Chapter 7

Turning Up the “Wow! Factor” with Variations and Embellishments

In This Chapter

Checking out different kinds of variations

Finishing letters with flourishes

Adding some flavor with designs and doodles

Years ago when I was a student in art school, one of my teachers used to talk about good art having a “Wow! factor.” He explained that Wow! factor meant that a good work of art would cause viewers to respond with a feeling of “Wow!” when they saw the piece of art. He elaborated that an especially good work of art was the one that would elicit a whole series of “Wow!s” as the viewer continued to observe it.

I believe the same thing can be said about calligraphy. Good calligraphy certainly has “Wow! factor.” Good calligraphy has the power to amaze, enthrall, and inspire us. And that’s a “wow!”

In this chapter I want to show you some of the ways that you can increase the “Wow! factor” in your own calligraphy. In this chapter, I make suggestions about things you can do to spice up the Italic alphabet, but many of these examples apply to other alphabets I introduce you to in this book as well.

You at least need to know how to do the Italic alphabet before you can try any of the extras in this chapter (see Chapters 4 through 6 for more on perfecting the Italic alphabet). The nib that is used for the practice exercises in this chapter is the 2B nib. Any nib that is 11/2mm in width will work.

Using Variations to Change the Look of Letters

You can use two kinds of variations. The first variation I show you, in the first couple of sections below, affects the appearance of all the letters in the alphabet: I show you how to make all the letters look thick and heavy or light and thin. The second variation involves making changes in the shapes of some of the letters but not all of them: I show you how you can make rounded shapes look angular, angular shapes look rounded, and I also give you some alternative shapes to try.

Heavy and bold letters

One of the simplest and easiest ways to change the appearance of the entire alphabet is to use guide lines that are spaced either farther or closer together than the standard spacing. For instance, if you use guide lines that are only 3 pen widths apart, you produce a version of Italic which is dark, heavy and bold (see Figure 7-1). The contrast between thicks and thins will be heightened.

Figure 7-1: Heavy and bold letters using guide lines that are 3 pen widths apart.

Try your hand at drawing these letters. Using a 2B nib, trace the gray words and then copy them in the guide lines below the words you traced. You can find more sentences in the appendix that you can trace and copy to perfect this technique.

Light and thin letters

In contrast to making the letters look heavy and bold (see the section “Heavy and bold letters” above), if you use guide lines that are 7 to 8 pen widths apart you produce a very light and thin version of Italic where the difference between the thicks and thins will be almost imperceptible (see Figure 7-2).

Figure 7-2: Light and thin let- ters using guide lines that are 7 to 8 pen widths apart.

Try your hand at drawing these letters. Use a 2B nib for these exercises as well. You can trace and copy the sentence below.

Angular shapes

You can vary the look of the alphabet by changing the basic shapes. One change is to make the rounded parts of the letters more angular (see Figure 7-3). This version has sometimes been called Batarde and is very popular. Study the alphabet example, and then try your hand at reproducing the letters on your own paper. Your letters don’t have to look exactly like these. Since there are no hard and fast rules, feel free to use your imagination. Remember, though, the letters need to be consistent in size, shape, and slant. This variation is one of my personal favorites.

Figure 7-3: An angular version of the Italic letters.

Using a 2B nib, try doing some angular shapes by tracing and copying the phrase below.

Rounded shapes

This is the opposite of the previous variation (see “Angular shapes” above). In this case, you make the angular parts of the letters more rounded (see Figure 7-4). Everything is the same as regular Italic except you make the angular parts of the lower case letters more rounded. Study the example that I have provided and see if you can produce a similar version on your own. Since this is not standard Italic, you don’t have to follow any rules. This produces a more contemporary and more informal version of Italic.

Figure 7-4: A rounded variation of the Italic letters.

If you like the rounded variation, use a 2B nib and try your hand at drawing the letters below. Trace the gray letters and then copy them in the line beneath.

Seven alternate letters

The seven letters that are shown in Figure 7-5 (b, d, g, q, v, w, and y) are not really variations; they are simply alternate ways to make the letters. I have included them here, because I think they go along with the variations. These alternate letters are widely used and accepted. In fact, some calligraphy books teach one or more of these as part of the basic Italic alphabet. You can use these letters instead of the letters that are shown in Chapters 4 and 5 or you may use them in combination with the basic letters in those other chapters. Using them in combination with the other letters can sometimes create an appealing touch of variety.

Figure 7-5: The seven alternate letters.

In the practice exercise below, you get a chance to practice each of the letters. Simply study each letter and its stroke sequence (shown in black) and then trace the gray letter and copy it freehand in the space provided. While you practice, keep these things in mind:

Keep the ascender part of this b nice and straight so it doesn’t look like the number 6. You can use this alternate letter any place where you would use the standard form of the letter.

You can use this d at the end of words, but don’t use it where it would follow an ascender letter. For example, you could use it at the end of good, but you shouldn’t use it at the end of the word, gold.

This g isn’t really easy to do, but with a little practice you can add a really distinctive letter to your Italic repertoire.

The tail on this q can be made longer if you like.

For many people, the alternate v and w are easier to do than the standard letters. If you are having difficulty making the standard letters look good, you can use these instead.

This version of the y is used almost as often as the y that is shown in Chapters 4 and 5.

Avoiding errors

When you depart from the standard forms and use variations, it is easy to fall into the trap of making errors in stroke, shape, size, slant, and spacing. (See Chapter 6 for a full explanation of this 5-S formula.) Make sure you use this formula as a guide, no matter what alphabet you are doing.

The most common errors when it comes to variations have to do with ignoring the smoothness of the stroke and the uniformity and rhythm of the shape, size, slant, and spacing of the Italic letters. No matter which variations you use, it’s a good idea to always keep the 5-S formula in mind.

Swashes and Flourishes

One of the ways to add real pizzazz to your calligraphy is to add some swashes or flourishes. Swashes and flourishes are essentially the same thing: They’re stylistic embellishments that you add to the letters. They’re accents or ornaments. They don’t take the place of good lettering skills. Only use such devices to show off the letters.

A word of caution: use any flourishes with restraint — don’t overdo them. A few flourishes, just like a little spice, can enhance the appearance or flavor; too many flourishes, like too much spice, can lead to disaster. If you’re ever uncertain about whether or not to add a flourish, it’s probably better not to flourish.

Adding flourishes to letters

Figure 7-6 shows you some flourishes for most of the lowercase Italic letters. There are many more flourishes than these, but these are the most common ones.

A very popular flourish is an “S-curve” which can be added to many of the letters. The “S-curve” is a stroke or series of strokes that resembles the letter S. Most often, the “S-curve” is made horizontally.

Concentrate on making smooth strokes whenever you do flourishes. Nothing can detract from the appearance of a flourish more than a stroke which does not look smooth and fluid.

Look at the examples in Figure 7-6, and use the following suggestions to add flourishes to the lowercase letters.

For letters like a, c, d, h, i, etc. which end in serifs or have seriflike endings, you can extend the final stroke of the letter horizontally ending in an upward curve. This flourish can be used on these letters only when they happen to be the last letter in a word.

Looped “S-curves” can be added to ascenders on the letters b, d, h, k, and l. These loops can be made as large as you like.

Looped “S-curves” can also be added to descenders on the letters f, g, j, p, and y.

You can extend the final stroke on the e, q, and r.

You can add an “S-curve” to the tops of the c and s. This flourish can be used to connect to the letter t, as shown in Figure 7-6

You can extend the final part of the v and w upward.

You can connect double l’s as shown in Figure 7-6.

Figure 7-6: Flourishes for all the lowercase letters.

Flourishes are fun to use, so be sure to get some practice in before you give them a whirl. Trace the gray letters below and then copy them in the blank line underneath the traced letters.

The previous pointers for making flourishes apply to the capital letters as well. Just take a look at Figure 7-7 for some examples.

Figure 7-7: Flourishes for all the capital letters.

When trying to do flourishes, keep these tips in mind:

A capital a can be flourished two ways — either on the left or the right side as shown in the examples above.

The letters b, d, e, and f can be flourished in two ways: either with a stroke that curves over the top or wraps around underneath.

Many of the capital letters can be flourished with “S-curves.”

Several of the letters can be flourished by lengthening the ending stroke. Examples are q, r, u, v, w, x, and z.

Some letters such as c, o, s, and t have unique flourishes. Refer to the examples above to see the possibilities.

Now you can try flourishes on capitals as well. Trace the flourished letters below and copy them in the blank line that follows. The appendix gives you an extended exercise where you can practice flourishes on all of the capitals.

For really large flourishes, lightly sketch the lines with a pencil before you attempt to draw them with the pen. Also pick up the pen at intervals so you don’t have to do the entire flourish in one, uninterrupted stroke. For large flourishes this would be quite a feat. The only place where you can successfully pick up the pen is where you’re making the thin parts of a stroke. You can put the pen back down and continue the stroke from the thin part. You could never pick up the pen in the middle of making a thick stroke.

A flourished signature

A signature is an ideal place to use flourishes. The flourishes should both enhance the appearance of the letters and also help unify the letters into a cohesive, self-contained design.

Just adding flourishes randomly will definitely not do the job. The flourishes need to be added in a thoughtful and purposeful manner.

The best way to use flourishes successfully is too make lots of preliminary sketches.

Figure 7-8 shows you some examples of signatures where the flourishes do not “work” very well. The flourishes are too random and disjointed.

Figure 7-9 is a better example of a flourished signature. Notice how these flourishes enhance the overall appearance of this signature. The flourishes appear to be balanced and to lead the eye from one part of the signature to the next. They appear to flow evenly from the first letter to the last. This produces a design that has unity and visual appeal.

Figure 7-8: Poor examples of flourished signatures.

Figure 7-9: A better design of a flourished signature.

Using the empty guidelines below, try you hand at designing your own flourished signature:

1. Experiment. Try writing your signature several different ways.

2. Incorporate different kinds of flourishes.

3. Select one that looks the best.

4. Refine it by making the flourishes even better.

5. Draw the design lightly in pencil.

6. Go over it in pen.

7. Evaluate your results.

If you don’t like your results, repeat the above steps until you come up with a final product that you’re happy with.

Creating Other Embellishments

Because the pen automatically draws thicks and thins, it can be used to create some very interesting designs and doodles. Designs, such as the ones used in Figure 7-10, can be used as accents and ornaments to your calligraphy.

You can use these to create a bullet list, to begin or end a paragraph, and to add a point of emphasis to a title or to text. Many of these designs can even be incorporated into flourishes. For example, a flourish might end with a small flower design. The graphic designer would call these “dingbats.” Again, use them with restraint. Don’t overdo them.

Figure 7-10: A few examples of doodles you can create with the broad-edge pen.

Now take at shot at practicing some doodles below. Just trace the ones you see in gray, and then copy them in the blank space below.