Week 1: The Origin of the Serif
I'm not sure whether this week went by slow or fast, or if it all happened in another dimension where the amount you can learn is not restricted by the physical dimensions of time and space. I think it's the last one.
We began by diving right into calligraphy. Our instructor Ewan Clayton breaks up our classes with short lectures on the history of writing and printing. Early in the week we used a broad-nibbed pen, learning how pressure and pen angle change the letterforms. I found that I enjoyed using it right away. It definitely takes practice to create smooth strokes, even curves, and straight lines, but there is something very calming about the experience. The “O”s were difficult, but I saw marked improvement as I continued to practice over and over.
Our first day of class concluded with a lecture by Michael Beirut and Chester Jenkins on the typeface they designed along with updated branding for Syracuse University. Michael Beirut’s monograph was actually the first monograph I bought, so it was really exciting for me to hear him speak about his work. While I was familiar with the project, they dove into the story behind discovering Goudy’s type specimens and Jenkins's process of reviving and altering the letterforms to create the custom typeface for Syracuse. Beirut also walked us through the entire brand standards manual his team prepared which was great to see. It's always interesting how you can get a sense of a designer's personality when they talk about their work; Beirut has a very entertaining dry humor.
Our second day began with a lesson from Hannes Famira. We learned the best way to sketch letterforms: by mimicking the broad-nibbed pen, oscillating our wrist to fill in the letterform, controlling the angle of the lines and creating roughly the same size strokes. It took some getting used to, but after some practice I produced some decent-looking c’s.
Alexander “Sasha” Tochilovsky lectured on the historical perceptions of the “ideal form” of letters. It was interesting to see how different each interpretation was, despite that each movement or time period had the same goal: to discover a formula for a perfect alphabet. Proportions and measurements were carefully considered (even when the explanation was as eccentric as ten measures high to represent Apollo and the nine muses).
We continued to work on capitals with Ewan, this time tackling the more complicated characters that involve changes in pen angle. He encouraged us to test out different orders of drawing the strokes to see which method would prove most successful. I found that it was necessary for me to draw the horizontal strokes of the “Z” before the diagonal in order to avoid it looking wonky, like it might topple over. That also helps to easily establish the desired set width. I continued to practice some of the other characters as well, specifically the B since I often struggle to get it right. I was also having trouble with the ink; Ewan said it could have been the paper or perhaps the humidity affecting the ink, but it seemed to bleed and run much more than it did on the first day.
Ewan also gave a short lecture on the history of writing, specifically looking at the tools and substrate used and the way these effected the letterforms. We specifically studied the pen angle for written characters and the evolution of the Latin alphabet.
That night all the students decided to go out to a nearby pub called McSorley’s, which is apparently the oldest Irish tavern in New York. There are 16 of us total, with the US, France, Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, and Denmark represented. It’s been great to get to know a little bit about everyone’s background and what brought them to the Type@Cooper program.
Wednesday began at the New York Public Library main branch. We looked at a number of old manuscripts, ranging from the mid 13th century all the way up to 1922. They were all so beautiful, each with different scripts, such as the beginnings of blackletter, Italic script, lowercase Roman, and El Lissitzky’s suprematist Russian type.
I was inspired by each in different ways; a 1910 English manuscript titled The Sensitive Plant by Percy B. Shelley, which was likely produced by scribes from Birmingham, particularly drew my attention. Published after the printing press, this script attempted to revive traditional illumination and showcase the beauty of such methods. The book contains satin lining and silk page covers as well as gilded letterforms; it is absolutely beautiful. Some of the capitals used reminded me of the huge mosaic capitals in St. Peter’s Basicilica; particularly the rounded, slightly indented serifs.
Ewan talked to us about the origin of serifs on Roman Square Capitals and the evolution of lowercase letters, from Roman Rustics to Old Roman Cursive to Uncials to New Roman Cursive to Half Uncials. This time we used a brush to mimic how the Roman capitals were first painted onto the stone before carving. We also talked about the type brushed onto walls in Pompeii. The brush allowed for slightly different manipulation of strokes, and the slight flourishes where the brush was lifted off the substrate became the serifs. I really enjoyed using the brush as I felt it was a little easier to control; very slow movements wouldn’t result in pools of ink, so I was able to really take my time with each stroke.
Hannes had us continue to sketch lowercase letters; next after the “c” were “o”, “a”, and “n”, since they share the same repeated curve. Hannes forbids us from using pencils, because using this method involves going over the letter several times so that if any lines stand out, they end up being much lighter than the rest of the letter. We also use a white-out pen to create more crisp lines, which also allows us to work the letter from both the positive and negative space. I’m starting to get the hang of the sketching technique, and our calligraphy lessons have definitely helped me to better understand the letterforms.
On Thursday Ewan talked about calligraphic scripts and we took a closer look at New Roman Cursive, Roman half-uncials and Carolingian minuscules. We used a smaller pen and traced over half-uncials and Carolingian minuscules to better understand how they were written. I found the smaller nib to be easier to use, and practiced drawing some Roman capitals at that size as well. I really want to continue practicing calligraphy after the program, as I know we are only touching the surface. But for now the purpose is just for us to understand how the roots of writing and calligraphy have affected type.
Sasha lectured on the history of typefounding and explained the process of punch cutting type. It was interesting to learn how counter punches were used, and thus the importance of counters and considering the space around each letterform. We also talked about how the pantograph made the process much easier. I was reminded of a documentary I saw recently called Making Faces. If you’re interested in metal type I highly recommend it, as it follows a modern typographer through each step of cutting type.
We sketched the entire lowercase alphabet with Hannes, who encouraged us to work quickly so that we could get an overall sense of how to create each letter rather than trying to perfect them. I still wielded my white-out pen often, but allowed myself to be a little more loose with the marker. I also tried out an ampersand for fun. Even though he didn’t show us the process of creating one, it was clear to me where the same curve that is repeated in all the other lowercase letters should appear in the ampersand. Now that it makes so much sense, I’m surprised I didn’t notice sooner just how often that curve is repeated throughout the alphabet.
Fridays we don’t have class, but this Friday we took a field trip to Stamford to visit Jerry Kelly’s house. He has an enormous collection of books spanning the history of printing, not to mention a couple printing presses in his basement. He also had some type carvings and a lot of beautiful artwork. He kindly gave us a tour of his house and showed us several significant books from his collection, including a Gothic book of hours, a Bodoni Manual of Typography, a special edition of The Origin of the Serif by Edward Catich, which included his hand painted capitals, and the first American Futura specimen.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what direction I may want to go with my typeface. I’m still open to anything, but I was really intrigued with the romain du roi, a typeface developed by Louis Simonneau and Phillippe Grandjean for King Louis XIV, as well as Nicolas Jensen’s work, considered the first “roman” type.
I can’t believe how much we’ve learned in such a short amount of time. It’s so exciting, but it’s also making me think a lot about what I want to do after the conclusion of the program. I definitely love type design, but I also want to continue exploring calligraphy and painting letters. The good news is, as long as I’m in New York there are plenty of workshops and opportunities to keep learning, no matter which route I decide to take in my career.