prints

Wedding Celebrations

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And so, after weeks of sketching and stressing (and a little bit of avoidance on my part...) the big day is here and my contribution is finally finished! 

I should probably start from the beginning...
Back in May, my dear friend Emily asked me to create a board that would welcome guests to her wedding reception. I had originally planned to create a print for her and her fiancé Calum based around how the early years of their relationship by pulling in some Shakespeare references, but being asked to create their welcome board was an incredibly special thing, so there was no way I could refuse!

The most difficult part for me was working out the composition of the whole piece and the order of their names. How do I decide who goes first? Is there a rule with this sort of thing that I should know about!? I ended up choosing to arrange them alphabetically to avoid choosing sides. Quite glad I did actually, the final composition looks good.
I looked at the recently revisited Peace and Light print I did a few months ago for ways in which I could place the two names. I was also torn between the word "and" or incorporating an ornate ampersand within the flourishes, but after trying several variations with a lovely looking ampersand I decided to ditch it because there was enough space between Calum and Emily for a small "and" to be placed without being too distracting.

 Left to right, top to bottom:  initial letterforms drawn out, Spencerian weight variation added, floral decor on test print and the final print with gold detailing. 

 Left to right, top to bottom:  initial letterforms drawn out, Spencerian weight variation added, floral decor on test print and the final print with gold detailing. 

In the wild at the Wroxeter Hotel

In the wild at the Wroxeter Hotel

I have this habit of over complicating stuff, and I didn't really want to work too much into this design and "spoil" it. My standards are high as they are, but this print will be my first with such a large viewing audience. I didn't want it to be really busy. I've striped it all down to just the basics; a short welcome message, the happy couples names and the date of the union.

For the final, I chose to work with some of the colours on the wedding invite as I wasn't given a colour scheme to work to (for those of you that follow my Instagram feed, I've been posting photos of different colour schemes I've tested). The photograph above shows a small glimpse of one scheme I decided on. There was another that involved much cooler colours, but I wasn't keen on how off my registration was with the gold detailing, and I couldn't give Emily something I was happy with!

Design Revisit

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I've been fairly quiet on the blog front since the Seb Lester talk a couple of weeks ago, but in my defence, I've been working on revisiting a design I started back in June last year. While I liked what I'd initially come up with, I didn't think it was quite, "enough".

When I say enough, I mean the overall composition was fairly bland even though the Spencerian inspired letterforms were quite beautiful. That really was the only element of the original that I enjoyed looking at, but I felt like the rest of design was a bit of a let down compared to some of the other pieces I have in my portfolio. So I tasked to myself to recreate the piece, taking inspiration from various Spencerian and Copperplate examples in my personal reference collection.

Left: The original Peace and Light design. Right: The 2016 rework based on flowing Spencerian script.

Left: The original Peace and Light design. Right: The 2016 rework based on flowing Spencerian script.

For the rework, I wanted to draw inspiration from some of Jessica Hische's work and of Seb Lester's early lettering prints.
I've done pretty much the same as I did with my Clive Colledge print in that I tried to fit the entire design within a circular grid, I found it helps me to the overall shape nice and balanced.

The contrast between the Spencerian calligraphy and the serif type that sits in the centre was inspired by the sign for a Better Letters workshop that took place in Copenhagen:

I honestly can't remember when this workshop was, but the sign is gorgeous! 

I honestly can't remember when this workshop was, but the sign is gorgeous! 

You can see the influence in the way the letterforms are shaped (my 'a' is slightly narrower) but my lines are heavier. I wasn't sure if I was that keen on the increase in line weight compared to the original but as a whole I'm happy with the visual, it also means that when I eventually print it, the ink will be less likely to dry on the screen in thinner sections.

Anyway, when print day comes, I'll obviously be posting photos of the process. There's a lot that I want to try, like gradients and marbling techniques, plus I got some new acrylic colours for Christmas that I'm dying to use! 

Heroes

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It was a few years ago now, but I remember someone saying to me: "Never meet your heroes as they'll only disappoint you". To that person, I say bollocks. Why? Today I met my hero and inspiration Seb Lester and it had to have been (to this day at least) the most exciting moment of my life. I was totally sitting at the front with Clive and Naomi, and by the front, I mean the front.

Earlier this evening I saw Mr. Lester give a talk at the Birmingham City University as part of their Type Talks series, and as I'm writing this on the train home I'm still shaking with excitement (thank goodness for auto correct!).

He covered quite a lot in such a short space of time, starting with a brief introduction to himself and his working environment, which was surprisingly untidy (That's not a criticism, he said it himself but he worded it much more poetically!), to his recent prints and work with NASA.

On a slight tangent, I and many others in the room learned that he's actually a secret Brummy! He grew up in Moseley and went to Bourneville College before heading to London to study at Central Saint Martins and eventually settling in Lewes.

Seb talked about how his prints are separated into those that are to show off his technical ability when it comes to drawing letterforms (top right and top left are images of his Jerusalem print) and those that are to present passages of text (bottom right and bottom left are images of his most recent print which has also been turned into a mural in E17 in London).

Some of Seb's beautiful works 

Some of Seb's beautiful works 

One of the most important things for me, at least in terms of the research I did into his work and the explosion in popularity, was that he talked quite extensively on how all this exposure came about and how it has effected him.

Surprisingly he's quite an introverted man, so it'd be an understatement to say he's been taken aback by all the views, mentions and followers he's built up in a mere three years (and it's still growing) but Lester was also overwhelmed to be featured by art blogs, BuzzFeed and even television interviews in America and Germany!

As usual for the Type Talks, at the end of the talk they opened it up to questions from the audience.
I hesitated at first, but as this is probably the only chance I'll ever get to see him, I wanted to ask him if had ever faced bouts of depression while he was working and how he overcame it. I've never really spoken out about my depression which was hard enough, but talking to my hero about it with an audience of 200 behind me made me feel even more vulnerable.

He paused for a minute. Then said that for him, his calligraphy was therapeutic and helped him to focus on what he was doing anyway. More interestingly though is that he mentioned that he too was quite hard on himself and the work he produces, making me feel quite at ease with where I am with my work.

He finished my question talking about mindfulness and self belief, which was his closing topic. It's safe to say that even though I was still bewildered and elated, I left feeling confident and focused.

Seb, if by some bizarre chance you're reading this, I want you to know that you've given me hope. Hope that I can make it with my calligraphy and lettering.

Thank you, so much.

Achievement Unlocked

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A couple of weeks ago, I was asked if I wanted to submit some work to a pop-up print shop in Newport, South Wales. Initially, I didn't want to because I had nothing to submit, but I sat down one night after work and had a go at sketching, something I haven't done since I started work in August!

I wanted something that was going to appeal to quite a wide audience but also to express the interest I have in the Welsh language,I start working with a few quotes my close friend James (a first language Welsh speaker) gave to me about family and pride, but ultimately came to one that really stayed with me: "Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon" which translates into "A nation without a language, is a nation without a heart".

I should have written about the build up and printing process over the weekend, but I've been so busy trying to get everything together I haven't got round to it. Anyway, today I went down to the Riverfront Theatre where the shop/gallery was taking place and handed over my prints.

A selection of the finished prints, there are six colour ways in total. 

A selection of the finished prints, there are six colour ways in total. 

I wasn't planning on making many, I was intending to give the gallery four prints to sell, while a fifth would be made specially for James as a birthday present and thank you for his help. In the end I printed twenty five, all with gold lettering but on different coloured stock; five on black, five on navy blue, five on royal blue (the brighter of the blues above), five on olive green, four on a warm grey and one test on pale blue.

You could say I got carried away, but it was great to test the gold out on different colours. I think the gold on navy blue has to be my favourite, it just looks so beautiful. The gold on black is a very close second.
The olive green and pale blue were a pleasant surprise as I didn't think they'd work. The green feels quite Christmasy, while the pale blue is wonderfully subtle but difficult to photograph!

The Christmas Creatives pop-up shop has its press opening tonight at The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre is on until the 9th January and also features work from some good friends of mine and fellow members of the PrintHaus Alyn Smith and Catherine Weatherhead.

For some, this whole thing might not seem like a big deal but for me this goes back a couple of years to the career goal setting I did on my MA at BCU. I'll be honest this wasn't something I had even considered back then, but this could well be the first step for me reaching my goal of having my work featured in a book.

Hwyl fawr am nawr!

Getting back on it...

It's been a while since my last post, but I think I'm finally getting used to the varying shift patterns at work which means I can start to get on with my fun projects! 

At the moment I'm working away on a new print design which might soon make its way into my (currenty barren) Etsy store. This new print is inspired by an old African proverb about strength in relationships and codependency, it's beautiful too:

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."  

Looking at it now, it feels in the same vein as the Silver Anniversary print I did back in September for my parents. I think this could be a theme for my future works. 

Ruling pen tests with India ink. 

Ruling pen tests with India ink. 

The image above is just a collection of letterform tests for me to get used to the stylised shapes a ruling pen creates, as well as playing around with mark making techniques.

I'm not using a homemade pen this time around, I'm using a brass pen I bought online for smoother lines and more uniform finish, something of which I've been trying to achieve for some time now. I've been using the pen for a few months (if you count the months I haven't really done any lettering at all) and it makes a wonderful sound as you lead it across the page, far more subtle than Coke-can pens.

Anyway, I digress! This is the style I'm going for with this next print; slightly rugged and strong with the raw ink marks and drying patterns. I hope to turn it into a halftone for the print, that way I can get the varied depths of the black on the screen and should also work really well as a subtle detail when printed.