Raised gesso gilding, ink on vellum (c) A. Lucas 2009

This type of border is often used in illuminated manuscripts to enhance an illustration or set it apart from blocks of text.

I use this type of border most often for my own work, particularly for a painted miniature with just a few words of text.

Here are a few examples from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts:

Harley 1319  f. 12 – ivy leaves, pen sprays, painting
Lansdowne 1179  f. 4v – ivy leaves, pen sprays, drawing
Yates Thompson 10  ff. 12v-13 – ivy leaves, painting

Drawing the Border

What you need:

• pencil
• eraser
• graph paper about 4 square/inch (refer to the Calligraphy Resources page)
• fine point pigment pen (Pigma Micron, Staedtler Mars Professional, etc.)
• a gold leafing pen, gold gel pen (or something similar), or gold gouache
• final copy paper (e.g. 90 lb Hot Press Watercolor paper)

Gold pens, gold gouache and pigment pens

We’ll be using just a few, simple basic shapes – a leaf and two variations of a hook:

Basic shapes - leaf and hooks

The leaf is a simple oval shape with a little inked-in detail at the edges.  The hooks are similar except one terminates in an open circle, and the second one has a filled-in circle.

Step 1:

First we’ll layout the design on graph paper with pencil and then transfer it over to the final copy paper.

Draw a box about 3-5/8″ x 2-1/4″.  Draw a second box about 1/8″ inside the second box.

Step 1: Drawing the border box

Step 2:

Draw a few stems with leaves attached around the outside border box – you can make these as simple or complex as you like!  Note that I’ve combined 3 simple leaf shapes to make a “flower” at the corners.

Step 2 - Drawing the stems with leaves

Step 3:

Add a few “open hook” shapes to fill in the spaces.

Step 3 - Adding open hook shapes

Step 4:

Draw a few, smaller “closed hook” pen sprays around the leaves and open hooks.

Step 4 - Drawing the closed hook pen sprays

Step 5:

Transfer your drawing to the final copy paper.  It’s usually a good idea to complete the gold areas before inking in the lines, or just inking in all the lines except around the gold leaves – this might depend on what you are using for gold – genuine gold leaf, solvent-based gold paint, gold gouache, gold gel pen, etc.

Test your gold on a scrap of your final project paper first to determine if you should ink the lines around the gold first or ink the lines after the gold is applied.  Note that solvent-based gold paint (such as the leafing pen) might leak into the paper fibers, so it might be best to ink the lines after the gold is dry.

Step 5: Transfer to final copy paper and apply gold to leaves

Finish inking the border adding the leaf details.

These are a couple of examples using a gold gel pen and a gold leafing pen:

Gold Gel Pen

The gel pen is quite easy to use and produces a nice, soft gold effect.

Krylon 18k Gold Leafing Pen

The gold leafing pen produces a very nice, shiny gold effect.  It’s a little more difficult to use than the gel pen because of the flat shape of the tip (which also makes it great for lettering), and the solvent wants to soak into the paper fibers but it gives a more “authentic” look of gold.

Now that your border is complete, you can paint or draw an illustration inside!

I hope these posts have been informative and inspirational to those who love the art of calligraphy as much as I do, just as it has been inspiring to me to watch my little calligraphy blog grow from that one, lonely view in December 2008 to over 30,000.

In the spirit of “looking back”, I recently found a “stash” of my early work.  It’s always fun to look at early work as it’s a visual documentation of one’s learning process and progress – and it’s always encouraging to see that practice really works!

Sometimes it can be a little intimidating moving from just practicing lettering forms and painting to working on a complete, final project – but go ahead – jump right in!  Nothing should be considered a “failure” or “waste” because one can always learn not only what works, but just as important, what doesn’t work, or what might work better the next time.

Here are a couple of pages from my very first, complete illuminated manuscript book, “Legends” on genuine vellum and bound with a beautiful, thin leather:

"Legends", A. Lucas Gold/Palladium leaf on raised gesso, patent gold, shell gold, ink and dry pigments on vellum

This is also a “sneak preview” of the next border post I’m working on, so get yourself a nice, gold gel pen, gold leafing pen or a tube of gold gouache!

Once again, a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read the posts and comment on my little calligraphy blog!

These are just a few examples of scatter borders at the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts:

Harley 2443  f. 2
Netherlands: Violets, strawberries and butterflies
Egerton 1147  f. 71
Netherlands: Roses, moths, fly and deer
Egerton 2125  f. 216
Netherlands: Roses, snails, butterflies and peacock on light blue background

Two excellent books on the plants used in borders are:

The Medieval Flower Book, Celia Fisher, The British Library, London 2007
Flowers in Medieval Manuscripts, Celia Fisher, University of Toronto Press, 2004

Although the books focus on the identification of plants and flowers in manuscripts, both contain wonderful detailed reproductions of scatter borders and are recommended as references for further study.

Drawing and Painting Realistic Plants

Now is the time to get a sketchbook if you don’t have one already!

If possible, draw your sketches from live specimens rather than from photographs found in books or on the internet.  Aside from copyright issues, photographs tend to flatten and distort images and your plants will look dull and lifeless unless you are familiar with compensating your drawing and painting to correct these distortions.

Here are a couple of pages from one of my rather tattered sketchbooks:

Samples pages from my sketchbook (c) 2009 A. Lucas

Sketching and drawing will also be more beneficial when it comes time to paint as you can be selective with drawing details that might be lost in a photograph alone.

Photographs can be used in conjunction with your sketches.  Taking your own photographs of specimens you have sketched will be handy references of what you have seen and will greatly assist in the realism of your work when you begin painting.

One of the key features of scatter borders is the illusion of elements scattered around the page, but painting complex elements in a realistic style will take a little skill and painting experience – there is no fast or easy method to substitute for patience and practice.

An excellent book on how to draw and paint plants for illustration is:

How to Draw Plants The techniques of botanical illustration, Keith West, Timber Place Incorporated, 2005.

Finding Elements for a Scatter Border

Scatter borders can be simple or complex depending on your design requirements.  Any type of plant, flower, berry, insect, etc. can be incorporated into the design, but consider using foliage indigenous to your location to give your borders a unique “local” flair.

Wonderful flower and insect specimens can probably be found in your own backyard or garden – you don’t have to pick them – take a few quick sketches and make notes about the color and other details.

Don’t have a garden?  Try sketching and photographing flowers in a local park (make sure you don’t pick any plants or flowers), or perhaps a greenhouse will give you permission to make sketches and take pictures (remember to ask for permission!)

Purchase an interesting flower or two from a florist.  Make your sketches while it’s still fresh, and take a few photographs from different angles.  Observe how the plant grows, what the leaves look like, colors, etc.

Any type of plant can used – don’t have any access to flowers?  I’ll bet you’ll be able to find weeds growing somewhere!  Even a humble dandelion or thistle will make an interesting and colorful border.

Or how about a trip to the grocery store to purchase seasonal fruits, berries and fresh herbs?  You can always eat your grocery store purchases after making your sketches and photographs!

Keep your eyes open and a sketchbook and camera ready and you’ll soon be able to build up a library of elements to use in your scatter borders!

Designing and Painting a Simple Scatter Border

We’ll start with one of the simplest forms – berries.  Berries are generally round, circular shapes and easy to find on common shrubs or grocery stores.  Any type of round berry will be fine especially they have a little stem attached.

In this demonstration, we’ll use simple berries with stems to scatter around a border with a gold background.

The red berries I’m using are from a common High Bush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) shrub as the berries are easy to find – even during the winter.

Here is my reference photo:

High Bush Cranberry Reference Photo (c) 2009 A. Lucas

Layout

What you need:

• graph paper
• pencil
• eraser
• ruler

Painting

What you need:

• round brushes (medium and small)
• flat brush (1″ or 2″)
• mixing palette
• gouache paint (Opaque White, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber)
• paper suitable for water-based media (90 lb Hot Press watercolor paper works well)
• drafting tape

Drawing the Scatter Border

First we’ll work out the design on graph paper and then paint a practice berry.

Step 1:

On your graph paper, using a ruler and pencil, draw a 5″ x 7″ block with 1″ borders on the top, left and right sides, and a 1.5″ border at the bottom.

Border Layout with Margins

Step 2:

Now that we’ve established the area for our margins, sketch in circles for berries.  Draw a few in clumps (use the reference photo for ideas) and a few single berries to fill in the larger empty spaces inside the border.

Layout Sketch with Berries and Butterfly

I’ve added a butterfly in the lower corner just to make it a bit more interesting.  I found this photo of a Painted Lady butterfly I had taken last summer – one more reason to always keep that camera and sketchbook handy.

Painted Lady Reference Photo (c) 2009 A. Lucas

Remember, this is a scatter border so don’t be afraid to “scatter” the elements around the page.  Sometimes it’s helpful to cut out the various elements from your sketch paper and move them around the layout until you find an arrangement that works best for your design.

Painting the Scatter Border

First we’ll paint in the gold background, paint a practice berry, and then finish the berries on the border.

Step 1:

On your final copy (watercolor) paper, mask the inside area lines of the border with drafting tape.  Refer to the post Calligraphy Layout: Designing a Certificate for more information on how to mask areas for painting.

Step 2:

Mix up a bit of Yellow Ochre with a touch of Raw Umber for a yellowish gold color.  Use the flat brush to paint the border area.

Wait until the paint is completely dry before removing the drafting tape.

Step 3:

Transfer your layout sketch to the painted border.  Refer to the Painting a Simple Initial post for one method of transferring a drawing.

Painted Border Background with Transferred Design

Painting a Simple Berry

Before beginning to paint on the gold background, try painting a few practice berries especially if you are unfamiliar with painting or painting with gouache.  Your practice paintings can also be used a reference for the final painting.

Step 1:

On a piece of watercolor paper or sketch paper, draw a circle with a stem.

Step 2:

Mix a bit of Yellow Ochre with Cadmium Red to make an orange color, and using the medium round brush, paint in the berry.

Step 3:

Clean the brush, then use Cadmium Red (not mixed) to paint around the berry as shown.  Clean the brush again, then use a little clean water to dampen the brush (don’t soak it) to soften the edges of the red into the orange.  You can also use the small brush with a bit of red to draw tiny lines to fade into the orange.

Step 4:

Mix a little Cadmium and White to make a pink color, and paint this in between the red and orange.  Use clean water (or tiny brush strokes) to blend the pink into the orange and red areas.

Step 5:

Let the berry dry and little, then use Opaque White to add a little highlight.  Use clean water to blend the edges of the highlight.

Mix a bit of Yellow Ochre with Ultramarine Blue to make a light green color, and paint a line for the stem.  Add more Ultramarine Blue to make a darker green, and paint this on the side of the light green.  Use clean water to soften the edges light and dark green.

Step 6: Adding a Shadow

Step 6:

Mix a little Raw Umber and paint a bit of a shadow under the berry.  Use clean water to soften the edges and blend into the paper.  If it looks too dark, add a little white.

Optional: Not all berries ripen at the same time, so some might have a little green.  It might be difficult to see in the photo (which is why observing the “real” plant is always best) but a few berries with a little green will be more convincing than just all red berries.

Once you have painted a few practice berries, paint the berries and stems on your border.

Final Scatter Border

We could keep adding a few more elements such as a flowers, leaves, insects, etc.  If we were adding calligraphy, remember to do the calligraphy first before painting the border.

It is much easier to correct a painting than to correct calligraphy!

Since I prefer to use dip pens more often than calligraphy fountain pens, these two little gems had migrated over to my “Art Supply Overflow” storage box.

I expect both these items are now obsolete, but still great calligraphy tools:

Pelikan Graphos

Primarily targeted for engineering and drafting, the Pelikan Graphos pens and nibs were available in a wide range of styles to accommodate lettering, drawing and sketching.

Pelikan Graphos Pen Set

It’s been so long I don’t remember exactly what originally was included with this set as it has a variety of nib styles ranging from straight cut (“T” series), oblique cut (“N” and “Z” series), ruling nib (?) (“A” series) and what looks like a sketching nib (“S” series).

Variety of Pelikan Graphos Nibs

The pen holders are designed to easily slip the nibs onto the front of the shank and have a “hole” in back for loading ink.  As I’m guessing the original Pelikan tube ink has gone the way of the dinosaur, ink can loaded by removing the plastic insert reservoir and loading directly with a dropper instead of through the “hole.”

The nibs produce very sharp, crisp letters (“T”, “N”, “Z”) and the sketching nib is flexible enough for drawing.

While the ink cartridge is quite short and will not hold a lot of ink, and the nib must be removed from the pen before attaching the pen cap (I suspect this is by design), the overall quality is worth grabbing up a pen holder and a few straight/oblique cut nibs if the opportunity presents itself.

If you enjoy a well-designed nib and don’t mind a little extra maintenance work, the Pelikan Graphos pen might be found treasure.

A review of this pen (in Spanish) can be found at the estilograficas.net website.

Reform Calligraphy Pens

This set was given to me as a gift so I’m not sure where or when they were originally purchased.

Reform Calligraphy Fountain Pens

The nib sizes included are 1.1, 1.5, 1.9 and 2.3 – suitable for most calligraphy lettering projects.  Each nib contains two vent holes and are marked with the nib size, “Italic Reform” and “Germany.”  Nibs can also be unscrewed from the pen holder if necessary for cleaning or replacement.

The most interesting feature of this pen is the piston filling system – no ink cartridges or converters required!  Simply turn the piston forwards, dip the pen nib into the ink, and turn the piston back to the starting position.  No mess, no fuss!  The clear “window” section shows how much ink is left so you don’t run out in the middle of letter.

The nibs produce very clean lines, the pen is comfortable to hold and handles very smoothly.  The pen caps contain a seal and are screwed onto the pen barrel to keep the ink from drying out.

The “Instructions” paper lists Calligraphy, Lettering and Sketch pens.  I have not seen the Lettering or Sketch pens, but I would love to try the “Extra Fine Sketch Pen” if one turns up somewhere.

A very nice addition for a Calligraphy Fountain Pen “collection” if you happen to find one or better yet, find an entire set!

What you need:

• graph paper (about 4 squares to the inch or refer to the Calligraphy Resources page)
• tracing paper
• pencil and eraser

If you have not drawn a spiral design for a border, refer to the Calligraphy Design: Simple Drawn and Painted Borders post.

Step 1:

Draw the basic spiral shape about 3 squares high and 5 squares wide.

Starting Spiral Shape

Step 2:

Starting at the bottom of the border, copy the shape onto tracing paper, then transfer the shapes in a row flipping the tracing paper to alternate the design.

Design Traced for the Bottom Row

The length of the row can be whatever size fits your design requirement, just make sure the last spiral transferred curves inside as shown.

Step 3:

Working up the right side of the border, rotate the tracing paper and continue transferring the spiral alternating the design and ending with the last spiral curved inside.

Border Up Right Side

Step 4:

Continue along the top and down the left side, making sure the corner spirals are turned inside.  Flip and rotate the tracing paper as needed to continue the alternating design.

Spiral Border Outline Showing Corners

Step 5:

Now that the outline is complete, add in the details and the design is ready to be transferred onto watercolor paper for painting.

Full Border Ready for Painting

The size of the spirals and lengths of the borders can easily be adjusted or scaled to match any design requirements.  This border was drafted for a paper size of 8 1/2″ x 11″.

Try to leave at least a 1/2″ or more from the outside edge of the border to the edge of paper.  It is better to scale the border and leave some white space to give a bit of additional space for framing!

Reference examples in this demonstration are from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts – for more examples enter “zoomorphic” in the search box.

A cursory look at manuscript zoomorphic initials reveals an astonishing range of styles and techniques that can be loosely grouped into three categories:

• full initials composed entirely of a zoomorphic construction (Harley 3052  f. 3)
• partial initials combining zoomorphic elements with parts of the letter (Lansdowne 383  f. 166)
• decorated or inhabited letters with zoomorphic creatures (Arundel 490  f. 91)

In this demonstration, we’ll construct and draw a very simple full zoomorphic dragon initial “C”.

Zoomorphic Initial C

Manuscript Zoomorphic “Dragon” References:

• Arundel 100  f. 1 – two dragons, initial “Q”
• Harley 2645  f. 1v – dragon-like creature, initial “S”
• Harley 1662  f. 104 – fully painted zoomorphic dragon

What you need:

• graph paper
• pencil and eraser
• tracing paper
• fine and medium point markers (e.g. Sakura Pigma Micron, Staedtler Pigment Liner)
• paper suitable for pen and ink drawing

Step 1:

First we’ll use the graph paper and pencil to work out the basic outline and then transfer the design onto drawing paper to ink in the details.

Draw a “C” on the graph paper.

Step 1: Drawing a Letter “C”

Step 2:

Draw lines around the center “C” line – this will be the dragon “body”.

Step 2: Drawing the Dragon Body Lines

Step 3:

Sketch in a large oval at the top for the dragon head, a smaller oval for the tail, and a large oval down the side for a wing and foot.

Step 3: Sketching in Head, Tail and Wing

Step 4:

Draw shapes for the head, tail, wing and foot.

Step 4: Drawing Head, Tail, Wing and Foot

Tip: Use the graph squares to help the draw the shapes by following the lines in the example.

Step 5:

Erase the construction lines, then add a few scallops to the bottom of the wings and extend the lines.

Step 5: Wing Lines

We now have a basic outline to copy onto tracing paper and transfer to the drawing paper.

Basic Zoomorphic “C” Outline

Step 6:

You can either ink in the outline first, or do that as the last step.  These steps do not necessarily have to be done in order – whatever fits your drawing style.

Starting at the back of the head, ink in the body to the end of the tail leaving a border on each side.

Step 6: Inking the Body

Step 7:

Add as many or as few details to head, wing and foot as you prefer – I’ve added a few details lines to the head and wings, claws to the toes, and a few head details including teeth:

Step 7: Adding Detail Lines

Step 8:

Use the fine marker to add dots in the border area, and we’re done!

Once you have drawn out a basic structure, try experimenting with various details, patterns and colors to recreate a particular style, draw inspiration from manuscripts, or create something completely unique!

Basic Structure Modified to a Simple “Celtic” Style

This demonstration will look at a few basic structures and incorporate various common elements found in manuscripts to create simple borders with added layers of complexity as a starting point to either creating your own designs or researching manuscripts to recreate “authentic” styles.

The border designs in this demonstration are a simple Symmetrical Border, a Repeating Spiral Border and a Border Bar with Ivy.

I have also included references to a few manuscripts from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts for each design to give you an idea of the use, range and diversity of the elements.

Drawing Borders

What you need:

• graph paper (refer to Calligraphy Resources page)
• pencil, eraser
• pointed pen nib and ink or fine point marker (e.g. Sakura Pigma Micron, Staedtler Pigment Liner)
• tracing paper

We’ll start by working out basic structures on graph paper, but consider drawing these borders free hand to give a more dynamic, less mechanical look to your designs.

These designs use very simple shapes that are easy to draw.  If you don’t think you can draw, practice the shapes a few times – you might be surprised at how well you can draw!

Basic Shapes

The basic shapes to construct the borders are lines, circle, diamond, oval, hook and a squiggle:

Line, Circle, Diamond, Oval, Hook and Squiggle

We will also be using a simple flower, acanthus leaf and ivy:

Flower Construction

Acanthus Construction

Ivy Construction

Symmetrical Border

A very simple design containing a primary element (e.g. flower, leaf, etc.), a secondary element and pen sprays.

Manuscript References:

Lansdowne 851 f.54v
Yates Thompson 52 f.23v
Stowe 23  f. 62

Step 1:

On graph paper, draw a line for the center line.  Draw alternating long (first) and short (second) branches evenly spaced from the center line.  It might be easier to turn the paper vertically, and use the graph squares to help create symmetrical lines.

Step 1: Main Stem and Branches

Step 2:

Draw diamond shapes for leaves on the ends of the long branches, and circles for berries on the ends of the short branches.  Try to make the leaves follow the direction of the stem.

Step 2: Leaves and Berries

Step 3:

Draw the hook shape (pen sprays) between the branches a little shorter than the berry branches, and following the same direction.

Step 3: Pen Sprays

Step 4:

Above the berry circles, draw two short lines and finish with a squiggle stroke.

Step 4: Berry Pen Sprays

And we’re done!  Now we can transfer the design for painting or just add a few details.

Finished Border

We can make a variety of borders by simply changing the elements and pen sprays.  The border below uses the same structure and substitutes flowers for leaves, oval-shaped leaves for the berries, and berries for the hooks:

Border with Flowers and Leaves

We could keep adding details such a pen sprays:

Border Variation with Pen Sprays

Of course, borders do not have to be straight – try adding some curves or have the borders “grow” from an object:

Border Variation

Repeating Spiral Border

A simple design that is easy to repeat around a page.

Manuscript References:

Harley 24 f.1
Harley 44 f.2
Harley 2966 ff.27v-28 – Symmetrical and Spiral Borders

Step 1:

First we’ll use the graph paper to plot out a spiral shape.

Step 1: Plotting a Spiral Shape

Step 2:

Connect the “dots” by drawing a curved line through each point.  Draw an acanthus leaf at the end of the inside line.

Step 2: Spiral with Acanthus Leaf

Step 3:

Trace the design on tracing paper, then flip it and copy it:

Step 3: Repeating the Design

Step 4:

Now we can start building elements starting with a few evenly spaced nodes – these are simply a “curved” variation of the ivy shape:

Step 4: Adding Nodes

Step 5:

We can continue adding elements such as berries and pen spray hooks:

Step 5: Adding Berries and Pen Sprays

Step 6:

Add a few details such as lines from the berries, and we’re done!

Step 6: Finished Repeating Spiral

Border Bar with Ivy

Ivy vines and leaves are generally attached to border bars and initials.  These can be very simple or quite complex and often are combined with other elements and design styles.

Manuscript References:

Harley 2899 f. 34v – spiral design
Egerton 3035  f. 38 – alternating style
Egerton 3037  f.193 – simple symmetrical

Step 1:

Draw parallel lines about one graph square apart for a border bar.  Draw a second smaller width line outside the bar for the main vine line.

Step 1: First Lines

Step 2:

Draw a wavy line at the top and bottom extending the smaller vine lines.

Step 2: Extending Vine Lines

Step 3:

At the bottom and top of the first outside line, draw a few scalloped shapes and connect to the inside lines of the extended vine lines.

Step 3: Extending Outer Lines

Step 4:

Add a second vine at the center of the bar attached to the outside vine.

Step 4: Drawing Center Vine

Step 5:

Draw alternating stems and leaves attached to the vines.

Step 5: Drawing Stems and Ivy

Step 6:

Draw section lines around the center vines and to separate scallops at the top and bottom.

Step 6: Adding Section Lines

We can continue adding a few details such as pen sprays on the ivy and vines, and the design is ready to be transferred for painting.

Finished Ivy Border

Painting Borders

Borders are usually (but not always!) painted and they are very easy and fun!   What you do depends on your design requirements whether it is a simple touch of color, elaborate layers with detailed white designs, incorporating gold leaf, grisaille, etc.

These are just a few simple suggestions using a limited palette of colors that are easy to paint.  Try substituting the Yellow Ochre with a metallic gold artist paint or metallic gold gel pen!

What you need:

• round brush (medium and small)
• mixing palette
• gouache paint (Opaque White, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber)
• paper suitable for water-based media
• pointed pen nib and ink or fine point marker (e.g. Sakura Pigma Micron, Staedtler Pigment Liner)
• ink

Optional:

• Metallic gold paint or gel pen

Start by using tracing paper and a pencil or another method to copy a design on to the painting paper.  After you having finished painting, you can outline the design using a pointed nib with ink or a fine point marker.  Try to make the lines thin and not too heavy or it will look too “cartoonish”.

If the black outline looks too dark, thin out the ink so it is a gray tone, or mix a bit of brown gouache such as Raw Umber for the outlines.

Sample Symmetrical and Repeating Borders

These borders generally follow the same steps when painting:

Step 1:

Paint any areas you want in “gold” first – either with Yellow Ochre or a metallic gold paint.

Step 2:

Paint the flat areas of color (e.g. red, blue).  If you are mixing a color such as green (Yellow Ochre with a bit of Ultramarine Blue), mix enough to paint all the flat areas so the color is consistent.

Step 3:

Use Opaque White to paint details in the flat colors once the paint is dry.

Step 4:

When the paint and paper are completely dry, outline the design if desired, and add in the pen sprays.

These are just a few suggestions and variations:

Sample Flower Border

Sample Flower Variation

Sample Spiral Repeated

We could also use one color and paint a monochromatic design for a grisaille effect:

Sample Grisaille Style

Sample Bar and Ivy Border

Step 1:

Mix up a bit of Yellow Ochre and paint center section, top and bottom scalloped areas on the bar.  You can also add a bit of Raw Umber and paint a few darker strokes to make it look like gold.  Paint a few ivy leaves around the border with the same color.

Step 1: Painting Gold

Step 2:

Bar and vine colors generally alternate, so we will use Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red to paint the top of the bar red, the bottom blue, and switch the colors for the vine.  Note that the vine color changes about halfway at the center gold section.  Paint the remainder of the ivy leaves alternating red and blue.

Step 2: Painting Blue and Red

Step 3:

Mix up Opaque White, and paint a line down the center of the vines.  You might want to mask out the areas as discussed in the Calligraphy Layout: Designing a Certificate post.

Tip: Another method of painting straight lines without masking is to use short, connecting strokes rather than trying to paint one long, straight line.

Step 3: Vine Center Lines

Step 4

Using a small brush and Opaque White, add details to the border bars by painting straight lines in geometric shapes on the red bar, and curved line shapes on the blue bar.  You can paint these as simple or as complex as you like – try adding a few white dots in the shapes, painting double lines, etc.  Paint a few highlights on the edges of the blue and red ivy leaves.

Step 4: Painting Bar Designs and Ivy Highlights

When the paint and paper are completely dry, outline the design with a thin line of black ink or brown gouache and finish up other details such as pen sprays.

Sample Bar and Ivy Border

These are just a few simple suggestions to get you started – try different structures, colors and elements with variations.  Study manuscripts to recreate an authentic border to match a particular letter style, or create something completely contemporary!

Simple Award

In this demonstration, we’ll go through the steps of design, layout, lettering and painting a simple Award certificate combining elements from the following posts:

• Gothic lettering:  Demystifying Gothic Lettering
• Painted initial:  Painting a Simple Initial
• Acanthus Leaves:  Calligraphy Design: Acanthus Leaves
• Centered lettering: Calligraphy: Centering Lettering in a Certificate

The steps and processes in this demonstration reflect the stages I generally follow when creating a work that combines calligraphy and painting.  Depending on the complexity of the work, some steps can be combined, skipped or sometimes expanded if required.

This demonstration is just one method – as you gain experience with your projects, you’ll develop your own methods of what works best for you!

What you need:

Paper:

• 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper suitable for water media.  A 90 lb. hot press watercolor paper works well.

Lettering:

• calligraphy pen and 2 nibs – one broad (about 3mm) and one medium (about 2mm).  The demonstration uses 3mm and 2mm Brause nibs.
• graph paper or guidelines for each nib size (see Calligraphy Resources page or Stroking the Rules post.)
• ink

Layout and Design

• graph paper (see the Calligraphy Resources page)
• pencil, eraser
• ruler
• 3M Scotch Removable “Magic” Tape
• scrap paper

Optional:

• tracing paper

Painting

• round brushes (one medium and one small)
• mixing palette
• gouache – blue, red, yellow and brown (Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber)
• drafting tape or tape suitable for watercolor painting – test on a piece of your paper before using it to make sure it won’t damage the paper surface
• clean water

Step 1: Lettering

First, we’ll letter the text on graph paper or guidelines in a Gothic style (refer to the Demystifying Gothic Lettering post.)  Write out each line separately using the 3mm nib for the letters “ward” (for “award”), and the 2mm nib for “presented to” and “for practicing calligraphy”.

We’ll be using a painted intial for the “A” in “Award” so we only need to letter the “ward”.  You can use either the initial in the Painting a Simple Initial post, use the one I designed for this demonstration with the drollery “dragon”, or draw your own!

Initial "A" with Drollery Dragon

Next, use a ruler to measure the “presented to” and “for practicing calligraphy” lines of lettering, find the center, and mark it with a pencil line.

Note: Lines are shown in red for clarity – use a pencil to lightly mark lines.

Marking Center Lines

Print out or draw the initial “A” on graph paper or tracing paper.  Line up the lettered “ward” with the initial “A”, tack it together with removable tape and mark the center.  Note that only the letters “A” and “ward” are included when marking the center as shown below.

Marking the Center Line

Step 2: Layout and Design

We’ll use an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of graph paper to work out the rest of the design, and then transfer it to our final copy paper.

First, draw a box with the lines 1″ from the top, 1 1/8″ from each side, and 1 1/2″ from the bottom for the inside border line.

Inside Border Line

Draw a second box 1/8″ all around the first box.  This will be the border bars.

Outside Border Line

Step 3: Acanthus Leaves

Now we can have some fun!  On one side of the border (we only need to do one side because we will transfer it to the other side) draw a circle about 2 3/4″ from the top of the paper over the border lines.  Draw another circle at the bottom corner.  From the first circle, draw a wavy line up the border and around the top, and a second wavy line down the border for the acanthus main veins (refer to the Calligraphy Design: Acanthus Leaves post.)

Drawing Border Circles and Acanthus Lines

Draw the acanthus leaves, wrapping the leaves in front and behind the border lines.

Drawing Acanthus Leaves

Use the tracing paper to make a copy of the leaves and circles – we’ll use this to transfer the design to the other half of the final copy paper.

Step 4: Guidelines and Lettering

On your final copy paper (e.g. watercolor paper) with a pencil and ruler, lightly draw the border lines as in Step 2.  Find the horizontal center, and draw a vertical line down the paper.

We’ll draw our guidelines and complete the lettering first (refer to the Calligraphy: Avoiding Mistakes post for order of execution.)

Starting with the “Award” lettering draft, draw a light pencil line on the final copy paper about 2 1/4″ from the top of the paper.  Use removable tape to tack the lettering and initial on the paper so that the baseline of “ward” sits on the pencil line and the center line is lined up with the paper center line.  Add a light pencil mark to indicate the beginning and end of the lettering.  Remove the draft and draw the rest of the guidelines for “ward”.

Repeat with “presented to” with the baseline at 3 1/4″ from the top, and “for practicing calligraphy” with a baseline 5 1/4″ from the top.  Draw the guidelines and complete the lettering.

Centering Lettering with Baselines

Step 5: Name, Signature and Date Lines

If you want to add a line for the name, draw a centered line about 5″ long and 4 1/2″ from the top of the paper.

The signature and date lines are 6 3/8″ from the top of the paper and the length of the “for practicing calligraphy” line with approximately 1/2″ space between the lines.

Step 6: Transferring the Design

Transfer the drawing of the initial “A” on to the paper (refer to Painting a Simple Initial for one transfer method.)

Transfer the acanthus leaves and circles to one side of the border.  Flip the tracing paper drawing and transfer it to the other side of the border.  If necessary, clean up any pencil lines and erase extraneous lines.

Paper with Transferred Design and Calligraphy

Step 7: Painting the Initial

We can start with painting the initial.  Mix up a bit of red gouache and paint the “A” with a medium brush.  The drollery dragon is outlined with a small brush using a mix of Raw Umber lightened with a bit of opaque white.  You can also add a few line details in the dragon as shown, add a few white dots inside the “A”, or change the “A” into a puzzle initial (refer to Painting a Simple Initial.)

Painted Initial

Step 8: Painting the Border

Next, we’ll paint the border bars using an old painting trick to make sure the lines are straight.  Cut  pieces of masking tape and run the pieces down the outside and inside of the border lines.  Make sure the edges of the tape touching the pencil lines are flat without any folds or spaces to keep the paint from spreading under the tape.

Now you can paint over the lines!  Mix up a bit of Raw Umber gouache and paint in all around the border skipping the areas the acanthus leaves and circles cover.  Let the gouache dry for while before removing the tape.  Sometimes it might seem dry on top but the paper could still be damp.

Remove the tape, and when you are sure the gouache and paper are completely dry, add another mask of drafting tape, this time covering a bit of the painted edge on each side.

Masking the Border for Painting

Mix up opaque white gouache, and paint around the border again.  Remove the tape when the gouache and paper are dry.

Step 9: Painting the Acanthus Leaves and Circles

We’re almost done!  Paint the acanthus leaves starting with Yellow Ochre (underside of the leaves) and then with Ultramarine Blue.  Add line details and highlights (refer to Calligraphy Design: Acanthus Leaves.).

Paint the red circles with the same color as the initial.  Add a few lines for highlights and we’re finished!

Wait until all the painted areas are completely dry and then carefully erase any pencil lines.

Now you can add your name (refer to Calligraphy: Centering Lettering in a Certificate), sign and date it!

This is just a simple, basic certificate.  You could continue adding details such as wrapping more acanthus leaves around the border, changing the border lines to something more complex, incorporating more drollery figures – be creative!

Work In Progress - Acanthus Leaves Painted on Vellum

Take a look around – you might be surprised at how often acanthus leaves are used as decorative design elements – not only in illuminated manuscripts, but in architecture, metal work, furniture, fabrics, porcelain, wallpapers – almost anywhere!

A fascinating insight as to how acanthus leaves were drawn and painted in manuscripts is in the 15th Century Gutenberg Model Book.  A digital facsimile with translation is available at the Gutenberg Digital site.

There are many styles of acanthus leaves in illuminated manuscripts, and variations can be found in borders, initials, backgrounds and other decorative elements.  Many wonderful examples can be found at the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (enter “acanthus” in the search box.)

In this demonstration, we’ll draw and paint a simplified “Gutenberg” style acanthus leaf.  The shapes are easy to draw and can be folded, twisted and turned to fit any design requirements.  But beware – once you discover how fun it can be to draw acanthus leaves, it might be difficult to stop!

Drawing Acanthus Leaves

What you need:

• paper or graph paper (about 4 squares to the inch or print one out from Incompetech)
• pencil
• eraser

Step 1:

Draw a wavy line on the graph paper.  This will determine the basic form of the acanthus leaf and represents the “spine” or the main vein.

Step 1: Drawing a wavy line

Tip:  Once you are familiar with drawing acanthus leaves, many of the steps can be combined with one pencil stroke to draw a more fluid line instead of breaking up the forms.

Step 2:

Starting at the base of the spine, draw the top half of the leaf with two lobes.

Step 2: Drawing the Leaf Lobes

Step 3:

On the under side of the second wave, draw half a leaf with one lobe.

Step 3: Drawing Leaf with One Lobe

Step 4:

Draw the second half of the first leaf.  Extend the line from the spine to add a stem.

Step 4: Completing First Section and Stem

Tip:   Drawing the leaf shapes by turning the drawing vertical instead of horizontal can help visualize the flow and proportion of the lobes.

Step 5:

Draw the upper half of the second leaf.  Add a line extending from the base of the first curve to the lower half of the second leaf.

Step 5: Completed Second Leaf with Extended Base Line

Step 6:

Starting at the top of the last wave, draw the bottom half of the third leaf.

Step 6: Drawing Bottom Half of Third Leaf

Step 7:

Draw the upper half of the third leaf, and then add the terminal shape.  Erase the lines shown in green.

Step 7: Completing Third Leaf

Your leaf is now complete!

Completed Acanthus Leaf

Next, let’s try drawing a leaf with a different spine shape to illustrate how easy it is to fit a leaf into a design.

Leaf Spine Shape

Draw the leaf shapes as with the first leaf, and we have an acanthus leaf that would fit well in a border corner.

Corner Border Acanthus Leaf

We could use our drawing as a pattern for painting, or complete it as a pen and ink drawing.

Pen and Ink Acanthus Leaf

Tip:  Drawing acanthus leaves, particularly using pen and ink techniques, will help with painting details.

Painting Acanthus Leaves

Acanthus leaves can be very simple or extremely detailed depending on your design requirements.  We’ll start with a simple painting and then add a few details.

What you need:

• Acanthus leaf drawing
• Gouache – white and two colors (Ultramarine blue and Yellow Ochre for this demonstration)
• Palette for mixing gouache
• Paper suitable for water media
• Brushes – a medium-sized (about #2 or #3) and a smaller brush (#00 or #0)
• Pencil
• Clean water

Tools for Painting

Three colors are generally required – one for the outside of the leaf, one for the inside of the leaf and an opaque white to paint details.

Color Pattern

Step 1:

Transfer your drawing onto the paper.  Refer to the post Painting a Simple Initial for one method of transferring a drawing.

Step 1: Drawing Transferred to Paper

Step 2:

I generally prefer to start painting with a lighter color as it is easier to cover a mistake with a darker color.  First, paint the inside and tip of the leaf with the Yellow Ochre.  I usually paint up to the vein line leaving a bit of the paper showing instead of covering the pencil line.

Step 2: Inside and Tip of Leaf Painted

Try to follow the curve and direction of the leaf and lobes when painting.  Turning the work as you paint often helps when painting curves as it is easier to pull the brush towards you then to paint curves horizontally.

Step 3:

Paint the outside of the leaf and stem with Ultramarine Blue.

Step 3: Painting the Outer Leaves Ultramarine Blue

Step 4:

Mix up a bit of white gouache keeping it rather thin so it is a little translucent, and using a very small brush, paint fine lines following the curves of the leaf and lobes.

Step 4: Painting Thin Lines with White Gouache

Step 5:

Mix up a bit more white gouache that is more opaque, then paint a few lines to create highlights on the leaf lobes.

Step 5: Completed Acanthus Leaf

Our simple acanthus leaf is finished!

Now that you have a basic idea of how to draw and paint acanthus leaves, look at examples in illuminated manuscripts to see the variety of styles, colors, techniques and how they are incorporated into the overall design.

A demonstration using acanthus leaves in a certificate design is at the Calligraphy Layout: Designing a Certificate post.

We could still continue adding more details to this simple design such as dots along the vein, color modeling to add more depth and dimension, etc.  whatever you like – be creative!

Historical Gothic styles are usually replaced with less mechanical, more lively variations (e.g. Compressed or “Gothicized” Italic) in contemporary calligraphy although understanding the structure and construction is a good starting point to developing variations.  A beautiful example of a contemporary variation of the Fraktur style by Denis Brown can be seen at the QuillSkill website – the style is so fluid and dynamic the letters almost dance off the page!

A well-executed Gothic can be elegant and beautiful; a poorly lettered Gothic is obvious and distracting as it is much less forgiving than other styles such as Italic or Uncial.

Gothic can be very easy if you apply a few basic concepts:

• consistency
• straight, vertical strokes
• awareness of negative space

In this demonstration, we’ll use a very simplified variation of a Gothic style to practice the pen strokes and develop an understanding of consistency and negative space.

What you need:

• calligraphy pen – dip pen and ink, calligraphy fountain pen or calligraphy marker
• graph paper or guideline sheet (refer to Stroking the Rules post to create your own sheet for your pen nib size)
• scrap paper

Tip:  A pen nib size of about 2mm – 3mm is easier to work with when practicing Gothic letters as it can be difficult to see serifs and counter spaces with very small nib sizes.  A stiffer nib such as a Brause nib might also be easier to work with than a flexible nib.

Pen Nib Widths and Pen Angle

Gothic is a very dense, compressed style and this can be achieved with a pen angle of about 40° and pen nib widths of 4 for the x-height and 2 for the ascenders and descenders.

Pen Nib Widths and Pen Angle

Tip:  If you are having problems with the serifs, increase the x-height to 5 pen nib widths to give yourself a little more “serif construction space.”

Basic Strokes

We’ll first practice a few basic strokes and then use the those strokes to construct letters.

Basic Gothic Strokes

Stroke 1:

A simple straight stroke – try a row (about 3 to 5 at a time) keeping the distance between each stroke even with about a pen stroke of space between them.

Row of First Pen Stroke

Stroke 2 – Serif Stroke at Bottom:

Start a little below the waist line (about a pen nib width), draw the straight stroke and pull the stroke to the right one pen nib width before the baseline for a serif stroke.

Stroke 3 – Serif Stroke at Top:

Start at the waist line, pull the stroke one pen nib width to the right (serif stroke) and without lifting the pen continue to about one pen nib width above the baseline.

Stroke 4 – Serif Stroke at Top and Bottom:

Start at the waist line with a serif stroke (Stroke 3), continue a straight stroke and finish with serif at the bottom (Stroke 2).

Note: Serif strokes in Gothic lettering are usually built up with the pen and vary depending on the letter style.  The simplified serifs in this demonstration can also be built up by adding the serif strokes as separate pen strokes.

Building Letters

With these few basic strokes, we now have enough to almost build an entire alphabet with a just few exceptions. Letters such as the “a”, “k”, “s”, “x” and “z” will be discussed in the “Special Letters” section.

Note:  The examples were lettered using a 3mm Brause nib with an x-height of 5 pen nib widths and 2 pen nib widths for the ascenders and descenders.

Letters “i” and “l”

As you might have noticed, we have already written two letters with Basic Stroke 4 – the letter “i”, and if we extend the stroke to an ascender, the letter “l”.  The “dots” over the “i” and “j” are a hairline stroke with the pen angle at 40° or 45°.

Letters "i" and "l"

Letter “o”

Next, we’ll build a letter “o” using Strokes 2 and 3.  This will establish the counter (negative space) for similar letters and also help with letter spacing.

Letter "o" and Counter Shape

Note the parallelogram shape of the counter space and try to maintain this shape as you practice the letters.  Common problems with Gothic lettering can often be identified and corrected by looking at the counters and negative space.

Common Construction Problems and Counter Spaces

In the above example of common construction problems, compare the counter spaces of each problem to the shape of the counter space in the exemplar letter “o”.  It is quite easy to see the problems if we look at the counter spaces and not just the pen strokes.

Practice a few rows of the letter “o” until you are comfortable with the serif construction and looking at the counter space.

Letters “n”, “m”, “u”

We’ll use Stroke 4 to construct the letters “n”, “m” and “u”.

Letters "n", "m" and "u" with Stroke 4

With these letters and the letter “i”, we’ll write out the word “minimum” to check the serif contruction, strokes and negative space.

"minimum"

This is also a good example of how Gothic can be difficult to read!

Grab two pieces of scrap paper, and place one covering the serifs at the top and one covering the bottom serifs.  You should see a row of fairly straight lines with even spacing (negative space) between the strokes.

"mimimum" with Covered Serifs

Letter “h”

The letters “l” and “i” (Stroke 4) – remember to watch the lines, counter space and keep the serifs short with longer vertical strokes.

Letter "h"

Letters “v” and “w” using Strokes 4 and 3.

Letters "v" and "w"

Letter “b” using Strokes 4 (or the “l” stroke) and Stroke 3.

Letter "b"

Letters “c”, “e” and “r” starting with Stroke 2 and adding a serif stroke.  Note the hairline extension of Stroke 2 at the bottom of the “c” and “e” stroke, and at the end of the second “r” stroke.

Letters "c", "e" and "r"

Letters “g”, “j” and “p” extend Stroke 3 to descender length.  The “g” and “j” add serif strokes for the tails.  The “p” stroke adds a bit of a hairline at the bottom and the horizontal stroke (#3) is straight.

Letters "g", "j" and "p"

Letters “y” and “q” with “y” a combination of Stroke 4 and the “j” stroke.  Note the hairline stroke at the end of the “q”.

Letters "y" and "q"

Letters “t”, “f” and “d”. The “t” and “f” crossbars are under the waist line.  The second stroke of the “d” starts above the waist line and continues as the second stroke of the letter “o”.

Letters "t", "f" and "d"

Special Letters

Letters “a”, “k”, “x” and “z” are constructed with modified variations of the basic strokes.

Letter “a” – the first “a” is a very simple variation using Strokes 2 and 4.  The Gothic “a” is constructed by using Stroke 4, then adding a shortened version of Stroke 2.  The thin line creating the “bowl” is done by using the edge of pen to draw the line beginning inside the top serif to the top of Stroke 2.

Simple "a" and Gothic "a"

Letters “k” and “s”.  Notice the top half of the letters are above the center of the x-height.

Letters "k" and "s"

Letters “x” and “z”. There are many variations of the “x” and “z” – these are simple constructions to fit with the rest of the letter style.

Letters "x" and "z"

Now let’s try putting it all together in a quote by Richard Torregrossa:

Quote by Richard Torregrossa in Gothic Lettering

The quote has more generous spacing between the words than is usually found in manuscripts to help with legibility.

Gothic lettering can be quite complex with compressed proportions and letter spacing, changes in pen angles, and built-up serif construction.  This simplified variation of a Gothic style is helpful as a starting point to become aware of how lettering is constructed by focusing on negative space and minimal serifs.

Once you are comfortable with basic construction techniques, look at images of Gothic lettering in manuscripts or at the British Library Digital Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (enter “1300″ or “1400″ in the search box to see a variety and range of Gothic styles), or try combining Gothic lettering with a Simple Painted Initial.