Edward johnston

Johnston abandoned his medical studies in Edinburgh and set off for London to "go in for art". He had a stroke of luck. He was put in charge of 'illuminating' classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.
He is considered the 'father' of the 20th century revival of formal lettering. His most well-known design is the block letter for London Underground, which is based on Classical Roman proportions.

Google Dance Type

Google used a special logo for the 117th birthday of the late Martha Graham. The logo is a very elegant dance logo, which slowly and elegantly forms the Google logo through dance motions.


Martha Graham is known by many as mother of modern dance. She is credited for forming a new dance style and was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She was born today on May 11, 1894 in Pennsylvania and died at the age of 96 on April 1, 1991 in New York City.

Extreame calligraphy

This is just fun

Hermann Zapf

 

Hermann Zapf was born into a turbulent time in 1918 in Nuremberg, Germany.


He joined the Karl Ulrich and Company printing firm, as an apprentice, in 1934. After this apprenticeship he worked with Paul Koch in Frankfurt. During this period he gained experience of working with handpress type and producing lettering for musical notation. However, his work was interrupted by the second world war and he worked as a cartographer in the German military. After the war Zapf worked at the Stempel AG typefoundry as artistic director.

In 1977 he was made Professor of Typographic Computer Programming at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and his fonts Palatino, Optima, Zapf Chancery, and Zapf Dingbats are now familiar designs found on all personal computers. Optima, Zapf's personal favourite font, was selected for the engraved names on the Vietnam War Memorial.

From his first typeface designed when he was just 20 years old (Gilgengart), through more than 200 others right up to the present day, Zapf's work has achieved an unmatched popular success, while maintaining an aesthetic level which has earned him praise from professionals throughout the world. Several of his most popular type designs, such as Palatino, Optima, ITC Zapf Chancery Italic, and , are resident on most home computers. Other fonts, such as Michelangelo, Zapf International, and Zapf Renaissance - among numerous others - are the mainstay of many of the finest graphic designers of today.

Optima

Palantino

ITC Zapf chancery italic

Sheila Waters

Sheila Waters (born 1929) is a calligrapher and teacher. She was born in Gravesend, England and graduated from the Medway College of Art in Kent and at the Royal College of Art in London. There she developed her calligraphic skills under the tutelage of Dorothy Mahoney (assistant to the great pioneer of calligraphy, Edward Johnston).

At twenty-two, Waters was elected a Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and began a career devoted to commissions for royalty, museums, libraries, collectors and publishers.

A gifted teacher, Waters has shared her extensive knowledge and techniques with calligraphers in innumerable workshops in North America and Europe She inaugurated the program of calligraphy courses at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and later developed her own private classes and annual workshops. She travels extensively, lecturing and teaching workshops for every major calligraphy society in North America between 1972 and 2007.

The first President and founding member of the Washington Calligraphers Guild, Sheila was included in the 1981 World Who's Who of Women. Her work is included in many of the important books which have been published about calligraphy after 1950. She is the author of Foundations of Calligraphy, published in 2006. This book quickly established itself as one of the classic instructional works on the subject. Waters was married to bookbinder, library conservator Peter Waters from 1953 until his death in 2003.

Sheila's sons include Julian Waters (calligrapher), a leading lettering designer and typographer, who was also protegé of the legendary German type designer Hermann Zapf; Michael Waters, inventor of an automated boxmaking machine for phase boxes and Chris Waters an entrepreneur.

Julian Waters

The work of Julian Waters is familiar to all those in thecalligraphic community. Through his lettering for the most prestigious of clients, such as National Geographic Magazine and The United States Postal Service.

Julian Waters is the son of calligrapher Sheila Waters and bookbinder/conservator Peter Waters. He also studied extensively with the legendary type designer Hermann Zapf, who later picked Julian as his successor to teach the summer master classes at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Julian’s clients have included the U.S. Postal Service, National Geographic, and many agencies, institutions and companies. His typeface designs include Adobe Waters Titling Pro and a custom typeface family for the new Visitors Center at Jefferson’s Monticello where he was the typographic designer/advisor. He has received many awards from the Type Directors Club, Gra¬phis, Art Directors Club, Print, and Letter Arts Review, among others.

Denis Brown

Denis Brown has been inspired by Ireland’s ancient manuscripts since his schooldays; his formal training in traditional calligraphy was at London’s Roehampton Institute. Now his work explodes from and extends those traditions in the form of innovative modern works of art, with awards and commissions over four continents

Brown push boundaries while continually refining and extending traditional skills. He uses letterforms and writing to create three-dimensional layered works of art where a thousand words may paint a picture. At a time in history where handwriting is being eclipsed by e-mail, text messaging and other digital means of communication, Browns work explores the meaning and function of being a scribe in the 21st century.

The great book of Ireland is a huge volume of 250 pages, 510 by 360 by 110mm, it bring together the work of 121 artists, 143 poets and 9 composers who painted, drew and wrote directly on the vellum. Calligraphy by Denis Brown to each opening serves to unify the book

A Thousand Wishes' series, Calligraphy in Glass, 2009 

Brown asked people to e-mail him a wish, he then wrote many hundreds of their wishes into these works. Etched in glass and with writing layered on top of writing, the wishes remain mostly secret/illegible, but they embody 3-D images of dandelion 'blow balls'. In releasing a private wish to he  hoped it might become more tangible to the wisher.

 

Glass Table  with centerpiece made of layered glass calligraphy

Tabletop
10mm glass, toughened, edge-beveled, and acid etched on both sides.

Centerpiece
8 sheets of hand engraved & etched picture glass, in an asymmetric shape. These are layered 6mm apart over a background sheet of watercolor paper, which bears a mono printed image composed from blurred scans from the glass engraving. All are held together in a wooden frame that slots into a plywood base that has been painted & rough gilded with aluminium.

Description of central image
A vortex of engraved lettering, whirling outward in 3-D from a black central cavity. The top left corner of the asymmetric form features layers of frosted glass stepping downward over the 3 dimensional depth. In context of themes brown has used in other glass art, the central vortex may suggests either an eye or a womb.

 

Preview image of proposed architectural glass installation of calligraphy by Denis Brown. Aluminum frames of 5cm depth hold multiple spaced layers of hand engraved glass & Plexiglas. 3-D 'text'ures of overlapping layers of writing build images that contain messages that may be partially deciphered by the careful observer on close inspection and related to site specific concerns.

 

 

Gothic lettering does not have to follow traditional alphabet styles or so called Old English calligraphy. This example derives as much from an understanding of italic. It is browns own style as much as any style.

Rythmic typography

 

Thomas Ingmire

Thomas ingmire is one of the forerunners of the modern western calligraphy movement in the world today. Focused on the exploration of calligraphy as fine arts medium.

He has exhibited widely.


The uniqueness of Thomas Ingmire’s art work lies in its relationship to the traditions of calligraphy. Testimony to his talent as a craftsman was his election in 1977 to the English Society of Scribes and Illuminators. Ingmire was the first American and first person outside of the United Kingdom to receive this honor.

Ingmire has also been an important teacher in the world calligraphy community. He has taught since l978 and has conducted workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and several countries in Europe as well as in Japan and Hong Kong.

Alchimie du Verbe (1988)

 Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork (1999)

Collaborations with Joseph Goldstein.
  

PASSION PLACE (l997)

RHYTHMS SERIES 1 (1997)

THE EDGE OF LIGHT (1998)

English Calligraphy

Old English Calligraphy history is by far an intriguing story

The Roman alphabets is the alphabet used for the English language. In the history of Old English writing Calligraphy, its alphabets origons goes way back to pictography. Pictography is believed to have been the first writing system. Pictography, is drawning simple pictures that represent images of real life object or beings.

 

The phonic alphabets is developed from pictography. The phonic alphabet influenced the Greek alphabet, then the Romans developed there alphabets from the Greek alphabet, which is used in the English writing system till this day. Since then there has been many developments and improvements to the Roman alphabets system, and it evolved over time in visual form and legibility as well as techniques and materials used.
The Greek alphabets were developed using phonic alphabets in around 2500BC. Not so directly was the Roman alphabet learnt from the Greek alphabet but learnt from the Etruscans who learned from the Greeks alphabet.
The Roman alphabet In the first century AD had the alphabet letters j, v and w added.
During the end of the Roman empire the Papyrus scroll was replaced by the codex books.

 

In the fourth century AD the Romans developed a script called the 'uncials script'. This developed and aloud for a new script influenced by the 'uncials script'(3rd to 7th century) called the 'half-uncials script'(3rd to 9th century) This script was a cursive styled script and there was developments from the ascenders and descenders of this script from the last 'uncials script'.

Roman Origins = pictography to phonic alphabet to Etruscans alphabet to Greek alphabet to the Roman alphabet.
Some other type of letter scripts used in old English calligraphy was the Gothic and Medieval calligraphy. Gothic calligraphy is also known as black letters. They are a sans serif script of the middle ages which originated from the British Northan France. Gothic script was heavily used during 11 to 16th century Britain. The medieval calligraphy was used in Britain mainly during the periods.

English calligraphers to look at: Edward Johnson, Ken Brown, Peter Bales, Hermann Zapf, Zapf Chancery, Neil Macmillan, Robin Dodd, Quentin Crisp and Humphrey Lyttelton.

Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese Calligraphy is as intriguing as the Japanese Culture itself. It originated in China and goes back to around 28 BC. It came to Japan when Chinese culture was becoming more widespread, which was in the periods of Asoka (552-646) and Nara (646-794).

History of Japanese Calligraphy

The 'Kara Yo' calligraphy style, derived from the Chinese calligraphy's use of structure, in there following of strict axes and symmetrical rules. 'Kara Yo' started from around the Kamakura period, which was from 1192 to 1333. Little is known of the history of Japaneses calligraphy within this style.
'Kana' is a Japanese style developed by Chinese calligraphy. The characters in this calligraphy style expresses sound not ideographic, unlike most of the other Asian and Chinese calligraphy styles. The sub-styles used in the 'Kana' calligraphy are; Man'yo-gana, Hiragana and Katakana. Also there are distinctive styles that are common for men and women. The men's hand writing style is known as 'katakana' and 'kenji' whereas the women's handwriting style is known to be 'onokode' and 'so'( grass writing).
The Styles of writing within Japanese calligraphy are; Tensho 'The Seal Script', Reisho 'The Scribe script', Zattaisho 'The ornamental Script', Gyosho 'The Semi cursive Script' and Shosho 'The Cursive Script', Hiragana ordinary syllabic script and the 'Wayo Style' Kara yo 'the Japanese architectural style'. As time went on and as Japanese culture rose, the Japaneses developed there own calligraphy style and writing system called 'Wayo'. This style implemented the 8 basic strokes that would be used in Japanese calligraphy. The strokes are sharper than the Chinese characters.
Calligraphy is known as 'shodo' in Japan which means 'the way of writing'. The Japanese now have 2 main calligraphy styles called 'kana' and 'kanji'.

• Kaisho Kaisho literally means “correct writing”. In other words, this is the style in which each of the strokes is made in a deliberate and clear way, creating a form that is very similar to the printed version of the character that one might see in a newspaper.
  This is the form that students of calligraphy study first, since it is close to the everyday written characters they are already familiar with, but at the same time it gives them the opportunity to get used to using the brush (fude) correctly.
  Below you can see the character for “dream” written in kaisho style on the left, and on the right as written using a word processor. Notice how similar they are in form.
  
• Gyousho Gyousho literally means “traveling writing” and refers to the semi-cursive style of Japanese calligraphy. Like cursive handwriting in English, this is the style that most people will usually use to write with when taking notes. Furthermore, as with English cursive style, what are written as separate strokes in kaisho style flow together to form a more rounded whole in gyousho. Text written in this style is can usually be read by the majority of educated Japanese.
  The same character is written in gyousho below with the printed version for comparison once more. Notice how it is more flowing and artistic.
  
• Sousho Sousho means “grass writing” and refers to the flowing cursive style of calligraphy. Here, form supersedes readability as the calligraphy artist rarely allows her brush to leave the paper, resulting in a graceful, swooping shapes. Only those trained in shodou are usually able to read this type of script.
  Notice how the shape of the character is now almost completely unrecognizable as the same kanji in print on the right. It is now more a stylized work of art than a vehicle for conveying information.
   

Korean calligraphy

Korean calligraphy, is seen as a pure art form in the Korean culture, and other Asian cultures.
It is one of Korea’s most loved art forms. The calligrapher’s brush strokes flows, and dances, across surfaces producing beautiful letter forms. The subject matter of the calligraphy and personality of the calligrapher combines in the letterforms.

 

The Korean alphabets were created as early as 1447. Despite the Koreans having their own alphabets, they were using Chinese alphabets for their official script up until the 19th century.
A person looking at East Asian calligraphy for the first time might find it hard to tell the differences between Korean and other Asian calligraphy types. But when you have recognised and learnt the basics of each Eastern Asian calligraphy type, you will instantly know the differences between them.

 

Modern calligraphy in Korea is trying to steer away from other calligraphy types especially Chinese and create an unique identity of its own.

Islamic Calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy is the beautiful writing of the Arabic script. It is has been the main Islamic art since the Quran's revelation 610 AD. It has helped and continues to help preserve the beautiful words of the Quran. The Muslim scribes of the time recorded the Quranic text and many of the Muslim's memoriesed it. Images of living beings are not aloud to be drawn in Islam so the text is very precious.

The Nabatean script was the recorded earliest form of pre-Arabic script. The early Arabs, called the Nabatean's, are said to have developed the Aramaic script, also known as the north Arabic script, during around the 5th century. It became very popular and swept to the rest of the ancient middle east in around 9 BCE. Ammonite and Aramaic were languages that used the Aramaic script.
As the Aramaic language and writing evolved, the Arabic script took over and started from around 500AD, which was the first recorded Arabic alphabet. There are around roughly 20 languages all spoken today that writes in the Arabic script. As the time went on, the Aramaic dictionary was developing leading to the Arabic alphabet, evolving and becoming the most widespread writing system worldwide.
There are many types of cursive scripts used in Islamic calligraphy one being; The kufic script also known as the Kufi script. This scrip became popular in the 10th century

 

Some other Cursive scrips are

• Diwani  16th century
• Req'aa and Tawqi 9th century
• Naskh 10th century, popular calligraphy style with most of Quran written with this calligraphy script style Computers typically use Naskh or a Naskh-like script, for instance: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
• Thuluth 11th centur