Chapter 9

Classical Roman Letters

In This Chapter

Looking at the Roman alphabet

Practicing the proportions and shapes of the letters

Stringing letters together

Using the pen to draw the Roman alphabet

Avoiding some of the most common errors

Making your letters sizzle with serifs

In this chapter, I cover the step-by-step basics of how to do the Roman alphabet. This alphabet is called Roman, because the ancient Romans actually developed it — it’s our oldest alphabet.

Today the Roman alphabet, in various forms, can be seen virtually everywhere we see something printed or written. Nearly all the Western alphabets, typefaces, and fonts that we use today are derived from these letters. The words that you are reading right now are written in a typeface called Times New Roman.

Mastering the Roman alphabet involves studying both the formation of the letters and the pen angle. Because the two are equally important and can also be equally challenging, in this chapter, I show you how to do these two things separately.

Understanding the Roman Alphabet

The Roman letters look really simple to do, but their simplicity can be deceptive. The fact is, these letters can really challenge your abilities as a calligrapher more than any other alphabet in this book. Because of the simplicity of the letters, any flaw or mistake you make will stand out like a sore thumb. There are no flourishes or embellishments in this alphabet that will hide your goofs.

The Roman alphabet (see Figure 9-1) is an extremely useful style for the calligrapher for two reasons. First, it is easy to read, and, second, it represents classical elegance in its purest form. It combines well with other styles and is especially effective for titles. One other important value in learning to do the Roman alphabet is this: It will give you a deeper understanding of the proportions of the capital letters — regardless of the style you are using.

You might be wondering why I haven’t included any lowercase letters with this alphabet. Why only capitals? The answer is simple, the alphabet that I present here is faithful to the historical model, and there weren’t any lowercase letters in formal Roman. Lowercase letters were added centuries later as an outgrowth of an informal writing style called New Roman Cursive. Also I don’t show any numbers with this alphabet, because only Roman numerals were used in Roman times. If you want to use numbers, see the Manuscript numbers in Chapter 10. If you are interested in learning more about the fascinating history of these alphabets, the web site at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet gives a good overview.

Figure 9-1: The Roman alphabet.

From the calligrapher’s point of view, the Roman letters can’t be beat if you’re looking for an alphabet to use in titles and headings. Also, you can use the Roman letters as the capital letters with the Italic lowercase letters. Combining the two alphabets creates a perfect marriage of the strength and dignity of the Roman letters with the elegant gracefulness of the Italic letters.

Perfecting your technique for the Roman alphabet involves two steps: perfecting how to make the letter shapes and perfecting the pen angle. So, for the section, “Getting to Know the Five Groups of Letters,” as you practice the shapes of the letters, you need to use a pencil or a marker type pen with a fine tip. In the section, “Trying the Letters with a Pen,” where you practice making the letters with — you guessed it! — a calligraphy pen, use either a Manuscript fountain pen with a wide nib — 2B, or a dip pen with a 11/2mm nib.

Getting to Know the Five Groups of Letters

I have divided the letter shapes of the Roman alphabet into five basic groups based on the proportion of the width to the height of the letters. In the sections that follow, I introduce you to letters that are as wide as they are tall; letters that are 3/4 as wide as they are tall; letters that are 1/2 as wide as they are tall; a couple of letters that are very narrow; and a couple that are extra wide.

Letters as wide as they are tall

Five letters are as wide as they are tall. They will fit inside squares so that their edges touch all four sides of the squares (see Figure 9-2). All five of these letters are circular: o, c, g, d, and q.

Figure 9-2: Letters o, c, g, d, and q.

You can practice these letters in the exercise that follows — just trace the gray letters and then make them freehand in the boxes provided. Here’s how to make these letters:

1. Begin all the letters at roughly the 11 o’clock position and end the strokes at 5 o’clock. The hash marks on the letters guide you from the start to stop position.

2. Follow the rest of the stroke sequence as indicated.

Keep these tips in mind while making these letters:

Avoid using your fingers to move the pen as you make the circular letters. It is best to move your whole hand and arm.

Practice making the strokes with a smooth, uniform speed — not too fast and not too slow. You should be able to count to four or five at a normal rate as you make each one of the circular strokes. If you can’t reach five, you’re going too fast. If you can count to seven or higher, you’re going too slowly.

Letters 3/4 as wide as they are tall

The largest group has letters that are three-fourths as wide as they are tall (see Figure 9-3); so, the ratio of the width to the height of these ten letters is three to four. Ten letters fall into this category: a, h, k, n, t, u, v, x, y, and z.

Figure 9-3: Letters a, h, k, n, t, u, v, x, y, and z.

Here are some tips for making these letters:

All but one of these letters has strokes that are straight. The only exception is u which is curved at the bottom.

The rule for making the strokes is to go left to right and top to bottom.

Visualize the rectangle as you make these letters.

On letters like a, h, and n draw the two sides before you draw the line through the middle.

Letters 1/2 as wide as they are tall

The letters that are 1/2 as wide as they are tall can be found in Figure 9-4.

Figure 9-4: The letters b, r, e, f, s, l, and p.

Here are some tips for making these letters:

Only the l is made in one stroke. All the other letters in this group are made with two or three strokes.

Visualize a half-wide rectangle as you make these letters.

The horizontal stroke in the middle of the f is lower than the same stroke on the e.

The round shape on the top part of the p extends farther down than the corresponding shape on the r, and the round shape on the r is longer than the same shape at the top of the b.

You can remember them by using the memory aid “brief sleep.”

Two narrow letters

The i and the j are very narrow letters (see Figure 9-5). They’re only as wide as the pen that is drawing them. Notice that the j is simply an i with a “tail” added.

Figure 9-5: The i and the j are the narrowest letters.

Follow these tips for making these letters:

Begin the strokes at the top.

Pull down slowly and evenly.

Keep the letters vertical — no slant.

Two wide letters

The m and the w are each wider than they are tall. Notice that the outside “legs” of the m are not angled as much as the outsde “arms” of the w (see Figure 9-6).

Figure 9-6: The letters m and w.

As you practice the wide letters, remember that the w is not an upside-down m. Notice the differences between the two letters. Pay close attention to the sequence of strokes:

For the m:

• The two outside “legs” are made first. They are only slightly slanted. These strokes begin just inside the square and end outside the square.

• The center “V” of the m touches the base line.

For the w (this letter has two sets of parallel strokes which the m does not have):

• The first and second strokes are parallel, and the third and fourth strokes are parallel.

• Notice how the second and third strokes overlap at the top and how the two points at the bottom lie well inside the square.

Putting the Letters Together

Now it’s time to put the letters together. As you use these letters to make words, notice the spacing between letters and words. Try to make the spacing look as even as you can. I’ll explain more about spacing later in this chapter. For now, try to keep the spaces between letters and words as consistent as you can.

Figure 9-7: Putting letters together.

Give it a try! Trace the words in gray and then make them freehand in the space provided. You can find many more words to practice that span the entire alphabet in the appendix.

While stringing letters together, keep these tips in mind:

Take your time; don’t rush.

If it helps you, you can lightly pencil in the shapes of the letters first.

Trying the Letters with a Pen

If you have the letter shapes down (if not, see “Getting to Know the Five Letter Groups” earlier), you should be ready to try the letters with the pen. In the sections that follow, I provide the guidance you need to perfect using the pen with the Roman alphabet.

Getting the letter height right

The letters in this alphabet are all capital letters which means that all the letters are supposed to be the same height. Because they all should be the same height, any variation in height is pretty easy to spot as a mistake. In terms of the height based on pen width, the Roman letters are the same height as the Italic capitals (see Chapter 5). For information on pen widths see Chapter 3.

Remember these things about the Roman letters and pen widths:

The height equals eight pen widths (see Figure 9-8).

The space between lines of letters equals three to four pen widths (see Figure 9-8). I don’t know why three or four pen widths between lines, but it does look really good that way.

Figure 9-8: Pen widths for letter height.

Smoothing out your stroke

As you use your calligraphy pen to make these letters, it is important to discipline your hand to keep the strokes completely smooth and even. Unfortunately, the Roman alphabet is very “unforgiving” when you make a goof — especially the goofs where the stroke looks shakey.

It is difficult to do this alphabet “cold.” I always suggest doing warm-up exercises before attempting to do any serious work where you are going to use this alphabet.

Sometimes it helps to sketch these letters very lightly with a pencil as a guide and then go over the penciled letters with your pen. That way you can make the correct letter shapes and spacing with the pencil, so, when you go over the penciled letters with the pen, you can concentrate on making smooth strokes.

Zeroing in on the right pen angles

Unlike the previous alphabets where the pen angle was constant for all the letters, this alphabet has two pen angles (for more on pen angle, see Chapter 3):

The basic pen angle for most of the letters is 20 degrees (see Figure 9-9), which is much flatter than the pen angle used for alphabets like Italic (see Chapter 6) and Blackletter (see Chapter 8).

The second pen angle is 45 degrees (see Figure 9-11) and is used for diagonals in some of the letters. This second pen angle is the same as the angle for Italic (see Chapter 6) and Blackletter (see Chapter 8).

Figure 9-9: The 20-degree pen angle.

The letters that use the 20-degree angle are: b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, l, o, p, q, t, and u. The following parts of the letters which otherwise are made with the 45-degree pen angle, are made using a 20-degree pen angle (see Figure 9-10):

The cross-bar on the a

The vertical on the k

The right side of the m

The vertical and the rounded part of the r

The leg of the y

The right-to-left diagonal of the z

Figure 9-10: Select parts of a, k, m, r, y, and z use the 20-degree angle as indicated.

The letters that are made entirely with a 45-degree pen angle (see Figure 9-11) are n, s, v, w, and x. For the most part, these are letters that are made up of diagonals.

Figure 9-11: The 45-degree pen angle.

Practicing pen angle

When it comes to the 20-degree pen angle, if you make a plus sign (see Figure 9-12), you can notice:

That the verticals are a whole lot thicker than the horizontals

How the beginnings and endings of the strokes are angled

Figure 9-12: The plus sign using the 20-degree angle.

You might discover that holding your pen at a 20-degree angle is not the easiest thing to do. Here’s an exercise that will help.

Practicing the angle before you begin the letters is best. Practice the 20-degree angle by tracing and copying the plus signs below. Notice how much wider the vertical stroke is than the horizontal. As you practice, try to get a mental picture of how you are holding the pen to achieve the correct pen angle. For a right-handed person the barrel of the pen is probably pointing back to a point inside your shoulder. If you are left-handed, you will have to experiment to see how you should hold the pen to make the 20-degree plus sign. See Chapter 2 for information on the different ways a left-handed writer can hold the pen.

For most people, the 45-degree pen angle is the easier of the two (see Figure 9-13). This is the angle that is used for the Italic alphabet (Chapter 5) and the Blackletter alphabet (Chapter 8). For a thorough explanation of the 45-degree pen angle refer to the section on pen angle in Chapter 5.

Figure 9-13: The 45-degree plus sign.

Follow these tips on making and/or practicing the plus sign:

Don’t twist or turn the pen.

Hold the pen in the same position in your hand when you make the vertical and horizontal.

The beginnings and endings of the vertical and horizontal strokes should be perfectly angled at 45-degrees. See Figure 9-13.

Creating letters with a 20-degree pen angle

Figure 9-14 shows you the letters which require a 20-degree pen angle: b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, l, o, p, q, t, and u. Essentially these are the letters which do not have any diagonals in them.

Figure 9-14: The letters using a 20-degree pen angle: b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, l, o, p, q, t, and u.

Tips for making the letters with a 20-degree pen angle:

The vertical strokes are noticeably wider than the horizontal strokes.

Keep the letters the correct width according to which group they belong to.

Don’t become discouraged if your first efforts are unsatisfactory. Practice is the key to improvement.

Making letters with the 45-degree pen angle

For the letters n, s, v, w, and x, you make them entirely with the pen held at a constant 45-degree angle. For the letters a, k, m r, y, and z, you make some parts (basically their diagonals) with a 45-degree pen angle and other parts with a 20-degree pen angle. Figure 9-15 shows you all these letters.

Figure 9-15: Letters made with the 45-degree pen angle: n, s, v, w, and x as well as parts of a, k, m r, y, and z.

Study the examples in the practice exercise below:

The strokes that are to be done with 20-degree angle are indicated.

All the other parts of these letters require you to use a 45-degree pen angle.

Notice that z seems to contradict the pattern — the horizontals require a 45-degree angle and the diagonal does not. This is necessary to give the strokes the correct weight.

Stringing the alphabet together

Pay close attention to the spacing between the letters and between words (see Figure 9-16). Spacing of the Roman letters is done completely “by eye.” Of course, you want the spacing to look nice and even. The problem is complicated by the fact that measuring and putting an equal distance between letters won’t do the trick. As strange as it may sound, if you use equal distances between the letters, they will actually look like they’re spaced unevenly. Since spacing is done “by eye,” there are no rules or gauges that you can use to space the letters. Remember, even spacing will not work. The letters must appear to be evenly spaced. To do this, the letters are actually spaced unevenly.

Figure 9-16: Examples of equal (left) and unequal (right) spacing.

Equal distances between the letters will make the letters appear unevenly spaced. To achieve spacing where the letters appear evenly spaced, you must have unequal distances between the letters.

The goal is to space the letters so that all the white spaces in between them appears to be equal in area (see Figure 9-17). Bear in mind these guidelines on spacing:

Because some letters have rounded sides and other letters have vertical sides, you must make adjustments to compensate for the amount of white space that can be seen.

A general rule is that straight sides need more space and rounded sides need less space.

Check your spacing by turning your work upside-down to see how equal the white spaces look.

Check your spacing by holding your work up to a mirror.

Figure 9-17: Examples of words.

You can practice the whole alphabet by stringing together the letters to create words. You can get a feel for it in the exercise below, but I give you a fuller practice exercise in the appendix.

Common Errors

It would be impossible to list all the errors that people could make with this alphabet, but I describe to you several of the ones that seem to appear the most often (see Fig- ure 9-18) as well as how to avoid them:

The horizontal on the a is not placed correctly. It should be just below center.

The b is too wide. Remember, this is a half-wide letter.

The c “hooks over.” The top of this letter should be straight.

The h is too wide. It is a 3/4 wide letter.

The strokes are overlapping in the center. The diagonal strokes on the right side of this letter should not extend so far as to overlap the vertical stroke on the left.

The e is too wide. This is a half-wide letter.

The d is too narrow. This letter is supposed to be as wide as it is tall. Perhaps you are not accustomed to seeing this letter so wide. That’s because many commonly used typefaces have a narrow d, and you’re used to seeing it that way. If that is the case, I recommend that you do a little research and look at examples from antiquity of the Roman letters. I believe that helps develop appreciation for the proportions of these letters.

The f is too wide. Again, this is a half-wide letter.

The “legs” of the m are angled out too much. The outside “legs” of the m should be closer to vertical. The m is not an upside-down w.

The center part of the m does not come down to the baseline. This is another common error that people have grown accustomed to seeing. The center “V” is supposed to touch the writing line.

The top of the p is the wrong size. It should be a whole lot larger than this.

The “leg” of the r is in the wrong position. The “leg” begins close to the vertical and is not curved at the top like this one is.

The s is too curved. This letter looks more like an Uncial s.

The sides of the w are not angled enough. The w should have two sets of parallel strokes — the first and third strokes and the second and fourth strokes. The w is not an upside-down m.

The center of the w is too short. The center part should extend so it is even with the top of the letter.

Figure 9-18: Fifteen very common errors.

Adding On Some Serifs

Classical Roman letters have serifs. You need to be careful adding these serifs to make certain they are not too big and they are positioned correctly. It is very easy to make them either too long and to place them a little off-center.

Look at Figure 9-19 and notice that the c, g, o, q, s, and z have no serifs. The serifs are located where straight strokes meet the top and bottom guide lines.

Figure 9-19: The alphabet with serifs added.

Getting to know the three kinds of serifs

When it comes to making serifs, you have some choices. In the following list, I show you three ways you can add serifs listed in order from the easiest to do to the most difficult; choose the method that you like the best:

Slab serif: An easy, simple serif is the slab serif, which is added after the letter has been made. A slab serif is simply a small, straight line that is added to the letters. The pen angle for these serifs is 20 degrees. Look at the example on the left in Figure 9-20.

Joined slab serifs: It’s possible to make the slab serifs joined to the letters as you draw them (as opposed to making the slab after you complete the letter like you do with a simple slab serif — see above bullet). Look at the example in the center in Figure 9-20. This kind of serif is very popular (it’s the one I prefer), and it really dresses up the letters. You have to practice to get it just right, but it is not especially difficult to master, and it’s definitely worth the effort.

The trick is to remember that all the joined slab serifs should be made with a 20-degree pen angle. That means if you have a serif at the top of or bottom of a line that is made with a 45-degree pen angle, you have to do a little turning of the pen as you go from serif to 45-degree angle.

Pedestal serif: Another, more difficult, but extremely impressive serif is the little pedestal serif. You draw these serifs just like the previous joined serifs except a tiny curved stroke is added after the letter is done. This does require practice and accurate control of the pen. You have to make certain that this tiny curved stroke looks like part of the letter, and that’s not particularly easy.

When I do these serifs I always sketch the letter lightly with pencil first. You have to be careful to keep the serif in proportion to the rest of the letter — not too big and centered correctly. Look at the example on the right in Figure 9-20 which shows this distinctive serif.

Figure 9-20: Three kinds of serifs.

Making the serifs

The goal is to add serifs that are going to enhance the appearance of the letters. Keep the following guide lines in mind as you add serifs:

Keep the serifs repectably small and straight. Avoid making serifs that are too big or wavy.

To add slab serifs to the letters after they are drawn, simply add short horizontal strokes to the letters.

To draw a joined slab serif to the top of a letter, begin with a short horizontal stroke which is the serif. Then, without lifting your pen, add a small curved stroke slightly downward and to the left so that the pen is centered underneath the serif. Continue with the downstroke of the letter.

To draw a joined slab serif at the bottom of a letter, end the downstroke with a small curved stroke slightly downward and to the left. From this point, finish with a short horizontal stroke which is the serif. If done correctly, the serif will be centered directly under the downstroke.

If you want to do the pedestal serif, first make the joined slab serif and then add small curved strokes to cover up the “gap” areas.

If you’re making a joined serif at the top of or bottom of a stroke that is made with a 45-degree pen angle, you’ll have to do a little turning of the pen as you go from serif to 45-degree angle.

Practice these three kinds of serifs in the space below.