And for what I have done ill and for what I have done well and for what I have left undone, I ask you to forgive me.

- Samuel Beckett

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

An optimist is a guy who has never had much experience.

- Don Marquis

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

Hi All, I'm looking to improve my layout especially. I've just gotten back into italic after quite a long break and am beginning now to write relatively small, as I enjoy it very much. Layout and spacing have always been challenges for me.

The purpose of art is to disturb the peace.

- Alan Moore

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland in search of our better selves?

- First History Man, Fury Road

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

I happened on a curious scene related to calligraphy/writing from a German novel written in 1820. The book is called ‘The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr’ and for context, the writer is a super-intelligent cat, making observations and assumptions in his autobiography based on very limited experience. His master is an alchemist and a scholar and Murr is trying to learn to write:

“However carefully I might watch my master’s hand as he wrote, I just could not pick up the mechanics of of the thing from him. I studied old Hilmar Curas, … and almost reached the conclusion that the mysterious difficulty of writing could only be removed by wearing the large cuff seen on the writing hand of the diagram depicted in that book.”

Question 1: the diagram of a cuff the cat mentions is possibly just a an old-timey engraving with a hand and a white shirt cuff and cat is mistaking this for some kind of writing support? Unless ‘cuff’ means something else in the context of writing.

Cat goes on, regarding his master NOT wearing one and assumes it’s because cuffs are some kind of training device : “and that it was only to the special facility my master had acquired that he wrote without a cuff. I kept a keen eye open for cuffs, and was on the point of tearing up the old housekeeper’s nightcap and adapting it…”

Question 2: follows on, is this ‘without a cuff’ basically that his master simply rolled up his sleeve? the Palmer web site was the only one to mention any kind of ‘calligraphy clothing’ at all, and this was to state that many people cut their lower sleeve off on their writing hand.

In which case the cat’s mystification is part of the joke. Otherwise there was actually some kind of blotting cuff that was worn..

Any opinions?

Hello,

I have been practicing roman capitals for a couple weeks and the most challenging letter for me has been the capital D. One of the major issues is the width of the lower stroke of the bowl (I will tackle next general shape and roundedness but I'm focusing on strokes so far). I have rounded down four different interpretations of the letter:

1: upper stroke of the bowl is first thin and then wide. Lower stroke is vice versa first wide and then becomes thinner as it joins the arch of the bowl.

2: upper stroke of the bowl is straight and brush has a consistent inclination of 35 degrees. Bottom stroke is the prosecution of the stem, which makes it very thin.

3: same as before, but the bottom stroke is drawn after the bowl with a 35 degrees inclination, making it as wide as the top stroke

4: the upper stroke is drawn with an horizontal inclination of the brush, making it symmetrical and just as thin as the lower stroke, which is the prosecution of the stem.

According to your experience, which combination of stroke widths is optimal?

https://preview.redd.it/hrn1qncfvyae1.jpg?width=4608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31f99ea30c2f08b97ba1f9eb2eb03fcaac5390d7

You gotta grab life by the lips and YANK as hard as you can!

- "Weird Al" Yankovic

-----

NOTE: I'm off traveling for a bit over the new year, so I'll likely miss the next couple of QotW. Feel free to freestyle!

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

I have been looking but can’t seem to find a sheet for Roman capital proportions. I’m working with the Winters Foundations book and I’d like to be able to print out some of the circle inside square guides she uses in that book. It’s a bit tedious to make those sheets by hand. Has anyone come across a downloadable guide sheet?

Hello All!

I'm getting John Stevens' Mastering Brush Roman Capitals for Christmas, and it will be my first foray into using a brush rather than a broad-edged pen. I'd like to order a couple flat brushes before the book arrives, and so won't be able to consult it for his recommendations.

Do any of you have any suggestions for a good, flat brush for lettering? What about sizes? Paint? I wish I could find out which sizes he recommends using to start in the book. If any of you own the book, I'd love to know what to get before it arrives.

Any help of suggestions will be much appreciated. Thank you!

The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.

- The Question, Justice League Unlimited (written by Dwayne McDuffie)

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

Update. The exercise helped me a lot. Thanks. Any critique for improvement is more than welcome.

Fable has strong shoulders that carry far more truth than fact can.

- Barry Hughart

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

It's all beautiful and nothing lasts.

- John Scalzi

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

Page with the right orientation

https://preview.redd.it/fl19fgkto13e1.jpg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca8685381bcf4d1895148b0f350295e6840b8967

Please, help me to improve!!

Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope; and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.

- John F. Kennedy

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.

- Shel Silverstein

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.

- Thomas Jefferson

-----

Please indicate if you would like feedback/constructive criticism on your submissions.

This quote was selected by u/mshades, the Quotemaster of r/Scribes