Before continuing with the Copperplate Minuscules you need to know how to produce a filled-in dot. This filled-in dot or loop shape appears in several letters. The nib is moved in an anti-clockwise direction. As it approaches the top and...
The majority of Copperplate minuscules are constructed from a combination of one or more basic strokes. After studying and practising the eight basic strokes, we are ready to start learning the letters. Many of the letters require the basic strokes...
Letter ProportionThe proportions of the minuscule letters and the angle of slope are the two essential visual components of Copperplate minuscule. Copperplate has a standard relationship between the ascender, x-height and descender parts of the minuscule letters. In general the...
A Copperplate Facebook cover photo was designed for us by Rachel Yallop. This time ‘Scribblers Calligraphy’ has been written in a wonderfully flourished Copperplate style. Here, Rachel describes how she developed her ideas and fine-tuned the design to produce a very...
Whilst designing a Facebook cover photo, Rachel Yallop. kindly agreed to make notes, to give us a better understanding of how a professional lettering artist approaches and creates such a lively and eye-catching piece of work. I’ve recently rediscovered the Zig...
After studying the proportions of the Foundational Hand letters, the next step is to start writing the letters. Each letter is constructed rather than written. The letters are made up of a combination of pen strokes, which are only made...
After studying Roman Capitals, next on the list is the Foundational Hand, sometimes called Roman Minuscules. The Foundational Hand are the lower-case letters written beside Roman Capitals. As with the Roman Capitals we need to study the proportion of the...
At some point everyone experiences problems with ink flow and when it happens it can cause extreme frustration! You dip the nib in the ink, or load it with a brush start to write and nothing happens. Luckily there are a...
It is easy to understand why you put all your effort in to producing correctly proportioned letterforms. Whilst the letters are very important, bad letter and word spacing will distract from the lettering. Can you imagine looking at a piece...
