Chapter 12
Elegantly Outlined and Decorated Letters
In This Chapter
Understanding where to start
Checking the materials you will need
Getting the letter drawn
Using different alphabets
Coloring and applying gold leaf to the letters
One way you can really enhance the appearance of your calligraphy and add great visual interest is to use a decorated initial. For example, if you were doing Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in calligraphy, you could begin with a large, decorated first letter. Since the Gettysburg Address begins with the words, “Fourscore and seven years ago . . .” the first letter would be a capital f.
Calligraphers have used large, decorated capitals in combination with “regular” calligraphy for centuries. Even though it is not new, these capitals are still very much in style today. The only difference being, today you can be a whole lot more imaginative in creating the designs for these letters than the early scribes were. People who do cross-stitch often make designs like these with initials.
Some artistic ability is definitely helpful in doing these kinds of letters, because the letters are drawn rather than written. The more artistic ability you have, the more things you will be able to do with these letters. However, in this chapter, I show you some shortcuts for drawing the letters. So, even if you have no artistic ability, you’ll be able to add these letters to your repertoire.
The one thing that makes a decorated letter so spectacular is color. Once the outline of the letter has been drawn, the inside of the letter can be painted or gilded (covered with gold leaf), and the background can be embellished with a design and painted as well. In this chapter, I describe some easy ways that you can do those things too.
Taking the Right Approach
Using a decorated capital letter is a really easy and impressive way to “dress up” a design. It is especially effective if you are doing any kind of quotation in calligraphy. The decorated letter says to the viewer that the calligraphy is a true work of art that was created by hand; it wasn’t printed on a computer.
If you’re just getting started and you’ve never done anything like this before, use one of the templates that are available on my web site at www.studioarts.net/alphabets. After you get the hang of it, you can branch off from there.
If you’re working on your own designs for decorated capitals, try to keep the designs appropriate for the subject. For example, if you are doing a poem for a child, you wouldn’t want to use a letter that looked stuffy and formal; you would want to use a letter that looks informal and youthful. On the other hand, if you’re working on a formal certificate, you wouldn’t want to use a letter that was out of character for that kind of document.
Above all, have fun with these letters. Expand your repertoire. Expand your skills.
Getting the Right Materials
You need entirely different materials for this chapter than you did in other chapters in this book.
For the basics, you need:
A pencil
A dip pen with a narrow nib — 1mm or smaller
Ink for the dip pen
If you want to add color, you need:
Acrylic paint, watercolor, or colored pencils
A
small round brush
If you want to add gold leaf, you need:
A pack of metal leaf squares.
Note: I highly recommend that in the beginning, you not try to use real gold leaf. The metal leaf looks like gold and is far easier to handle. After you master the techniques of applying metal leaf, you may decide to “graduate” to using gold leaf.
Some gold leaf adhesive.
A small jar of acrylic gesso.
A larger round or flat watercolor brush — like the kind of brush used for applying watercolor washes.
Drawing the Letter
You will be creating what are commonly referred to as illuminated capitals. There are three basic steps to creating these letters. First, you sketch the letter with a pencil. Second, you add color and/or gold leaf. Third, you trace over the outlines with ink.
Step 1: Sketching the letter
The first thing to do is draw the design in pencil (see Figure 12-1). You have a couple options available to you when it comes to doing this sketch. If you have the artistic ability, then by all means, use your imagination and draw the letter freehand. You can interpret a design that you have seen and liked, or you may create your own design from scratch.
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Figure 12-1: A pencil sketch of the letter y. |
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An alternate method is to work from a template. All you have to do is trace or transfer the design from one of the templates available on my web site at www.studioarts.net/alphabets. If your paper is thin enough to see through, you can simply lay your paper on top of the template and trace.
If your paper is too heavy for tracing, then what you’ll have to do is transfer the design:
1. First, trace the entire design using a small piece of paper that is thin enough for tracing.
2. Next, turn the paper over, and on the reverse side, move the side of the pencil lead back and forth to produce shading. Make the shading as dark as you can. Also make certain that you cover the entire surface behind the design.
3. Finally, flip the paper right-side-up again, position it where you want the letter, and trace over the design with firm pressure. If you have done this correctly, you’ll wind up with a pale, ghost-like version of the design transferred onto the paper. You can go back over this with pencil to “firm up” the lines.
Step 2: Decorating the letters and background
After you have sketched the letter in pencil (see “Step 1: Sketching the letter,” earlier) and you are happy with the way it looks, you can begin adding color to the design. Use acrylic paint or watercolor to fill in the letter with the color you want. Most often, a lighter and brighter color such as yellow against a darker background is an effective color for the letter (I get into backgrounds in the next paragraph). However, dark colors may also be used for the color of the letter.
Normally, a background that is a solid color is not as attractive as a background with a repeating design. You will find that it is fairly easy to add a design. There are a number of design motifs that are popular. A few simple ones are the horizontal lines, criss-crossed diagonal lines, floral designs, vines, and spirals (see Figure 12-2).
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Figure 12-2: Different background designs. |
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Step 3: Inking the lines
Once you have done all the painting, it is time to go over the pencil lines with ink. When you have completed that final step, your letter should look spectacular (see Figure 12-3) — a true emblem of your calligraphic expertise!
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Figure 12-3: The final, decorated letter. |
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Finding Alphabets You Can Use
Traditionally, the alphabets that were used for illuminated letters were the Uncial letters (see Chapter 11). The Uncial alphabet is still the one you see used most often today. It is also the alphabet from which I took the y I used in the earlier section, “Drawing the Letter.” The Roman capitals and the Italic capitals can also look very good when used as illuminated letters. Figure 12-4 shows you an example of a template letter from the Roman capitals.
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Figure 12-4: The outlined Roman capital A fill in letter. |
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But, by all means, don’t stop there. I have seen illuminated letters made with pictures of animals, tools, acrobats posed in different configurations, and even an alphabet where the letters were made with drawings of insects! Indeed, the only limitation to your design is your imagination. Figure 12-5 gives you an idea of something whimsical I whipped up, inspired by some alphabets from the 1700s that’s appropriate to use on something for children.
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Figure 12-5: A whimsical design. |
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Gilding: Applying Gold Leaf
The technique I describe in this section is an easy way to get the look of gold leaf. Real gold leaf is much more delicate to handle than metal leaf. For one thing, it’s so thin that you don’t dare touch it with your fingers. You would have to use a brush to pick it up and position it. But it’s a technique that you can learn fairly easily. You can find numerous sources of information in books and on the Internet on the techniques and tools for applying real gold leaf.
When you apply gold leaf, it will make it look like it’s actually made out of gold. It will not look anything like paint. It will have the luster and color of actual gold. Figure 12-6 shows a portion of a piece of calligraphy where the first letter — in this case, the letter a — was covered with gold leaf. On top of the gold is a design of a vine drawn in ink. Inside the letter is the same vine design. This part was tinted with watercolor.
Applying metal leaf is actually pretty easy:
1. Prepare a clean work space that is free of drafts and static electricity. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to work with gold leaf sitting next to a window or a fan — the air will blow the thin leaf all over the place! Also, anything like a wool sweater that is electrically charged can attract or repel the gold leaf.
2. Build up the area where you want to apply the leaf. Do this by painting the area that you want to gild with three or four coats of acrylic gesso, letting each coat of gesso dry before applying the next coat. Apply the gesso as smoothly and as evenly as you can. Figure 12-7 shows this step on the left.
3. Give the surface of the gesso a final smoothing. Traditionally, calligraphers used agate burnishers, but the back of a spoon will do an acceptable job if you don’t have a burnisher. Simply rub the surface of the gesso until it is smooth and slick.
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Figure 12-6: An actual size example showing what a gilded letter looks like. |
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4. Apply gold leaf adhesive on top of the gesso where you want the leaf to adhere. You do this with a small brush.
Keep in mind that the leaf will adhere where the adhesive is and will not adhere where there is no adhesive. Be careful not to paint beyond the lines and also be careful not to leave any small unpainted areas where you want the leaf to adhere.
5. Let the adhesive dry. That’s right — you do not apply the leaf to the wet adhesive. That would create a mess. (I know from personal experience!) Instead, after the adhesive has dried completely, it should remain tacky for some time, and that’s when you apply the leaf.
6. Gently pick up a sheet of metal leaf at two of the corners and slowly lay it over the area that has been prepared with gesso and adhesive. Another way to pick up the leaf is to lay a piece of wax paper that is slightly larger than the square of leaf over the square and rub with your hand. When you lift the wax paper, the gold leaf should adhere to it. You can then lay the wax paper on top of the letter and rub again to get the leaf to adhere to the adhesive. You’ll have just “one shot” in which to do this. So be careful and methodical. One sheet should cover a letter.
7. When the leaf is in place, gently blow directly down on top of the leaf so it adheres where you want it. The center picture in Figure 12-7 shows the gold leaf in place.
8. Gently rub over the leaf with a soft watercolor brush. I use what is referred to as a wash brush. Continue rubbing with the brush until you have removed all the excess leaf and all that remains is the leaf attached where you want it.
If for some reason, there is a spot where the gold leaf did not attach, you can apply adhesive to that spot, let it dry, and put a small piece of the leaf on that spot. The small pieces of leaf that are not used are usually perfect for filling in any gaps. The picture on the right in Figure 12-7 shows the finished letter.
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Figure 12-7: Three steps in the gilding process. |
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