design
2009-04-24
Accentuate the Positive Letterform Workshop
Notes and synopsis for this workshop, offered by Peter Fraterdeus. Contact us for details.
Download the Class Notes (3.0mb PDF)
Introduction: Modes of Perception
The eye doesn’t see black on the page, it sees the white.
— Ieuan Rees
The Right Brain or R-mode provides the 'negative' space against which thought (Left Brain or L-mode) marks time, sequence and order. This is the quiet space, the empty vessel which holds the mind, yet is the mind. It is the complementary, the ground on which the figure plays, yet is also primary, for without it, thought itself could not exist, nor could we perceive form without its context.
We can think of L-mode as Logical and Linear, while R-mode is Reflective, Receptive — spacial and immediate.
Meditation, Music, Art, Sex, Exhaustion, Trauma, 'Psychoactives' — all are paths to R-mode awareness, yet it's fleeting.
Betty Edwards, as with all good Zen teachers, developed practices designed to quiet – really to bore or stun – the chattering, 'rational,' sequential, symbolic mind, allowing the intuitive perceptual mind to come forward. The conscious recognition of entering R-mode is as a light turning on!
In fact, enlightenment is a term used for the attainment of that continuous conscious state, when both R & L modes are fully engaged! Drawing (letterforms) is as good a practice as any!
Our approach will be to inform the 'rational' mind, but to prefer the pattern-recognizing, synthesizing, relationship-appreciating mode of the 'empty' mind, which takes what the eye offers without judgement, in order to see 'negative' space as something real and substantial. To perceive the substance of emptiness.
Day One — Drawing on Emptiness
What do you see?
Practicum : Day One
Drawing as a physical activity, making deliberate marks and expressive marks
Paper Bag Studies :The haptic sense — feeling our way to spatial relationships,
haptic : of or relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception (awareness of the position of the body and its parts)
Viewfinder studies with the Oak Leaf; of a Wood Type Letter
Heuristic Studies of rules and patterns in letterform construction
heuristic : enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves : a “hands-on” or interactive heuristic approach to learning.
Jonathon Hoefler's exercise in 'tweening' forms between the 'known' letters
Sketching and refinement, iterative process in the "Letters Mingle Souls" design
Mac demo?
Finish Day One with a review of progress and perspectives.
Betty Edwards: Strategies for Perception, Saturation
Perceive the Edges
Perceive the Negative Spaces
Perceive the Relationships and Proportions
Perceive the Lights and Shadows
Perceive the Gestalt – The Thingness of the Thing.
Edge is a shared boundary - Liminal Study of edges, boundaries - Scribble / string studies
Pure Contour Drawing, five minutes of the wrinkles in the hand. Toning the paper w/graphite
Sighting has to do with constants: Reason, Ratios and Relationships
St. Thomas Aquinas:
The requirements for Beauty – Integritas, Consonantia, Quidditas
(Wholeness, Harmony & Essense)
Seeing and drawing
What is the hardest letter to draw? To see?
Which is harder, drawing or seeing?
Haptic (touch, fasten) perception of negative space. [Wood Type Exercise Large – Small ]
Heuristic (self-discovered) perception of shape & space [Non-Alphabetic Symbols (Jon. Hoefler’s exercises)]
Drawing for Design – Progressive Refinement, Iterative Process [pin-marks for registration, overlay]
Using the computer for refinement – Hidden sources of problems, kinks in curves, vector entrance & exit
Day 2 — Applied Perceptions of Space
If negative spaces are given equal importance to the positive forms, all parts of the drawing seem interesting and all work togerher to create a unified image. If, on the other hand, the focus is almost entirely on the positive forms, the drawing may seem uninteresting and disunified – even boring – no matter how beautifully rendered the positive form may be. — Betty Edwards (The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, p120)
Practicum : Day Two
Putting “flesh on the bones” or “wrapping the stone”?
Watercolor Postcards
Calligraphic Writing
Letterform Design
Ann Hechle’s Aspects of Language : Sound panel, etc.
Platonic Ideals enter the Material World
The Eye, the Mind, the Hand, the Heart.
Bibliography
The best bet for finding these books is online. Try searching for the ISBN number at abe.com or amazon.com
Books
Betty Edwards
Drawing on the Artist Within: A Guide to Innovation, Invention, Imagination and Creativity
(Simon & Schuster ISBN: 0671493868 / 0-671-49386-8)
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (ISBN: 0874770882 / 0-87477-088-2)
Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors
(ISBN: 1585422193 / 1-58542-219-3)
Nicolette Grey
Lettering as Drawing ISBN 0800847296
Micheal Harvey
Creative Lettering : Drawing and Design ISBN 0-8008-1997-7 (Taplinger)
Websites
Ann Hechle
http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/learning/csc/hechle/essay.html
Peter Fraterdeus
http://fraterdeus.com/lettering
http://semiotx.com/
This document: http://slowprint.com/dbqba/accentuate/
Ieuan Rees
http://www.ieuanreeslettering.co.uk/
Lao Tzu – Tao te Ching
http://www.terebess.hu/english/tao/gia.html
Jonathon Hoefler – Introduction to Typeface Design 110
http://typophile.com/courses/
Supply List
This is a list of important tools and materials. Most will be in your toolbox already.
Pencils, soft, medium and hard ie: 3B HB 2H 4H
Technical Drawing Pens size 0 or 00 (.35 or .30 mm) (the higher priced refillable pens can be used with subtle colors...) with appropriate inks. Watercolor inks (light-blue, purple) for refillable pens. Black waterproof fiber pens
Rapidograph or Mars pens or equivalent high-qualityfiber tipped like Zig Millenium)
http://www.dickblick.com/products/staedtler-mars-technical-drawing-pen-set/
http://www.dickblick.com/products/koh-i-noor-rapidosketch-pen-set/
http://www.dickblick.com/products/artline-drawing-pens/ (fiber)
Long-hair sable 'pencils' (lettering brushes) # 3, #5
http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-sceptre-gold-designer-round-series-202/
"one-stroke" flat lettering brush 1/2 inch
http://www.dickblick.com/products/robert-simmons-white-sable-one-stroke-series-721/
kneaded rubber eraser & white plastic eraser (Mars, etc)
paper: 11x14 (or larger) pad drafting vellum (18x24 can be divided to 12x18 which is fine)
http://www.dickblick.com/products/bienfang-graphics-360-marker-paper/
http://www.dickblick.com/products/clearprint-1000h-drafting-vellum/
paper: cold-press watercolor block 6x9
http://www.dickblick.com/products/canson-montval-watercolor-blocks/
drafting tape : http://www.dickblick.com/products/drafting-tape/
watercolors, travel/pan set & small watercolor palette & small squat bottle for rinsing brushes, etc
http://www.dickblick.com/products/raphael-watercolor-travel-set/
http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-cotman-watercolor-pan-sets
magnifier for looking at small stuff up close
Xacto or single-edge razor blades for sharpening pencils (no 'pencil sharpeners' please!)
12" 30-60-90 drafting triangle & small t-square, drafting board, etc
12-18 inches of white packing twine / nylon cord
MacBook (or whatever, ok! :-) with Adobe Illustrator and Wacom drawing tablet
Aviary.com account : this web-based graphics tool application may be VERY useful to those who don't have access to Adobe's professional tools). Sign up for a free account and check it out...
Also, Inkscape, an open-source vector drawing tool.
Of course, there’s nothing like the real thing. If you’re doing serious or professional work, Adobe Illustrator is de rigueur.
