Introduction, Tools, Materials, and History
To navigate each module, click the next button to go to the next session or click the back button to return to the previous session. Each module may have multiple sessions.
Overview
This module brings you a broad foundation on which to build your understanding of letterform, covering the history of letters based on the Western model: the skeleton forms on which all handwritten letters are based. You will study historical exemplars, tools and materials, learn how to set up your workstation, and get an overview of the portfolio term project.
By the end of the course, you should have an excellent idea of how letters came into being and evolved over time as different hands. You will see how letterforms surround each of us in our daily lives, and you will learn how to construct and write using the major hands. You will learn how to lay out a page for handlettering, create a pen from bamboo, and expand and access your ideas on how to use letterform. In the course of all this practice, you will gain confidence and enjoyment in writing by hand, and you will begin to get a sense of the nature of calligraphy.
Student Outcomes
- Review of the scope of the class term project.
- Study the larger definition of calligraphy.
- Begin the study of the historical roots of letterform, the construction of letters, and the expression of the individual through writing as art.
- Set up your permanent workstation with good lighting and all required supplies.
Assignments
Read
- Foundations of Calligraphy, p. 1-6
- The Art and Craft of Hand Lettering: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration, pp. 22-23
- Assignment 1.1: Warmup Strokes -- Finding the Flow
- Assignment 1.2: Monoline Roman Capital Proportions
- Assignment 1.3: Monoline Humanist Minuscule Proportions
Multimedia
- PDF: Hand-Binding Instructions: Making and Assembling Sections
- PDF: Hand-Binding Instructions: Making the Cover
- PDF: Hand-Binding Instructions: Assembling the Book
- PDF: Hand-Binding Instructions: Finishing
- PDF: Student Book Example
- PDF: Escritura History
- PDF: Michael Harvey's Simple Monoline Alphabet
- PDF: Master Worksheet: Monoline Roman Capital Proportions
- PDF: Blank Worksheet: Roman Capitals
- PDF: Master Worksheet: Monoline Humanist Minuscule Proportions
- PDF: Blank Worksheet: Humanist Minuscules
- Demonstration Video: Making Your Hand-Bound Portfolio Book
- Demonstration Video: Setting Up Your Workstation
- Demonstration Video: Filling the Nib
- Demonstration Video: Nib Care and Sharpening
- Demonstration Video: Warmup Strokes: Finding the Flow
- Demonstration Video: Monoline Skeleton Proportions
To download these files, click the Media link in the top toolbar.
Internet Resources
Discussion
Discussion topics are listed at the end of the module.
Participation in the Discussion is required and makes up a significant part of your classroom experience. To enter the Discussion and respond to the topics posted there, click the Discussion link in the top toolbar.
Quiz
The link for this module's quiz can be found on the Outline. Please take the quiz only after you have completed all of the sessions in this module.