BEAUTIFUL WRITING Calligraphy Illuminated Letters Personal Signatures.

BEAUTIFUL WRITING

Calligraphy

Illuminated Letters

Personal Signatures

Cave Paintings

Clay Tablets with early writing

Raiders from Asia sacked Alexandria and destroyed the History and Artifacts of the Western Civilization….plunging the west into the Dark Ages.

Illuminated Manuscripts

--The Book of Kells--

These illuminated letters are examples of artwork done by artists in the fashion of those who copied manuscripts and helped document our history.

Your Assignment• In your sketchbook, begin designing a box containing a stylized letter. This

letter will be the first letter of a word that describes your spirit, your dream, your essence. Rework your stylized letter design repeatedly. You will not use your original design. Graphically develop it in your sketchbook.

• Develop the Letter as a very decorated shape that is a work of art on its own. (Imagine the first word of a old story in an old storybook.)

• You will use a variety of well chosen materials to decorate the area inside the box and use metallic paint (VERY selectively) to add highlights to your Illuminated letter.

• The negative space will include the letters that make up the rest of the chosen word using a favourite font found on a word processor. Use lines, shapes, textures, patterns, selective colours, etc. to make the negative space balanced and unified.

The Illuminated letter will be the center of interest in your composition. The negative space will be well developed.

The metallic highlights will be painted carefully, deliberately and sparingly in the Illuminated letter only.

You will develop a signature and display it on the back of your artwork.

You will carefully identify your work with your name and class and will take responsibility for its proper care and security.

You will take particular care with the artists materials you borrow and\or use in the art room.

You will respect your work and the work of others in the hope of inspiration, creativity and the further development of our artistic community.

Mr. Taylor’s example in progress

More painting

A Useful Website

• http://www.kirstio.com/calligraphy/illumination.htm