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Hello there,
This is my first attempt at an Egyptian alphabet (or any alphabet for that matter). I am still trying to get the hang of the brush and I know more practice will help, I just wanted to post this to gauge my progress over time and hopefully get some pointers from some professionals.
Here is a little look at my setup.
Well feel free to give me any advice. I've been looking through the forum and have found some useful information about brushes and what not but not so much about starting out. I have the new "Sign Painters" book which has some informations about practicing strokes and what not. Are there any other online resources that would be helpful for a beginner such as myself?
Brian,
If I may be so bold. You are about to make the same mistake that I made about 35 years ago.
I would strongly suggest you look at the exercise that is on The Letterheads website: It is a chart of the basic strokes for 1 stroke lettering. I have wrestled with letter control my entire career because I impatiently placed the cart before the horse, in my eagerness to move too fast. I have gone back and practiced these strokes several hundred times each over the last week. I am half way done now (Control is coming, almost feels automatic without the struggle). Then I will begin drawing the Egyptian letters in propotion and paint the properly drafted characters 20 or 30 times to memorized the letters relationship with one another.
I think Mr. Jackson may have been responsible for putting these old charts up and teaching a veteran the importance of paying your dues. There are no good shortcuts.
Please take this to heart....I feel excited about the brush again!
Hi Brian.
I have a few suggestions:
I noticed the O and the Q. The O looks ok in shape, but the Q
is not as good. They are both the same in shape: A Circle.
I would suggest Drawing Lines, be it straight or circle, then
pratice following the line in 1 Stroke.
To many times, someone will paint the stroke in pieces, meaning
they will pull a line, stop, and paint again.
Also, use tape for the Top & Bottom. This helps in defining
the Letter. Although this is considered cheating, it will
help in your construction. When you are finished, pull the tape,
then finish the top & bottom Round Letters.
Last suggestion.
Pratice the 1 Stroke. It does not matter what you paint, but the
more you get use to pulling a stroke, the better you become
in any Letter Style.
Kevin,
Thanks for the input, but I am confused about something. Do you mean practicing pulling the O and Q in one stroke as opposed to half the circle then the other half?
Either way for the time being I will stick to practicing the basic strokes for one stroke lettering (as mentioned above) and drawing letterforms in pencil.
Brian,
1 stroke really isn't just one stroke, especially with a blocked letter like Egyptian.
You are correct an O is two strokes a left and a right. I would not say that a single stroke O is impossible to do but it would be awkward because of the extreme twirl you would have to master. My thumb isn't wide enough.
Figured I would keep all my posts in one thread to minimize clutter. Here is a shot of a sign I'm making for my girlfriend for valentines day. First time working with wood (staining, finishing) and first time using a pounce pattern. I drew the pattern using Dick Bird's Roman alphabet as reference. I intend on having a 2 tone shade to the bottom right, light and dark pink for Valentine's day. Thank you for putting up with my beginner posts.
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Looks good, but a bit crowded on the board.
Shocard writers were always taught to give wide margins; signpainters tend to use up the space more. Some times just changing the surrounding 'white space' can make the same layout go from 'elegant' to 'industrial'.
The nice thing about hand lettering is that one can modify the letters to fit the circumstances.
Nicely drawn letters. Keep sketching with a pencil, it will provide a balance to the more direct work of the brush or pen. (and i suppose one could always draw other things than letters, though I don't know why...)
Thank you for your kind words Lee,
Here is a shot of the finished product. As this is my first proper sign, I am pleased with the outcome. I hope my girlfriend is too!
-Brian
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Looks like your on your way... like the shading nicely done.
Your girlfriend should be thrilled you took the time to create a unique gift.
Don't forget the little heart shaped box full of chocolates though...
Tim
Sure I paint thing for my amusement and then offer them for sale. A brushslinger could whither en die from lack of creativity in this plastic town my horse threw a shoe in.
My first paid job.
The museum I work at hired me to create title signs for different sections of an exhibit featuring historic pieces from the collection paired with work from contemporary artists. They wanted graffiti styled signs at first but I advocated for more traditional lettering over a graffiti style background.
Not pictured is the actually graffiti style sign as it came out much worse than these.
Nice lettering - mostly smooth strokes, consistent letterforms, good coverage. But a bit more margin would help - they feel sorta like a guy wearing a tie that is too tight.
Let me put in a plug for thumbnail drawings - they can be real loose, but for learning practice I think 'sort of' accurate is useful. Start with the board size, drawn to scale on letter size paper. In fact, maybe do 2 or 3 rectangles. Now you can lightly pencil in some ideas, and erase parts, and work out the shapes with a pencil before you hit the brush. Sketching is not the same as brush lettering, but it is good training for the eye and hand, it's faster, and it smells less!
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads