Sentry Page Protection
Foundational Lesson 3
Hopefully you're feeling like your pen is on your side! (I used to say that you want to feel like your pen is your friend, but if you are a fan of TV series The League of Gentlemen you might know why I don't say that any more!)
For this lesson you will need:
Pencil and ruler
Paper
Pen
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The Serif
The serif is the fancy bit at the start / end of strokes of some letters. It adds elegance to letters, plus it has the practical purpose of getting the ink flowing (lead in) and finishing the stroke neatly (lead out). (You'll perhaps have come across fonts that are described as "sans serif" - they don't have any fancy feet on the letters. This font is an example.) You've already come across the SERIF (the leading in stroke) in letters b, d and p. This lesson has more occurrences of the same, so let's just have a quick look at it. (There's a video further on that shows all the letters in this lesson) The letter i has a lead in serif, a straight line, and a lead out serif (all done in one stroke), plus a dot. (Proper name : tittle. Hope that comes up in a pub quiz for you!) I imagine a tiny round pebble on the page that the pen has to travel around - so the movement is a tiny rounded one. Try a line of i and get used to that serif - not too big and not too small, nice and round. |
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So here's more letters to try. Spot those serifs - keep them neat. And notice NO serif on top of t or bottom of f.
Here's a video showing the o being created:
Once again, time to try the letters.
Don't try and go fast - calligraphy is hardly ever written at speed. Instead, try and make sure that the pen feels good on the paper. It should be gliding along on a tiny cushion of ink - not being scrubbed along the paper.
Remember the rule of 5 - if a letter is being troublesome don't practice it more than 5 times in a row. (Your frustration will grow faster than the letter improves.
We've quite a few letter now : oecbdpq plus nmhurltfi
Hoe long a sentence can you write using just those letters? I'm not expecting anything very sensible - I came up with
humble turnip roll to find nut !
Assignment
On a clean sheet of paper, rule some light pencil lines at 4 nib widths, and write nmhurltfi.
Now write words using only letters you have learned.
Now write a sentence using any of our 16 letters.
Photograph that sheet and send it in, along with anything that will help me understand what you're finding easy / difficult.
Don't try and go fast - calligraphy is hardly ever written at speed. Instead, try and make sure that the pen feels good on the paper. It should be gliding along on a tiny cushion of ink - not being scrubbed along the paper.
Remember the rule of 5 - if a letter is being troublesome don't practice it more than 5 times in a row. (Your frustration will grow faster than the letter improves.
We've quite a few letter now : oecbdpq plus nmhurltfi
Hoe long a sentence can you write using just those letters? I'm not expecting anything very sensible - I came up with
humble turnip roll to find nut !
Assignment
On a clean sheet of paper, rule some light pencil lines at 4 nib widths, and write nmhurltfi.
Now write words using only letters you have learned.
Now write a sentence using any of our 16 letters.
Photograph that sheet and send it in, along with anything that will help me understand what you're finding easy / difficult.
