Mix & Match: Calligraphy & Lettering as Design Tools

Description

How can we shape letterforms to tell different stories?

In this workshop, students will learn different methods to create custom letterforms and explore their expressive potential. We’ll bridge the gap between writing, drawing, and designing by mixing calligraphy and lettering techniques—while looking into how design decisions can affect the story that’s being told.

Get ready to get inky! Students will have a hands-on experience, from playing with a wide range of calligraphic tools and shapes, to learning how to refine and finalize a wordmark—ready to be applied as a logotype, book cover/movie title, or part of an advertisement campaign, poster, album cover, and so on.

Gui and Aline will guide you through every step of the fun process of exploring letterform variations, offering inspiring visual references, instructional content, live demonstrations, and supporting you during this journey through Q&As and feedback. This workshop is open to all levels—both beginners and more advanced students are sure to get a kick out of the fun experiments and learn about the different processes for letterform-making.

Supplies

Required Materials

• Felt-tip brush pen (preferably dark; recommended brands: Tombow dual, Sakura Koi or Faber-Castell)
• Parallel pen (preferably 3,8 mm—green cap) or closest felt-tip kind (like Zig, Staedtler Calligraphy, Sakura Calligrapher, etc)
• Any soft pencil (for outlines and filling shapes)
• Tracing, layout, vellum or any translucent paper, A4/Letter size
• Bond paper or any 90gsm+ paper, A4/Letter size

Optional

• Calligraphy inks, Higgins Eternal, or Pelikan 4001 Ink (preferably dark). Sumi, India ink, and gouache are okay too (though not for use with the parallel pen)
• Any other calligraphic tools that you might have and wish to experiment with (e.g.: cola/ruling pen, pointed and broad-edged nibs or brushes, markers, toothbrushes, tree sticks, etc)

This is a team-taught Workshop.

Aline Kaori

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https://be.net/alinekaori

Gui Menga

Click on photo to visit biography page
https://guimenga.com/