Project One, Part Two :: Perfect Painting!

Create a perfect representation in black gouache of the letter you received in class today.

Your first step is to draw out the "scaffolding" of the letter, lightly, in pencil on your piece of bristol. By scaffolding I mean the imaginary lines used to construct letterforms; baseline, median, etc.
Draw out 2 lines to represent the baseline and median in the center of the board. The x-height of your letter must be 6" tall, each line 3" above and below the center of the board.
If your letter has them, calculate and draw out lines for the ascender or descenter height. Measure out and scale up the various important points of the letter to use on your bristol.

Sketch your letterform out in pencil, then fill in the form carefully with black gouache. If you go outside the lines don't worry, it's easy to fix! After the letter is all filled in, wait til it is dry to the touch and go back in with white gouache to correct any imperfections.

To get nice straight lines, start with a black Sharpie, paint pen, or good ink pen. Freehanding the straight lines will be a disaster, unless you're really, really good.

Here's a helpful representation (you're welcome) of what you'll be making (click for a larger image):

Project One, Part Two :: Supplies

We will need the supplies listed below for the next part of this project. Someone can go on a supply run during class on Monday for the bristol and gouache, bring the rest.


Bristol - smooth, 19" x 24" (or thereabouts)
Buy this as a group! A pad of 20 sheets is about 20 dollars from Utrecht. Make sure it's the smooth variety. You should not need more than 1 sheet for this project, but accidents do happen.

Gouache - black and white
Buy this as a group as well! 1-2 large tubes (40ml) of each SHOULD be enough for 1 section.

Brushes and pencils
Small and medium brushes suit our needs. Pencils should not be too soft/dark.

Small containers for paint and water
You will be using black and white simultaneously so you'll need 2 separate containers for paint and 2 separate containers for water.

Readin' Reminder!

Repeating myself here, just in case you missed it below:
Read Thinking with Type book pages 7-33 by next Monday August 31 ("First class reading"), it's much less than is sounds like, lots of pictures!

Have your books purchased for all following reading assignments.

Project One, Part One: Drawings with Anatomy

To add a new informational layer to this phase of the project, create 2 more drawings by Monday. Incorporate labels to indicate the parts (anatomy) of your letterforms. You can start a new composition or redo one of your previous three that you believe to be compositionally and typographically engaging.

Labels can be drawn directly on your paper, be applied to a separate material and stuck on to your composition, be tied, stapled or taped to your composition. Do whatever you want! The labels should be legible when standing at around 6 feet away and should fit harmoniously into your composition.

Be aware of how your label points to its respective area and how that area is defined visually. Do you place a dotted circular line around it, a solid yellow squared frame, etc.?


Incorporate or add at least 5 labels from the list of words below:

• baseline
• x-height
• median
• cap height
• spine
• stroke
• stem
• serif
• shoulder
• arm
• leg
• ear
• tail
• spur
• cross bar
• cross stroke
• counter
• bowl
• finial
• terminal
• apex
• vertex
• crotch
• ascender
• descender

Section 1 & Section 2
Bring your finished, labeled drawings to class on Monday, 8/31.

Your Blog Settings

Increase your number of posts per page to keep all your blog entries visible on the main blog page. You can find this by:

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Anatomy and Reading Scans

On the wall in your studio you will find references for type anatomy by Ellen Lupton and John Kane. I've also scanned them as well as our first class reading. All three are available in the sidebar to the right under "class documents" or by following the links below.

This week make sure to read the "Letterform Anatomy (Kane)" PDF (pages 1-7 only) and the "Letterform Anatomy (Lupton)" PDF by our next class meeting.

Read Thinking with Type book pages 7-33 by next Monday August 31 ("First class reading"), it's much less than is sounds like, lots of pictures!

Project One, Part One

Exploring Letterform

Type has Form
Create a series of large letterform drawings using the letters supplied as a visual reference. Work at a large scale using either white or brown butcher paper (freely available in the design building). You can work directly on a wall or angle your desk up high. Loosen up and engage your arm and body to sketch out your letter. You should not attempt an exact replica with tightly drawn outlines (that’s the final exercise), but try to translate the formal qualities of your letter in a new and beautiful drawing. Look closely at your letter’s stroke weights, counterforms (the negative white spaces within the letter) and overall shape. Pencil, pen, charcoal, marker or paint (or any mark making tool you'd like to explore) are all allowed (no color!), so go for it and loosen up!

Check out last year's projects...

Section 2:
Bring three drawings to class Wednesday.

Section 1:
Bring three drawings to class Friday.

IF YOU ARE USING CHARCOAL, PLEASE SPRAY-FIX YOUR WORK!

About this Blog

This blog will contain all materials relating to class: syllabus, project descriptions, deliverables, deadlines, discussions and more. You are expected to check it regularly and comment where required.

A designer must understand the landscape he works in and should regularly insert visual research into his routine. To this end and for the enrichment of all, I expect you to contribute to the FIND + SHARE post of this blog.

As part of your process and participation grades, your activities on your own blog and this blog will be monitored, so stay active! I expect significant process steps to be posted to your blogs and commented on.

Required Book

Please get Thinking with Type, by Ellen Lupton. This will be your required book for both Type 1 and 2 classes. Available in the school art store and Amazon.

Required Blog

To become a bloggy blogger follow these simple steps:

1. Go to: http://www.blogger.com
2. Click "Create your blog now"
3. Fill out "Create a Google Account"
4. Pick your blog name and address and click "Continue"
5. Choose a template and start blogging!

Paste your blog address (and name so I know who's who) in the comments to this post.

Required Font Package

I can't stress enough what a great deal this is for students, full access to 500 fonts in 25 font families all in Open Type format!

The Adobe Font Folio Education Essentials package can be found and purchased online here: http://www.adobe.com/education/products/fontfolioeducationessentials