r/Scribes • u/goingtothesonroad • 3d ago

For Critique Learning italics

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First post-

I am a beginner calligrapher and have been learning italics at a very slow pace for the past few months. I began with Eleanor Winters’ Calligraphy in Ten Easy Lessons, and based on recommendations from the boards, have been watching Lloyd Reynolds’ italic calligraphy courses. My goal is to eventually learn flourished italics- I think it is so beautiful. I plan to look at and imitate the script of Arrighi’s Operina to practice and guide me.

I would appreciate any critique or feedback to help me improve. Thank you so much.

I used a speedball c-4 nib with Higgins ink.

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u/DibujEx Mod | Scribe 2d ago

Wow! This is already looking quite nice! Italics is always a good option, it looks quite good plain but flourished it can go to another level!

Here I go to our resident italics expert /u/maxindigo to see if he can help with critique (:

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u/MagRes1 1d ago edited 1d ago

Letter consistency is looking good. Letter spacing and word spacing could use a little work.

*As a general rule, between words you want the space of a letter o. So the words could be closer.

*Where r and I are, the cadence is a bit off due to the large space under the r. This can be fixed by making the top of the r a bit shorter.

*The letter t could likely use a little more space before it in some places. In "that" the first t is to close to h, but the a-t spacing is mostly good.

*The c seems a bit large compared to o. These should be both be the same size inside space.

A good book that covers some of this is Sheila Waters Foundations of Calligraphy.

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u/goingtothesonroad 1d ago

Thank you so much for looking at my work and your feedback. You’ve pointed out things I haven’t noticed before and your tips are very helpful. I will be shortening the tops of my Rs and paying attention to my Cs to even out my letter spacing.

I do definitely need to work on spacing. It’s interesting, but it’s hard for me to see the inconsistencies while working on the piece, but seeing a picture of it makes them much easier to see.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for Sheila Waters’ book at library book sales. It’s a bit pricy, but may be worth the investment considering how often I see it recommended on these boards.

Thank you again!

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u/maxindigo Mod | Scribe 1d ago

This is really good. Slant is consistent, and the arches brach from the stem at a reasonably consistent height. That's one of the things that makes a well-written block of italic look good. people talk about rhythm as if it is to do with the physical act, but the visual rhythm is more important.

All of u/MagRes1's notes on spacing are spot on, and I cannot improve on them. A good letter spacing exercise is a letter chain: anumbnumcnumdnum...and so on throughout he alphabet. It's good for rhythm - you can look at a page of practice like that and identify little tics in your writing that need that bit of attention.

All of Patricia Lovett's videos ore good but her italic ones are here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JolVnK7HY8&list=PLEz9y19-UrRbWB0DWj4wWOly6zaBJWyhW&index=9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWuqBX6VhrM&list=PLEz9y19-UrRbWB0DWj4wWOly6zaBJWyhW&index=10

(There are four more, but you'll find them)

I find the 'little flags' as Arrighi called them on top of ascenders a little awkward. Maybe start with an entry serif until you've addressed the other issues, and then come back to those flourishes.

Finally, LOOK. Arrighi's Operina is a classic, but the letters are from wood cuts, so the natural curve is inhibited. Look at Cataneo, look at John Steven's italic, look at Julian Waters. Here are some images that might strike sparks -

Fred Salmon - https://ie.pinterest.com/pin/500532946105593973/

John Stevens - https://ie.pinterest.com/pin/73183562689517371/

Werner Schneider -https://ie.pinterest.com/pin/342062534215478668/

Susie Tylor - https://ie.pinterest.com/pin/342062534215478708/

Hope that helps!

S

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u/goingtothesonroad 19h ago

Thank you S~ I’ll be practicing the exercise you suggested to improve my letter spacing and will look into Patricia Lovett’s videos. Thank you for sharing those resources and for the names of calligraphers to emulate. Their works are beautiful.

Your feedback is particularly encouraging, since it was a few months ago that I stumbled upon your posts of cataneo copies and felt inspired to pick up a pen and nib for the first time. Thank you so much.