A Prize Worth Writing For ~ Penmanship Contest

[Ghost Plane]

Agree. Something about spreading the English balances the compact Arabic, yet mirrors the long strokes. Gives the composition a symmetry.

[ninly]

...

ninly - Arabic Calligraphy is a lot of fun. Its not always easy to read though. In fact some scripts (like Diwani used here) were designed to be hard to read. I've kept my rendering quite straightforward though.

 

Interesting. My knowledge of Arabic script pretty much stops with the alphabet. I've seen exemplars of different calligraphic styles, but I don't know the intricacies at all, or much about actually writing the stuff. And I don't know the language beyond a few words and short phrases. It's always fascinated me, though.

[Rena]

I'm loving this thread. I'm pitying the judge(s)......

[smk]

 

Lovely, and so ingenious, to craft the English to give the flavor of Arabic.

 

Agree. Something about spreading the English balances the compact Arabic, yet mirrors the long strokes. Gives the composition a symmetry.

 

Thanks CBM and GP. I can't take all the credit for the English style though. This style has been influenced firstly by my cousin's handwriting (who is a doctor and prefers to write with stubs) and secondly by another Calligrapher; E.A. Holland. I have modified it a bit to add a gothic flavor borrowing some shapes from the Gothic Batarde. This has been a lot of fun and I got a new script out of it!

 

Here's another composition. Traditionally uncials were written as fairly dense blocks of text. In this composition I try to give the idea of the block in a rough circular shape thats trying to free itself from the binds - indeed you can see where it has separated in the 'to the king' part. The parts written in darker ink don't really signify anything although the pen of a ready scribe _is_ a pleasing theme to me :-)

 

The pens and inks used were Parker Vector Calligraphy pen with an X sized nib filled with Pelikan Brilliant Brown and Manuscript Calligraphy pen with a 3B italic nib filled with MB Toffee Brown (can you see these are my favorite inks?). The paper is Mondi IQ Selection in 160 gsm.

 

 

I have a variation on the Arabic-English composition ready too and was planning on a dip-pen and handwriting entry too but it seems like I'm hogging too much of the thread at this point so I think I'll wait a bit before posting those.

 

Salman

[GClef]

OK, no chance of winning; I'm no calligrapher, but someone's got to be the first, so maybe I'll get half a mark for that!

 

 

Can I have another go later - if I practise a bit more?

PS Lamy Joy, Herbin 1670 and Aurora black inks.

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/DSC00409.jpg

[GClef]

Time for me to chime in. Unfortunately there was a little feathering on some parts of the leaf. I had a better leaf done up, but spelled "swiftly" wrong, so had to trash it.

 

This contest gave me some neat ideas! Wondering if its allowed to have multiple entries? May do up one on actual paper heh.

 

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s79/PoppinSwav/IMG_1026.jpg

 

:ph34r: Swavey

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/DSC00410.jpg

[GClef]

Here's mine! Thanks to a Latinist friend of mine, I was able to find the correct passage in the Latin Vulgate. It was fun to do calligraphy again after a few months of no practise! I should work on decorating, though - I generally have no idea what to do for decorations!

 

There is some slight feathering, but it was the only blank paper I had that wasn't cheap copier paper.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/5853824410_46e29ff61d_b.jpg

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/DSC00411.jpg

[The penner]

GClef, your posts are so much more organic!

[aquariusamethyst]

Here is probably my last entry, but my favorite of the ones I've done, because it is so fun to write.

I used Noodlers flex pen, Parker Quink Black, and Strathmore Parchment paper.

[Ghost Plane]

Salman, keep posting, please. I'm loving seeing the various forms.

[palansil]

I've really been enjoying following this contest. Nice work everyone! I finally got around to making an entry. It is based on the style of the Book of Kells. I've got a long way to go before I master this hand but it's not bad for a first attempt at the style.

 

 

 

 

 

http://home.comcast.net/~palansil/008.jpg

 

 

I used a Lamy Joy 1.5mm with Noodler's Black. The small dots around the "E" are done with a Pilot Penmanship with Levenger Cobalt Blue and the filled in part of the "E" is Waterman Blue-Black from a Parker "51". The paper is Strathmore Calligraphy paper.

[watch_art]

I've really been enjoying following this contest. Nice work everyone! I finally got around to making an entry. It is based on the style of the Book of Kells. I've got a long way to go before I master this hand but it's not bad for a first attempt at the style.

 

 

I gotta say that this is my favorite so far, and that's saying a lot b/c some of these are REALLY nice. I just really love the first e and the shapes of the letters throughout...

Edited June 28, 2011 by watch_art

[ninly]

It's been said, but I don't envy the judges in this contest! Fantastic uncial submissions, some bristling blackletter, and I love the Insular interpretation, too!

 

Shoot, Sister Mary Alecia wouldn't have smacked you with a ruler, like she did Harley! LOL

 

Who's Harley? Is that the Marine?

[picautomaton]

I have spent the better part of 25 years getting to this point -

[MrMGWard]

All the entries keep getting more and more beautiful! This has quickly become my favorite thread on the FPN.

 

:ph34r: Swavey

[smk]

Here's entry no. 3 for me.

 

PIP: The English is written with Manuscript Calligraphy pen with MB Toffee Brown. The Arabic is done with a Sheaffer Italic pen ground to left oblique with Sheaffer Skrip Red ink and a Pelikan school pen ground to a small left oblique with Lamy Black ink.The paper is tea stained Mondi IQ Selection 160 gsm.

 

 

Salman

[hlyuqi]

Here's entry no. 3 for me.

 

PIP: The English is written with Manuscript Calligraphy pen with MB Toffee Brown. The Arabic is done with a Sheaffer Italic pen ground to left oblique with Sheaffer Skrip Red ink and a Pelikan school pen ground to a small left oblique with Lamy Black ink.The paper is tea stained Mondi IQ Selection 160 gsm.

 

 

Salman

Salman

That's so beautiful!Now I'm preparing my entry,but I don't know how to decorate my writing. = =

[countrydirt]

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m44/countrydirt/IMG_0491.jpg

[smk]

Salman

That's so beautiful!Now I'm preparing my entry,but I don't know how to decorate my writing. = =

 

Thanks hlyuqi. Not that your beautiful Copperplate needs any decoration but you can do a Copperplate entry in the style found in The Universal Penman where one word is written in Gothic and flourished with a flex nib - I think you can go a lovely composition in that style with the word 'King' written in Gothic or Batarde and flourished with the flex nib - especially the stem of the 'K'. The rest of the text is balanced around this word. What do you think?

 

I'll probably do a Copperplate entry too but I don't know if I can pull off that style, I'll make mine a simple one I think.

 

Salman

[smk]

>>> image deleted <<<

 

Don't give up!

 

I think the style that appears at the top of the bottom page is very pleasing. A simple composition like that would be a good contender in my opinion. You can just write it out and balance the last like with writing 'Psalm 45:1' to the right on the line below the last one.

 

Salman