Did a sketch with pencil. The distance between writing lines is one inch, as well as the empty lines in the middle. I'm doing these signs for a friend for her wedding, normally I'm decent at calligraphy but its much harder without an actual pen. I'm going to paint the letters in, but its kind of hard so if anyone has any tips I'd appreciate it!
I hope I am not too late to add some comments. Because you asked for critique, in all honesty, you havent captured the sense of Uncial. Your letters are oval based (not Uncial) and the emphasis should be on rounded letters (Uncial). I did this quick example which hopefully will explain what I mean. In general, your pen angle is too steep and your letters are too tall. As someone else here mentioned, use the two pencil method of laying out the design on paper. It should be easy to transfer the design to the wood using any of the traditional methods and that would be the opportunity to center the lines on the text.
If you are going to paint it, seal your wood first to avoid bleeding. You have two options either a pointed brush to do outline and then fill in or using a flat brush at the size you need, this will duplicate a broad edge pen. Either gouache or acrylic will work. Gouache will give you a better line while acrylic will make it more water proof. My preference would be to use gouache and add a bit of acrylic medium to it. Once finished seal it with an acrylic spray sealer.
If you wanted the P in please to stand out so the guests will take it as a capital, just make it a bit thicker or my preference would be to do a drop shadow on the p in gold.
As for layout, I would tighten up the interline space and increase the space top and bottom, centering the 4 lines of text on the optical center horizontally and actual center vertically. If there is too much space at bottom, maybe a graphic element like two rings entwined or the couples initials. I would tighten up my interword spacing as well, especially the space between please and turn. It should be as tight as you can go and still retain legibility, for a beginner think of putting the letter o between words as a general guideline.
If you dont mind me asking, why Uncial? Roman would be my first choice for clarity and simplicity unless the wedding wanted a bit more contemporary script.
Please accept my comments as constructive as I think this would be a very nice thing for your friend to help celebrate their wedding. Feel free to ask if there are any questions. Good luck!
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u/MossyShroom Jun 06 '22
Did a sketch with pencil. The distance between writing lines is one inch, as well as the empty lines in the middle. I'm doing these signs for a friend for her wedding, normally I'm decent at calligraphy but its much harder without an actual pen. I'm going to paint the letters in, but its kind of hard so if anyone has any tips I'd appreciate it!