ART 1060 -- History and Art of Lettering and Calligraphy
Instructor: Ronald Tate
For my final project, I created a miniature book full of Trigonometric Identities. At first, I only knew I wanted to do a small book in the style of a scholar's personal journal. Then, I realized it could be a great opportunity to study for my Trigonometry final. As I considered that, I was more and more attracted to the idea of a little booklet that looked like the mathematical musings of some old-world academic. I've titled it Principia Trigonometria based on the title Principia Mathematica.
I had a lot of fun in this class. As I was reading through the course descriptions, this sounded like a class I would very much enjoy -- and I was quite right. We learned to write in various calligraphic styles, such as: Italic, Flourished Italic, Northern Gothic (Blackletter), Southern Gothic, Uncial, and Copperplate. My all-time favorite of these was the Copperplate. I performed horribly in this class compared to everyone else, but I've always written in a strange way that none of my elementary teachers could correct. So I re-learned writing techniques along with learning these new alphabets. Copperplate was the one that seemed like it was difficult for everyone instead of just difficult for me. But it was also the most attractive looking lettering style once it was finished. Basically, it seemed like there was more reward in having learned this one. My second favorite is probably the Northern Gothic or the Flourished Italic. I enjoy the look of both equally, but I can do the letters in Flourished Italic much better than any of the other styles.