the angle of W

I promised you some more nib images 

This is from an old speedball manual I own 

The C-0 is a reference to a type of nib 

I have a few more of these to share 

Carolingian Manual Layout

CAROLINGIAN LAYOUT 

This image from a Carolingian manuscript caught my attention due to its layout.

This is from an era with no concept of type setting. The letters were written on paper. 

You can see traces of ruled lines on the page since they didnt have the option of deleting bottom layers or grids that can be turned on and off. This is also perhaps tells us this was a copy for reading not display. The spacing between lines would also be useful for interlineal notes.

Note also the 2 forms of S - one for titles and another for lower case word endings and in the medial position.

There are a few errors Sed intra looks like one word. 

The spacings between sentences are not consistent and it looks as if the scribe was thinking too much about where to put the full stops?

Overall however its quite readable and those variances remember us of the differences between handwritten and printed documents and hte advantages for final edits of a computer?

Perhaps just for practice and after checking the modern Latin forms try typesetting this in a word processing program? Then study the differences?

Nibs n Angles

NIBS AND ANGLES 

Whether you use a metal pen or marker or even a digital pen dealing with letter forms for calligraphy or typography requires some kind of nib 

Detachable metal shaped fibre tip pressure sensitive etc

 

This is a cropped shot of part of a page from a calligraphy manual in my reference collection 

Anyway note the 45 degree angle to the page 

Depending on what program you use you may have to change an angle setting to get the most effective result ?

Why worry if you're using digital ?

 What if a work requires an image of say a page of a handwritten manuscript or you're creating fonts? 

Its worthwhile to check out older calligraphy manuals that illustrate pen angles 

I have more images to share over the next few posts 

Follow me n get updates 

The First Glyphs

 THE FIRST GLYPHS 

#glyphs #hieroglyphs #egyptianwriting #earlywriting 

For thousands of years the mode of writing for literate societies was based on pictograms or ideographs with sound being a secondary consideration.

The example above is one of the oldest of not the lowest examples of Egyptian (hiero)glyphs. 

Glyphs symbols were carved stratched engraved into clay or rock or onto tortoise shells or bones! 

For contrast here's an example of "Oracle Bone" with the modern kaishu forms 

 

 Egyptian hieroglyphs can be generated with a computer for specialized usage and so can Sinitic based characters however Sinitic characters whether its kaishu have a wider and far longer usage, perhaps because the Chinese created compound characters with one part of the character being a hint to the pronunciation.

However both Egyptian and Chinese glyphs have had to compete with alphabetic systems.

In the case of Egyptian with Greek and Arabic and in China pinyin Chinese written with Roman letters is taught along with characters to introduce students to the concept of an ABC.

SOUND VERSUS SYMBOL

and sound won? 

Why is this Martian STILL annoyed?

#martianmanhunter #dcumovies #jla

The post below is 3 years old - Every issue I mentioned is still relevant! 

When are we going to see the Martian Manhunter either on TV again or in a movie?

NEVER !? 

Why is this Martian Angry? Well grumpy and serious like he hasnt had his OREO fix !

 Read on there is a design angle!

One thing that really annoys me about the JLA movie apart from the overusage of CGI is the TOTAL absense and NOT even a brief mention of a founding JLA member the Martian Manhunter!

DC you are missing out on a Golden Opportunity to support some great design work!

Now the Manhunter is currently on TV in Supergirl but I for one would love to see him have a whole movie or TV series of his own.

He's a shapeshifter so you could have several actors playing the part or as episode guests and actors of multiple ethnicities. Its canon in most recent versions John Jones is not his only human identity.

Now for some of the design opportunities and challenges for the character.

Costume should they go for the original 50s version or full body costume to reduce makeup time?

SFX and CGI 

flashbacks to Mars 

flashbacks to Erdels 50s style science lab 

showing alternate Martian forms the avian or the green "elf" look.

using his invisibility powers 

doing partial transformations 

Seriously DC please do the Martian Manhunter!

Make this Martian Happy!

Martin of Tours and Carolingian Script

 #Stmartin #martinmas #carolingianscript 

Today is Martinmas November the 11th also Remembrance Day in several countries.

Now Martin of Tours was a Roman Soldier who became Bishop of Tours and one of the most famous examples of Carolingian Script is a manuscript with the biography of this saint written by Gregory of Tours. 

Excellent crisp letter forms of ink on parchment not paper showing why so called half uncial scripts were popular for so many centuries in Western Europe and still influence font design today.

Very obviously handwritten and not printed though with the spacing between words and letters and the size changing here and there as if the scribe hestitated thinking about how to fit the text onto the page.

Compare this to a Carolingian based font and consider the advantages of typography via a computer to the calligraghy of a scribe. 

Yet which was more personality or beauty ?