Script Alphabets: Grow, branch out and flourish!
From Roundhand calligraphy, to lettering, to Script alphabets.
Instructor: Maria Montes
Dates: 20, 21, 27 & 28 October 2023
Duration: 24h
Location: Tipo-G Barcelona
First Edition | Course objectives
This course will introduce you, in a practical manner, to Copperplate calligraphy, script lettering, and script alphabets design through writing, hand lettering, and vector drawing.
The following concepts will be explained and demonstrated practically: Slant or the angle of writing in relation to the vertical and horizontal axis, degrees of italics, connected and partially connected alphabets, contrast and its absence through monoline, ductus, width and spacing, proportions, ligatures, alternative characters, types of connections, baseline, variable x-height, swashes and flourishes.
The goal of this course is to have a general understanding of the key attributes of script alphabets to enhance your understanding, selection, and design.
About your instructor
Maria Montes is an independent letter designer and illustrator specialising in branding assets and calligraphic education. Originally from Barcelona, she relocated to Australia in 2006, where she currently resides.
Her multidisciplinary practice extends to branding, editorial illustration, textiles, and packaging, producing lettering and calligraphy pieces for the artistic and socio-cultural sphere. She has been teaching calligraphy since 2014, including Copperplate, Italic, Gothic, Carolingian, Neuland, schematic Roman Capitals, and Brush Script lettering.
Maria completed a Postgraduate program in Advanced Typography at the Eina School in Barcelona and an Intensive Typeface Design Program at the Type@Cooper School in New York City. In 2018, she published her first display chromatic font family called “Green Fairy.
Course structure and contents
This 24-hours course is divided in two parts, with 12 hours each weekend.
FIRST WEEKEND
Friday October 20, 2023 (16h-20h)
— Introduction: Types of Script alphabets.
— Historical context.
— Writing demo: Copperplate calligraphy (lowercase).
— Contrast variations.
Saturday October 21 (10h-14h)
— Writing demo: Copperplate calligraphy (simpler capitals).
— Introduction to shading hierarchies.
— Introduction to ratio variations.
Saturday October 21, 2023 (16-20h)
— Exercise 1: Drawing a title containing some key characters for a future typographic development.
— Practical demo: Introduction to vector letter drawing (monoline).
SECOND WEEKEND
Friday October 27, 2023 (16h-20h)
— Exercise 1: Vectorising the high-contrast title.
— Practical demo: Introduction to medium/high-contrast vector letter drawing with Adobe Illustrator and Glyphs App.
— Presentation: Script alphabets | 9 key parameters to better understand, curate, and design Script alphabets.
Saturday October 28, 2023 (10h-14h)
— Exercise 2: Script hand lettering.
— Variations in ascenders and descenders.
— Introduction to swashes and flourishes.
Saturday October 28, 2023 (16h-20h)
— Exercise 2: Vectorising our Script lettering in monoline version.
— Presentation: Animating monoline Script letterings with Adobe After Effects.
Materials needed for the course
The school will provide marker paper, sketch paper, and tracing paper, as well as walnut ink, handles, and pointed, flexible, expanding nibs.
You are invited to bring your own writing and drawing tools such as:
— 1 x Walnut ink
— 1 x Nib Nikko G or Zebra G
— 1 x straight pen holder for left handers or dual (2 en 1) pen holder for right and left handers
— 1 x Pentel Sign Brush (any colour)
— 2 x fine liners 0.5 different colours (red and blue)
— A4 Canson Marker XL or Canson Bleedproof (70 gr)
— Tracing paper
— Pencil B
— Mechanic pencil
— Precision eraser
— Eraser
— Ruler (30 cm)
— Adobe Illustrator or Glyphs App
— Adobe Scan App
For the second weekend, you’ll bring a laptop with vector drawing software installed, such as Adobe Illustrator or Glyphs, and the Adobe Scan App on your phone.
Entry level for the course
Any professional or student can enrol in this workshop, but having experience in calligraphy, lettering, or type design can be very helpful.
Languages
Spanish, Catalan and English.
Dates 👉 20, 21, 27, 28 October, 2023
Course duration 👉 24h
Students 👉 8
Questions 👉 info@tipo-g.com
Enrol 👉 tipo-g.com/Talleres
Testimonials
“I was greatly impressed by the course. Maria provided us with a wealth of knowledge and resources to assist us in the future. It was evident that she is genuinely invested in our learning and our progress throughout the course. Additionally, she is incredibly kind and pleasant. I do wish the course were longer so that we could delve even deeper into the subject matter.” Neža Kovač
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“I took the six-class script alphabet course at the Tipo G school in Barcelona. Maria is super generous in sharing her knowledge without hesitation (which is a lot), very nice, patient and clear with the instructions and corrections of the exercises, attending to everyone to help individually… Great teacher and professional. I will definitely repeat if I have the chance.” Marta Escobar
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“Enjoyed a lot the course! Maria is a very passionate and talented professional. She teaches in a very personal and generous way, I feel this is perfect course to get the basics. Thanks Maria!” Gerard Pijoan
