Journal Class first lesson

Have you ever wanted to journal some of your vacations or special events? I’ll show you what I use and how to draw and write what you see. You don’t have to draw very well to do journaling. We will use some drawing, painting, collage, and other interesting techniques to add to your pages.

What is a sketchbook journal? As the name suggests, it is a book usually bound, containing both sketches and bits of personal history and observations. More than a diary of written words, it is an outlet for visual expression and artistic creativity. Where words leave off, the sketchbook journal awakens the mind with shapes, colors and textures, all seen through the eye of the recorder and preserved in his own personal style.

As a very personal work, your sketchbook journal need not be shared with everyone. It is not a mini-gallery open to public critique, but rather a safe haven where the creative mind is allowed to express, experiment, discover, document and dream, with no thought of pleasing others. Therefore, one should never apologize for the art or thoughts contained within. Rarely are the sketches contained in a journal the recorder’s best art. The sketches are often quickly made; if they catch the essence of a memory, they have done their job. Only the illustrations in an in-depth study journal need be as detailed and precise as possible.

Within the pages of this book, I have shared many entries based on my personal memory and sketchbook journals. Some of the illustrations are detailed and elaborate, reflecting days when I had plenty of time and interest to devote to the subject; other sketches are mere scribbles. Nevertheless, each one reminds me of a specific subject or experience and is therefore adequate. The written journal entries are penned in uppercase block letters so that you can distinguish them from the other text. Any idiosyncrasies or unique spellings in the journal pages add to the inherent integrity of the artwork and should be enjoyed as such. They only enhance the work and make it more personal.

It is my hope that this glimpse into the pages of my life, as well as the instruction and advice contained within this book, may inspire you to begin your own sketchbook journal. Remember that there is no greater way one can celebrate life than to create a legacy of memories.

How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal by Claudia Nice

First we will learn the monoline italic version that is a clean, easy to write and read style that will record your thoughts.

Next, we’ll learn some techniques of drawing that is natural, for you individually.

Lesson Sequence

Lettering

Exemplar: Monoline

1. Practice the lowercase either straight up or on a slant. Do what is natural to your own hand.

Practice letter by letter in the letter families. Letters are about 1/2 as wide as they are tall. Keep the letters kind of sharp and triangular instead of round. Only practice each letter 3 times then move on to the next. Be sure to look at the examples between each time that you write so you are sure to write the “correct” forms.

2. Practice writing words using “picket fence” spacing. ALL THE WHITE SPACES ARE THE SAME, INSIDE THE LETTER AND BETWEEN THE LETTERS. Really!!!! They are supposed to be the SAME!!!!!! This gives an overall gray color to the full page.

3. Capitals

Again, practice each one 3 times at a time. Look at the exemplar each time.

4. Choose whether to use plain or decorative capitals. You can combine some plain some decorative. Make some Large and some small. Just look at the overall design and decide as you go along.

 Illustration

There are many ways to illustrate. We will start with drawing.

Next we’ll cut out interesting things and glue them to the page in an interesting way. Use a glue stick. Typically a UHU is acid free, but others are also. Use watercolors, pencils, watercolor pencils to make squiggle borders and little colorful marks around the pictures.

Today we picked some foliage from outside. Purple and orange flowers, green leaves were some of the material we used to mix colors. Using the color palettes that were in our paint box we tried to mix the exact same colors that were found in the materials. It teaches us how to put color together to make different hues. Then we drew the flower or leaf and colored it with the colors we mixed. It's also fun to write calligraphy with the colors that you mixed. We painted swatches onto the paper until we got the color that we were comfortable with. 

The homework assignment was to write something about what we did in the class today. Also, to write in the journal everyday. You can draw anything, from the pen that sits on the table to scenery outside the window. The more you practice the more you will get in touch with "your personal style". It takes awhile to get a "feel" for your "style". Give yourself the practice and time to figure it out. The more you practice the letterforms the better you will get with the rhythm. I had so much fun today, but I was really tired when I got home. Were you? I can't wait to sit down and do some journaling. I'm going to Ojai, so I'll draw when I go there. I hope you have a great week! Remember to bring your camera if you have one. It's great to take pictures of others work and pictures in books.

Here are the books in the library I brought to class today

Books that I used for reference;

Drawing Made Easy     by David Sanmiquel ISBN 0-8069-6927-X  Sterling Publishing

The Natural Way To Draw     by  Kimon Nicolaides  Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston

Perspective Made Easy   by Ernest R Norling

The Pleasures of Gardening  by Angelea Stanford  ISBN 0-7683-2353-3

CEDCO Publishing

Watercolor Journeys Create your own travel sketchbook by Richard Schilling

ISBN 1-58180-272-2 North Light Books

The Watercolorist’s Nature Journal How to create a personal record of the natural world around you.  by Jill Bays ISBN 07153 1147-6  David And  Charles

Create Your Own Artist’s Journal by Erin OtToole ISMB 1-58180-170-X

How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal by Claudia Nice

Artful Journals Making and Embellishing Memory Books, Garden Diaries And Travel Albums by Janet Takahashi ISBN 13: 978-1-60059-069-6 Lark/Chapelle Books

Italic Letters Calligraphy & Handwriting by Inga Dubay and Barbary Getty Revised Edition Portland University Continuing Education Press ISBN: 0-87678-091-5

Picture of materials for Journaling Class

Material List and description of journal class

Beverly Hills Adult School Summer Registration June 12, 2009

701 Whittier Dr. Beverly Hills

310-551-5150

www.beverlyhills.k12.ca.us Journal your vacation or special events

Have you ever wanted to journal some of your vacations or special events? I’ll

show you what I use and how to draw and write what you see. You don’t have to

draw very well to do journaling. We will use some drawing, painting, collage, and

other interesting techniques to add to your pages. Call the school to register and

get material list. Or go to designingletters.com

2 four hour classes

Monday June 29 and July 6th

10-2pm 10-2pm 4 hour class

Journal your vacation or special events

In two 4 hour classes, we will learn enough to get started on our journals. If you already

journal we can work on improvements or just get new ideas to make it better. We will

schedule some classes later to continue improving your journaling skills such as; mixing

colors, how to draw what you see, how to draw quickly and polishing-up your illustration

techniques.

Materials needed:

1.Fanny pack

2.Small watercolor set that is meant for outdoor painting.

There are many brands, some are as cheap as $16. They generally come with a pointed

watercolor brush. I use a Windsor and Newton Cotman set with 12 colors. If a brush is

not included bring a Windsor and Newton Series 707 size #3 sable brush.

3. Small jar

1 oz. size, something like a little honey jar or jelly jar from a restaurant. This needs to be

water-tight. Put into a small zip lock bag till you know for sure if it’s water-tight.

4. Small container with water (1oz.)

5. Journal that will fit into fanny pack

I like a 5x7 with black hard cover and spiral bound. It usually has paper suitable for

sketching but will take watercolor. Canson and Strathmore make journals. Bring what

you have and we’ll see what works best.

6. A waterproof fine tip black pen. I use Zig Millenium black .01 pen or

Micron Pigma .01 or similar tool

7. A mechanical pencil that the lead can be retracted to keep a tip. It can be

HB or 2H lead

8. Small blunt tip scissors

9. Glue stick

I will show a photo of materials on my website designingletters.com so you can see

what everything looks like. I will post some pictures of journaling examples on the

website or on my blog site: DeAnnSinghCalligraphy.blogspot.com. The blog will have

current and up-to-the-minute information.

I will put pictures of materials and examples on my website and blog site.

Journal Class Materials for Beverly Hills Class

(Final) Class of Copperplate for June 8, 2009 at Beverly Hills.

Today DeAnn encouraged everyone to experiment with different pens and markers to address envelopes in fun ways.  She “drew” names in Copperplate with markers & filled in the thicks with different colors. Then she wrote the address in monoline. 

Tip:  If you feel the envelope looks “plain” or “boring”, draw decorative horizontal lines above and/or below the names. Metallic gold lines look especially nice.

Flourishing:  The 3 elements are Figure 8, Oval, and Circle. Direction changes are small loop, full stop, and turnarounds.  Think of the flourishing around a name as the “doily” surrounding the solid name. If you see a gap in the flourishing, add an individual flourish to balance it.

Then we had our potluck and wished everyone a great summer!

 

Copperplate Banners

updated artwork

finishing details and banners

banners

updated artwork and banners

Notice the finishing details on some of last weeks assignments. Banners made by drawing the copperplate letters with pencil then filling in with a marker. The initial capital on the blue and yellow piece below in last week's blog was done with an EF66 Brause nib. It's done with the same large gestures and colored in with gouache. 

making banners with drawn copperplate letters

Class of Copperplate for June 1, 2009 at Beverly Hills. 

By Judy Shibata

Today DeAnn demonstrated drawing copperplate in pencil, then coloring it in with markers. On "masking" paper used for house painting that she found at Home Depot, she wrote out a name in pencil. She drew each letter and filled it in before going to the next one so the spacing would be even. Then she colored it in using markers.  Erase the pencil carefully. Tip:  erase in one direction to reduce the chance of smudging and/or paper wrinkling.  The paper was greenish-colored, about 6 inches wide and on a roll.

 Then DeAnn demonstrated writing copperplate with brush markers. Hold the pen high for thins, low for thicks, and apply pressure like when writing with the copperplate nib. Shadowing with a gray marker gives a 3-D effect. Types of brush markers:  Pentel Metallic Brush, Zig Brush, Elmers Paintastics, Prang Metallic Brush Pens, Marvy LePlumes, Pitt Brush Pen.

 DeAnn also covered addressing envelopes. For formal addressing, start the first waist-line around the center of the envelope. If the envelope is light-colored and isn’t lined or of heavyweight paper, then you should be able to see guidelines on acetate (transparency) using a light table. Highlight the lines on the guideline that you’ll be writing on.  Set the envelope up on the guideline & tape corners (cut from another envelope) into position so that you can easily insert & remove envelopes for addressing without having to line it up against the guideline each time.

Tips on addressing:  look over the list of addressees and write out the longest and shortest lines to get an idea of the range in line length.  Find an average to use.

 If it’s difficult to see the guidelines on the light table, try turning off the ambient light around you.  That should improve visibility.

 If the envelope is dark-colored or has a lining inside and you can't see the guideline through it, use the "Phantom Liner" or ("Reflections" as they are now called.) This is a system of using reflective acrylic panels and writing on the lines “reflected” on the paper.

 After you address an envelope, place it in a drying rack.  DeAnn uses one that her husband made from a spring attached to a wooden board.

 Homework:  See the “friendship” handout. Trace it with pencil on a piece of practice paper (or draw in freehand using the 1-inch x-height guideline), then fill it in with pencil. Pay special attention to the curves and where they start to thicken and thin. Do them one letter at a time. See that all the down strokes are the same width, see that the white spaces are the same. You can set yours over the exemplar to see if it's similar to the one DeAnn drew.