Learning Italic

[dms525]

Today's italic writing samples:

 

 

 

Hmmm ... I bet Arrighi didn't write L'Operina at the same time he was fixing dinner. Ah, well ....

 

David

[caliken]

I have read many times that the slant of letters tends to increase with the writing speed. I think that is permissible, as long as the slope is consistent in any one piece of work, isn't it?

 

Italic just means of Italian origin and doesn't necessarily have to slope. The theory is that the style may have started slowly as an upright script, and the slope developed naturally, as it speeded up as everyday handwritng. I believe that sloping or non-sloping is fine, as long as it is consistent throughout a piece of writing.

 

Ken

Edited December 8, 2013 by caliken

[idazle]

I noticed that the university of Seville (in Spain) has scanned in an Italic copybook, "Nueva arte de escreuir inventada con el fabor de Dios", by the Spanish Calligrapher Pedro Diaz Morante, it is here:

 

http://fondosdigitales.us.es/fondos/libros/799/40/nueva-arte-de-escreuir-inventada-con-el-fabor-de-dios/vista_amplia/?desplegar=9133&desplegar=9135

 

For convenience, I've saved all the scans and uploaded them here:

 

https://mega.co.nz/#!2IN1BCzb!Yek5rVBgd9AyEPNsoDF5bBG9LkVIg66YULsPyOV6GeQ

 

There are 84 pages of calligraphy in total. Note the pages with birds on, for what could go better with elegant letters than those most elegant and noble creatures that we call birds.

 

Here are a few reduced in size plates from it.

 

please especially note how Pedro Diaz Morante is holding the pen: supporting his hand with his little finger and holding the pen with the fore and middle fingers and the position of his thumb level with the first joint of his forefinger.

 

Also, the abbreviated form of h in the 2nd plate and the plates with the alphabets on don't have letters like J or W, because I don't think the Spanish language had (or has) those letters in it):

 

Thanks for this! I've already downloaded your 84 scans. I wish Arte de Escrivir (1577) by the Spanish penman Francisco de Lucas also were available for being downloaded. Below you'll find an exemplar of Lucas' work.

 

 

After quickly browsing Nueva Arte de escreuir, I think the influence of Lucas in his countryman Pedro Diaz Morante is clear. The work's title itself is revealing as it nods to the previous work, which at the time was surely famous amongst caligraphers in Spain. However in the almost 40 years that span from Lucas' Arte de Escrivir (1577) to Diaz Morante's Nueva Arte de escreuir (1615) Lucas' Renaissance Chancery style apparently has been developed into something more styliced and joined in diaz Morante's penman. Apart from the wide use of joins and adorns which were scarce in Lucas, note that some "h"s, "l"s and "b"s have even developed loops:

 

 

With respect the "W" and the "J", while the former actually did not exist in Classic Spanish the latter certainly did. Look at the words "hijo" (son) and "Jesus". The J in fact is represented in the alphabet.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2013 by idazle

[Columba Livia]

With respect the "W" and the "J", while the former actually did not exist in Classic Spanish the latter certainly did. Look at the words "hijo" (son) and "Jesus". The J in fact is represented in the alphabet.

Thanks for pointing that out. I don't know how I missed that.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Columba Livia

[dms525]

Another day, another sample.

 

[bassmannate]

Another day, another sample.

 

That, sir, looks nice.

[dms525]

Thanks, Bassmannate.

 

The more I learn, the more faults I find in my writing. But, I'm enjoying the trip.

 

David

[caliken]

David :

Looking at your most recent page overall, it looks to me as though your natural slope, on average, is no more than 5 degrees.

 

Ken

Edited December 8, 2013 by caliken

[dms525]

David :

Looking at your most recent page overall, it looks to me as though your natural slope, on average, is no more than 5 degrees.

 

Ken

 

Thanks for your comment, Ken. Always appreciated.

 

So, average slope ≤ 5º. Now, I just need to get the standard deviation down.

 

David

[akustyk]

Still hoping I can make italic my default hand. But it's not easy. Oh well.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/akustyk/IMG_7868_zps15137972.jpg

[Mickey]

Still hoping I can make italic my default hand. But it's not easy. Oh well.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/akustyk/IMG_7868_zps15137972.jpg

If you can lay hands on a copy of Lloyd Reynolds' book, "Italic Calligraphy and Handwriting: Exercises and Text", there is an exercise he calls arcade which might help, but, from the sample above, I can't see what you need other than further embedding and refining of what you are doing. The only substantial criticisms I have are that the m/n hump is a bit inconsistent, that the size of the 'a' counter varies more than it might, and that the 'o' is occasionally under-weight. (Line eleven, while hardly poor, shows most of the faults I note.) Even these 'faults' I would class more as personality than error.

 

For me, the most difficult part of making italic a daily hand was keeping track of the safe joins, the risky joins, and the don't even think about it joins. After that, it was getting my eye and hand to negotiate a slant and overall proportion comfortable to both, something you seem to have already done.

[idazle]

[dms525]

Still hoping I can make italic my default hand. But it's not easy. Oh well.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/akustyk/IMG_7868_zps15137972.jpg

 

I find your italic hand very enjoyable to read, akustyk. It is easily legible and has nice spacing of letters, words and lines. It is also highly individualistic.

 

I can't find fault with occasional "imperfections" in an informal cursive hand. The only thing that bugs me is your sometimes entry strokes and joins into a's, d's, and g's. I don't like the look, personally, but I'm sure this is partly because Lloyd Reynolds was so firmly opposed to these. He felt it made the initial horizontal stoke too heavy, although I don't see that in your hand.

 

I also agree with you regarding the specialness of italic as a daily handwriting stye.

 

The issue of drills is interesting. Edward Johnston and others influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement were opposed to learning craftsman's skills through drills. Skills should be learned by using them in "real work." In Reynolds' workbook, there are very few "exercises" I would call "drills." The Arcades mentioned by Mickey is one. Generally, Reynolds' method was one of "critical practice." In working on individual letters, he said to not repeat any letter more than 3 times in a row. With the arcades, his instructions say,"Do not do any exercise in a thoughtless, mechanical manner. Keep alert every moment to what is happening and mend the mistakes without repeating them."

 

Reynolds' solution was to write pages of words that contained letters or letter sequences that utilized a particular skill.

 

Now, this is aimed at the beginning student. For the accomplished calligrapher, there is a different sort of exercise - sort of a warm up. In one of the videos he made for OPB, Reynolds says, before executing a piece on commission, he spends an hour doing o's.

 

FWIW, I find it helpful before working on my calligraphy to warm up by doing a line of o's, then one of i's then an arcade of m's. I have been having difficulty keeping my letter slopes consistent, so I am writing pages of words which have lots of letters with ascenders.

 

Again, your italic hand has many of the characteristics to which I aspire. Thanks for sharing it.

 

David

[caliken]

The issue of drills is interesting. Edward Johnston and others influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement were opposed to learning craftsman's skills through drills. Skills should be learned by using them in "real work."

 

I agree.

 

Alfred Fairbank wrote -

 

...the rhythm of Italic handwriting is largely in the alphabet.

...writing patterns should be based upon letters or upon the principal movements in writing minuscules.. Writing patterns, however, are not essential to arouse interest or develop skill in (Italic) handwriting.

 

Ken

Edited December 10, 2013 by caliken

[caliken]

 

The only thing that bugs me is your sometimes entry strokes and joins into a's, d's, and g's. I don't like the look, personally, but I'm sure this is partly because Lloyd Reynolds was so firmly opposed to these. He felt it made the initial horizontal stoke too heavy, although I don't see that in your hand.

 

 

The subject of ligatures in Italic handwriting, was discussed a few years ago, and It might be of interest again. now.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/97116-italic-ligatures/

 

Lloyd Reynolds was too dictatorial in his approach, for my taste.

 

I prefer the attitute of Marie Angel, Tom Gourdie, Alfred Fairbank and others in their more flexible views on the subject.

 

Typical of a more relaxed view, is this quotation from "A Handwriting Manual" by Alfred Fairbank. After discussing the basic use of ligatures, he says :-

 

.... it is considered policy to allow the student to develop unconsciously for himself any other ligatutres he finds necessary as increasing speed makes the demand. The developed handwriting will indubitably be individual: since humans are all different it could not be otherwise. Provided legibility is preserved, it will be wise to let individuality have natural expression.

 

Ken

Edited December 10, 2013 by caliken

[mvarela]

Some more practice...

 

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2853/11304590576_a8a253a1aa_b.jpg

[dms525]

 

The subject of ligatures in Italic handwriting, was discussed a few years ago, and It might be of interest again. now.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/97116-italic-ligatures/

 

Lloyd Reynolds was too dictatorial in his approach, for my taste.

 

I prefer the attitute of Marie Angel, Tom Gourdie, Alfred Fairbank and others in their more flexible views on the subject.

 

Typical of a more relaxed view, is this quotation from "A Handwriting Manual" by Alfred Fairbank. After discussing the basic use of ligatures, he says :-

 

.... it is considered policy to allow the student to develop unconsciously for himself any other ligatutres he finds necessary as increasing speed makes the demand. The developed handwriting will indubitably be individual: since humans are all different it could not be otherwise. Provided legibility is preserved, it will be wise to let individuality have natural expression.

 

Ken

 

Ken -

 

It would be well to recall that Lloyd Reynolds wrote his best-known instructional materials for those just being introduced to italic handwriting and that, at the time these materials were written, Reynolds was actively engaged in preparing elementary school teachers to use them in their classrooms.

 

In the comments on Plate 13. ("The Safe Joins") in the 1969 edition of Italic Calligraphy & Handwriting, Reynolds wrote, "Learn the safe joins now. At your own discretion and depending upon the degree of cursiveness or formality desired, you may introduce the unsafe joins. But wait until after you finish this course."

 

Perhaps the best evidence of Reynolds position on joins would be his own cursive italic hand. I offer a scan of a page from My dear Runemeister - A Voyage through the Alphabet. This little book, addressed to Bill Gunderson, was handwritten by Reynolds in 1977, a year before his death, and first published in 1981, in a small, cloth-bound private edition.

 

Note the joins.

 

 

I believe Reynolds would strongly endorse the Fairbank statement you quoted. But, you know, we have the good fortune to have relatively easy access to a number of Reynolds' former students, including Inga Dubay and Jaki Sveren. I will more than happy to query them regarding this and, naturally, report back here.

 

David

Edited December 10, 2013 by dms525

[akustyk]

Mickey, David, idazle, Thank you so much for your (very) constructive criticism. It's nice to see that you've taken your time to make very helpful comments. To be honest, most of the time, I am not sure what I am doing, just following my "hand," so to speak, but I do value the italic form. I am impressed with your skill and expertise concerning the italic alphabet, its history, its variants. I got the Lloyd Reynolds book and found the exercises very helpful, and eye-opening. It's a great little book, if only it stayed flat when opened . I tried completing some of the exercises, and found them very hard. The "safe joins" are, indeed, more beautiful than random, cursive-like joins that I've been using. One great thing about the book is the guidelines at the back. I used them to complete the plates. Very helpful.

 

Finally, it's been equally inspirational to read the discussion here concerning joins and some of the more informal variants.

 

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/akustyk/IMG_7870_zps283f8474.jpg

Edited December 11, 2013 by akustyk

[caliken]

There are so many variations on what constitutes 'safe' joins, that I decided, long ago, to just join-up, if and when it comes naturally.

 

After all, that's probably what Arrighi did.

 

Ken

Edited December 11, 2013 by caliken

[caliken]

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/akustyk/IMG_7870_zps283f8474.jpg

 

Akustyk :

 

This is very attractive, assured Italic. Beautifully balanced and very easy to read.

 

Ken

Edited December 11, 2013 by caliken