October 26, 2009
Beverly Hills Adult School Class #6: Today DeAnn brought in lots of books about illuminated manuscripts and decorative capital letters for us to look at and take pictures of.
The handouts were the template for our illuminated manuscript project (8 1/2 x 11 size) and an exemplar for Versals and Lombardic.
Project Template: DeAnn recommends highlighting the waist-base lines which you’ll write on so that they’ll be clearly visible even under the pergamanatta paper to be used for the project. Use the 1 1/2 mm Brause nib with black ink for the body (about 40 words will fit). You will be drawing & painting in the initial decorative capital and the first four lines.
Look at Books for Ideas:
1. Color Schemes – e.g. Red-Blue-Green; usually 3 colors & their tins
2. Style - i.e. Flemish, Celtic, Leaves, white vine
3. Trace Letters or Designs – you can Xerox the decorative capital bigger or smaller to the desired size needed for the project
4. Use Camera to take pictures of letters and decorations
5. Use 1 1/2 mm Brause nib
6. We will paint with gouache or watercolor
Don’t get overwhelmed – as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do!” Break down the project into steps and work on one step at a time:
1. Choose text (poem, song lyrics, excerpt from long piece)
2. Trace decorative letter that is the first letter of your poem. Trace other decorative elements you like.
3. Take photos of manuscript pages in the style you like.
4. Draw the first few words in Versals and Romans (follow project template)
5. Write text in black ink with 1 1/2 mm Brause
DeAnn’s tip: whenever you feel overwhelmed, practice your text.
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