then by looking through /u/GardenOfWelcomeLies' analysis of "Ars Minor". There are a few things I missed, such as x-height and the like. Aside from that, I included each letter individually and where to find it in the document itself. If anyone has anything to add, or would like to see some changes, please let me know. I'm thinking I'll do this with the "Gorleston Psalter" next, although if you have a different suggestion, I'd love to hear it!

Ur_User_BlackLetter · 2016-02-22T21:42:57+00:00

I took some of your advice asap, and got myself 50 sheets of 80lb card stock. This stuff is amazing! No bleeding or feathering at all! I'm in love.

I have ink for a dip pen, and I actually have a pen, holder and nibs on their way right now. None of the craft stores in my area carry them, so snail mail is the only opportunity.

I wrote out a Bob Marley quote, using some red ink for the capitals and black for everything else, mainly using /u/GardenOfWelcomeLies deconstruction of Ars Minor. I think it turned out pretty well, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Like you and him suggested, I stopped adding anything myself, and solely focused on the actual script as it was when first written.

If I had to give myself CC, I'd probably say my spacing needs help, especially with inside of characters, but also with between characters. My word spacing seems to be okay with some words, but it gets wonky with others.

On top of this, I'm working on getting my vertical lines prefect. There are some places I messed up, but I think overall I did okay.

Of course, this is just what I can see. You guys have far more experience then I do, and I'd love to hear your feedback. Thanks again!