Rustic lettering written with a Rotring Artpen with a 2.3 nib filled with Waterman black ink.

Another great job. Is this a newer script to you? It seemed to come along a little slower than some of the other videos you have done. Either way keep them coming. I always take tiem out to see what magic you are working with ink on paper.

Thanks, journeyman42

It's not a new script to me, but it's one I don't use very often.

To produce the very steep angle required for downstrokes, the nib should really be ground to an oblique angle, but I couldn't find one at the correct size, and I was too lazy to make one.
With a normal nib, keeping control is more difficult, and as a result, the writing slows down and the hand gets tired - at least, that's my experience!

If it becomes too tedious to watch at that speed, click on the progress bar and the image jumps forward in time!

caliken

From whence comes this script?

Thank you, caliken, once again, for sharing your skill with us, particularly this hand. I've seldom seen contemporary examples of it, other than in exemplars. Do you have any samples where you used it in your work?

Very good work! I kind of like seeing it written slow, it gives more time to see the technique.




It is a Roman script from around the 1st century AD to the 6th century.

As Lozzic says, it's an early form of Roman script. I've seen an example, written on a wall in Pompeii which was buried in 79AD.

Lefty 928 -
I regret to say that I've never used this script in my work. I've tried to suggest it on a couple of occasions but it seems to be just too different for modern eyes with the missing stroke in A and the odd-shaped U.

Interesting script this one, and very well executed (as always!).

Some info (from wikipedia):

Rustic capitals (in Latin capitalis rustica) is an ancient Roman calligraphic script. As the term is negatively connotated supposing an opposition to the more 'civilized' form of the Roman square capitals Bernhard Bischoff prefers to call the script canonized capitals.

Rustic capitals are similar to Roman square capitals, but are less rigid, influenced more by pen and ink writing on papyrus or parchment than the writing used for inscriptions. The letters are thinner and more compressed, use many more curved lines than do square capitals, and have descenders extending below the baseline.

The script was used between the 1st century and the 9th century, most often between the 4th and 6th centuries. About fifty manuscripts with rustic capitals survive, including four copies of works by Virgil (including the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus), one copy of a work by Terence, and one of a work by Prudentius. The script was usually used for de luxe copies of pagan authors; the only works by Christian authors which use this script are those by Prudentius and Sedulius.

After the 5th century, rustic capitals began to fall out of use, but they continued to be used as a display script in titles and headings, along with uncial as the script of the main text.



Thanks for posting!

[quote name='tipstricks' date='May 7 2008, 10:56 AM' post='603396']
Thanks for the extra info, tipstricks.
I was thrilled when we came across the piece of lettering on the wall in Pompeii - the tour guide didn't even mention it it!

I stumbled upon this a couple days ago and forgot to post it:

http://www.typophile.com/node/45708

I found this fascinating -- both the original post and the wild arm-swinging flame that followed it. For a subject that seems so specialized and obscure to me -- whether Jenson and Griffo made a fundamental break with scribal tradition to letter designs that were critically dependent on the sculpting of metal, rather than on purely pen-written shapes -- I was surprised at the impassioned presentation of data and argument that followed. It's kind of like someone mentioning the word "MontBlanc" here.

If I ever find myself hanging out with typographers, I'll remind myself not to bring up the subject, or even mention the names "Jenson and Griffo."

Doug

P.S. Slightly off topic but related: To anyone interested in letters, typography, and design, I'd recommend the movie Helvetica. It's about the history of the font and different designers take on it. It doesn't sound very interesting, but it's engaging and entertaining (and available at Netflix Watch Now).

I was very surprised about how that one guy blew up. They're almost never like that there.