recent scribal efforts

[aryanhwy]

After a bit of a dry spell where I was too busy to think of anything but work, I've recently picked up my pens and brushes. I'm really happy with how this backlog AoA turned out:



It is based on British Library MS Burney 275 f.336, French, between 1309 and 1316. This design caught my eye because it combines both penwork and painting. I only wish that I had had space to try including the grotesques.

It took me about four days; the penwork P was done the first day, the border was drawn, inked, and painted the second day, the white work and the painting of the arms on the third day, and finally, the calligraphy on the last day.

Here is the text:

Pay heed to the words of Gerhardt and Judith, King and Queen of Drachenwald. We, not only through common report and the testimony of many worthy and credible gentles, but also by our own witness are well acquainted with and informed of the deeds and doings of our subject Balduin Valke, and it is our solemn and joyful duty to recognize the worth and nobility of the said Balduin by raising him to the rank of lord with all the rights, responsibilities, and privileges appertaining thereto including the sole and unique right to bear the arms blazoned as follows and depicted more plainly below, that is to say: Or, a pair of wings sable. So that none may give the said Balduin any let or hindrance or other impediment in the displaying of the said arms and in testimony of our action we have set our hands below on the 12th day of December, a.s. xliv, being the feast of Saint Lucia.

It's always way more fun to do an AoA scroll for someone who has registered arms than for someone who doesn't.

I've also completed two scrolls for Crown, but I'll wait until after the event before posting them, even though I've got versions with the names blocked out right now.

Comments

[meehesh.livejournal.com]

Very nicely done, Ary! That is an amazing scroll. :)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Thank you! While many that I do either fall short of my expectations or reach my expectations but don't look at all like my exemplar (hurrah for low expectations), this one surpassed my expectations and looks plausibly like the original, so it's satisfying on all respects.

[meehesh.livejournal.com]

It really is an amazing piece of art! II am so impressed that you can do this, and want to thank you for sharing the pictures here. I always like them, even if I usually don't comment on them. :)

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous as always!

What hand is the calligraphy?

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

What hand is the calligraphy?

*snork* Well, I was attempting to copy the hand in the exemplar, but if you have to ask I guess that means I didn't do that well! :) The BL detailed record says that the hand is "Gothic". Doesn't look all that Gothic to me, but what do I know.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

No, it just means I'm really bad at recognizing most hands beyond very general categories ("Renaissance", "Gothic", "Not Gothic"...stuff like that)! I really like it; that's why I asked.

I guess it could be a very early Gothic, still pretty close to Carolingian in some ways? I dunno, all the classifications seem a bit arbitrary given the vast variance in actual manuscript hands.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

all the classifications seem a bit arbitrary

Yeah. This is partly why I'm so bad at identifying them. When I have an exemplar that has a lot of nice text like this one did, with a lot of different examples of letters, I try to copy it when I can; but sometimes I fall back onto my generic "sort of carolingian minuscule" hand that's my default.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Your sort of carolingian minuscule is lovely, too. Your calligraphy really makes me want to practice so I can be that consistent, too.

I really like those early Gothic hands that are still fairly rounded, but I find them a bit confusing to actually execute.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Whatever did artists do before LJ (or the like)? I'm persist in finding my calligraphy skills only mediocre, because I feel like I could do so much better. It really is helpful to continually hear from people whose work I find so gorgeous that they think my calligraphy is nice. Thank you, very much.

And I agree about the early Gothic hands. The "early Gothic" one in Drogin is one I'm forever chasing after because I think it looks so nice, but my execution of it never quite reaches expectation.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it's encouraging! I love seeing your work. It's very different from anything I can ever imagine doing myself.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

It's very different from anything I can ever imagine doing myself.

I think that's why I enjoy seeing your work so much -- I can only look at it and marvel.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Bah!

[math5.livejournal.com]

I like it :)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Nice texting! You've really managed the long s fabulously. And the penwork initial looks smashing. I think I want to try something in that style soon :) Maybe if I make a blank for ID I'll use that... See, you're inspiring!

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, a question: are you looking for constructive criticism when you post your stuff here, or is it just for us to go ooh and aah?

And to be quite clear, the latter is perfectly acceptable and a good reason for posting, I do it myself often :)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Oh, suggestions for improvement definitely acceptable -- I'm pretty much learning by trial-and-error, and if more experienced people have tricks to offer, I definitely want to hear them.

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Alrighty then, I noticed in the margin painting, you are using just one shade of blue/red, and then going in with the highlighting. If you look closely on the vertical bar of blue that comes to the right of the text in the original you will see that there is a lighter shade going along one side.

If you want to take the next step closer to period look, apply the lighter shade first, then go in with the "full" colour, sometimes there is a third darker shade as well, but not always. And lastly the highlight. It's quite simple, nearly as fast, and instantly gives the painting a tiny bit of three-dimensionality, making it pop a little more off the page. I just mix the "full" colour with a bit of white and off I go with the lighter shade.

That was the thought that struck me as I looked at your fabulous product :)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! As you'll probably notice (especially when I post the ones that I did for crown), I'm really bad at shading (as in, I generally just don't do it). I find it visually very difficult to look at something and see how it was shaded, and even if I find a very simple example, I find I'm bad at mixing my paints right to get the right level of balance between the darker color and the lighter color. This is something I've been trying to work on for awhile. Your explanation of how to go about it does help.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Whoo, I'm inspiring people, yay! That's wonderful to hear.

And thanks for the compliments about the long 's' -- it's only been in the last few attempts, after all the years that I've been doing calligraphy, that I'm beginning to make ones that I don't think look totally stupid and lopsided.