Since I have been reading so many calligraphy books lately, one topic I see mentioned over and over again is that of creating illuminated letters. Illuminated letters are those that are decorated, usually with gold leaf and other colors. They were typically the first letter of a page or paragraph that was enlarged and supplemented with images like animals, plants, or mythological creatures. Other terms that could be used to signify an illuminated letter are decorated letters or ornamental letters.
While researching this topic and looking into to so many variations of letters throughout the centuries, I decided I wanted to make some letters of my own. I've been busy sketching out lots of ideas and writing a list of goals that I want to accomplish with my letters.
Something that I decided not to do was the actual "illuminated" part. I really like the idea of keeping it simple by having plain black and white ornamentation without the coloring (which I think can look gaudy at times, but hey, that was the style at one time). I would not be opposed to adding gilding or embossing, but I don't have the materials for it at this point. Maybe that's something I can think about for the future, but for now I think it's plenty challenging to create an ornamental letter in one color.
Another goal I want to achieve with my letters is that I want them to have a modern feel. That was also why I decided to leave out any coloring and go with just black and white. An additional way I thought to make my decorated letters more modern was through the imagery. I still wanted to keep the letters ornate and detailed, but I didn't think having cherubs or dragons was a way to do that. Instead, I've planned to used succulents as the basis for my background decoration. Succulents still keep with traditional plant decoration, but they have become increasingly popular as of late.
I believe I have a final sketch ready for my ornamental letter A. I don't intend to leave this as a drawing though. How could I? I love printmaking, and the boldness of these letters are just asking to be carved and printed from a block. So that's what I'll be working on finishing soon.
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