Chapter 14
Designing and Lettering a Quotation
In This Chapter
Getting what you need to succeed
Getting a glimpse of good arrangement
Examining different ways to design a quotation
Doing a preliminary sketch
Using harmony and contrast in your designs
Making your designs interesting
Looking at sources for quotations
One of the first things you might want to try with calligraphy is lettering a favorite saying or quotation. If this is something that you’d like to try, you have just landed upon the most popular thing that calligraphers do — lettering quotations.
Lettering a quotation or saying in an artistic and compelling style is the special province of the calligrapher. You can see many examples of quotations done in calligraphy in greeting cards, plaques, posters, and inspirational artwork.
Throughout this chapter, when I use the term design, I’m not talking about adding designs to artwork. Basically, when I mention design, it means the same as layout. Layout has to do with the way the calligraphy is arranged or laid out on the paper and is at least as important as the lettering itself. It has to do with the overall scheme of where you position things on the paper. If you work on creating a strong layout, you can create a more appealing overall appearance than if the design is weak. By giving thought to the design, you can transform an unimpressive piece of calligraphy into a compelling work of art.
In this chapter, I give you some ideas that you can use for doing quotations in calligraphy. Specifically, I provide you with a selection of ready-made designs, plus I give you pointers on design elements such as arrangement, harmony and contrast, ways to avoid dullness. And I give you some great ideas for making your quotation unique and eye-catching.
Gathering What You Need
In order to use all of the ideas in this chapter, here’s what you need:
You should already be able to letter two or more alphabets. If you know just one alphabet, you can still use most of the ideas from this chapter.
You should have a fountain pen or a dip pen. See Chapter 2 where I discuss pens.
You need appropriate paper. You can start with the Stratmore paper I mention in Chapter 2.
You should also know how to draw guide lines on the paper or, if the paper is thin enough to see through, how to use a sheet with guide lines underneath the paper. See Chapter 3 for information about drawing guide lines.
Arranging the Lines
If you have a short quotation or saying, the first thing is to decide how you want to arrange the words in lines. The goal is to arrange the words of the quotation in a way that is appropriate to the meaning.
Take a look at the two examples in Figure 14-1:
The quote on the top is too fragmented, and the meaning has been distorted.
The quote on the bottom needs more line breaks — it’s not easy to read.
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Figure 14-1: Poor exam- ples of arrangement. |
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Now take a look at the same quote arranged appropriately (see Figure 14-2).
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Figure 14-2: An example of a nice arrangement. |
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Deciding on Design
After you have arranged the words, the next step is to decide how to set up the design. In the sections that follow, I cover three kinds of flush designs and one design that is symmetrical. I tell you not only what they are but also how you can do them.
Flush left
To understand what a flush left design entails, look at the lines of text in this paragraph. They’re all lined up on the left side so they begin at exactly the same distance from the left-hand edge of the paper. You could draw a straight line down through the first letter of every line. On the right side, the lines of text do not line up evenly. The term used to describe the design of this paragraph is “flush left.” Flush left is the simplest and easiest design (see Figure 14-3).
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Figure 14-3: Flush left design. |
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To create a flush left design, you don’t have to do anything special; you basically write the way you normally do. But here are some things to keep in mind:
You may want to draw a vertical line for your left margin.
Since a flush left design looks so commonplace, you might want to “dress things up” by adding other design elements such as flourishes or variations in letter style or size to give your design more visual interest. Figure 14-4 shows you an example of a dressed-up design. In this example, a variation of Italic has been used with Roman. The first word has been off-set slightly to the left and flourishes have been added.
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Figure 14-4: A flush left design that has been “dressed up.” |
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Flush right
Flush right (see Figure 14-5) means that all the lines of text line up on the right side. This design takes some planning but is not really difficult.
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Figure 14-5: Flush right design. |
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To create a flush right design:
1. You need to do a preliminary version. The preliminary will provide you with spacing guides. To do the preliminary, letter the entire text flush left on a sheet of sketch paper. To speed things up you can use a marker if you have one that has the same size nib as the pen you are going to use for the final version.
2. Lightly pencil in guide lines and also a vertical line for the right margin on the paper where you’ll do your final version.
3. Cut out one line at a time from your preliminary and tape it in position to the left of the right margin pencil line and above the space to be lettered on the final version.
4. Letter the line on your final version using the strip above the line to gauge the spacing.
5. Repeat the second step for each successive line of text.
You can see an example of a preliminary version in Figure 14-6.
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Figure 14-6: Using strips from a preliminary version as guides for the final version. |
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Symmetrical
Symmetrical (see Figure 14-7) means that each line of text is centered horizontally on the page. This design also requires planning, but is also fairly easy.
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Figure 14-7: Symmetrical design. |
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You can create a symmetrical design by
Using the same method of cutting strips for flush right (see “Flush right” above) except instead of positioning the preliminary copy on the right margin, line it up with a center line that you draw on the final version (see Figure 14-8).
The center of a strip can be found easily and accurately by simply folding the strip in half (see Figure 14-8).
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Figure 14-8: Using a preliminary version to line up the final version. |
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Flush left and right
Flush left and right (see Figure 14-9) requires that all the lines begin at the same distance from the left edge and end at the same distance from the right edge. This is the most challenging of the four designs.
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Figure 14-9: Flush left and right design. |
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A flush left and right layout requires that you make a two-step preliminary before you letter the entire thing in ink:
1. Letter the text in pencil flush left on a piece of sketch paper. Do this lightly, because you’re going to go over it with ink. Take care to make the right margin as close to even as you can.
2. Draw a vertical line (also lightly) down the right side of the preliminary which coincides with the end of your longest line of text.
3. Estimate how much additional space to add between each word. Estimate the additional increment between words that makes the line the right length.
4. Reletter the whole thing in ink. Expand the spaces between words so that every line ends exactly at the right margin line.
5. Cut the lines into strips, positioning the strips above the line to be lettered.
6. Letter the text on the final version.
Sketching
The best way to begin planning how you are going to design a quotation is sketching. Make several “thumbnail” sketches of different possibilities. Experiment with different ideas. Since it’s only a sketch, you have nothing to lose by trying all kinds of ideas. See how many different designs you can come up with. Explore all the possibilities. It is always a good idea to have a clear idea of what you want to do before you touch pen to paper.
I normally do anywhere from four to a dozen sketches before I take another step. In fact, I don’t like to move onto the next step until I am really happy with a design that I have sketched out. Once I have a sketch of a design that I like, I usually do one more sketch where I try to refine the idea.
Exploiting Harmony and Contrast
A really good design makes use of both harmony and contrast. Harmony is what unifies the design, and contrast gives it interest. You can use this principle in your designs.
Harmony or unity is the most important element. You achieve unity through a consistent style and size of the letters you use. The layout ties it all together.
Contrasts are created by using more than one alphabet, having different sizes and weights (boldness) letters, adding embellishments and flourishes, and using different colors. If you have too many contrasts, the harmony will be destroyed. Contrasts are necessary to create interest, but they should be used judiciously.
Without some contrasts, you run the risk of having a design which looks dull and boring. Most designs need some contrasts. Here are some general suggestions to follow:
You can use two alphabets in a design but be careful if you use more than two. When you use two alphabets, the rule is that the older one should come before the later one. For example, use Roman before Italic (see Figure 14-10).
You can make one letter or one word stand out by making it larger and/or bolder than the others.
If you add flourishes, use restraint. Usually, too few is better than too many.
You can add color.
You can add designs or drawn images (see Figure 14-11).
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Figure 14-10: A flush left and right design using two alphabets. |
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Figure 14-11: A symmetrical design using three alphabets and a drawn image. |
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Positioning a Large Word
Another, less traditional way to design a quote is to make one word larger than the others.
You can place the word that is larger than the others in several different ways. The obvious placement is centered at the top — just like a title, but you can also place the word in other places. It can be at the bottom, in the middle, or along the side. Also, it does not have to be in a straight, horizontal line; it can be slanted or even curved (see Figure 14-12)!
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Figure 14-12: Some of the many possibilities for positioning a large word in your design. |
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Incorporating Designs and Drawn Images
If you can draw and paint, you should definitely consider combining calligraphy with those other art forms. On the simplest level, you can use painting to enhance and illusrate the calligraphy. When art is used in this way, you could say that it’s subordinate to the calligraphy.
On a more sophisticated level, you might combine calligraphy with other other art forms so that they work together on a more equal footing. This marriage of painting and calligraphy in this way has been recognized for centuries in Asian art but has not really established itself in Western art.
Finding Quotations You Can Use
When you use quotations, you have to be careful that you don’t break any copyright laws. Use quotations where there is no copyright or the copyright has expired. Please respect the copyright laws — they are the only protection that artists have against theft and plagiarism.
Become a collector of quotations. Keep a file of material that you can use as a resource for your calligraphy. An excellent place to find quotations is online. You can find an unlimited wealth of material on the Internet. One source that I especially like is www.cybernation.com/quotationcenter. I like their Ultimate Success Quotation Library software, because it comes with over 54,000 famous quotations and allows you to add more quotations to the library as well as edit them. It is the only software like it that I know of. It’s a jim-dandy filing system for the quotation collector.