Sunday, October 20, 2013

Extremes of scale

Technical problems kept me from posting this on time.  
Today and next week we will look at techniques for dealing with extremes of scale--very large letters and very small letters.  
I just finished a huge design where one line is repeated 1000 times, each one fitting into a one-inch square [2.5 cm].  That made the lettering a tiny 2 mm tall.  

At such a small size, you have to pay attention to your materials.  The most important things are:
  1. Paper with a smooth surface
  2. Pen with a sharp point  
  3. Pigment that flows smoothly
And good magnifying glasses.  And bright light.  

Small letters generally mean long text.  Make extra sure of your design so you don't get halfway through and regret your layout.  


And don't get cocky!  Here is a leaf from a 14th century manuscript, a fairly commonplace piece of scribery.  Those letters are 2 mm high too.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my! Wow! That is something else. 8O Thank you. Must have been a little mind-numbing to execute but a wonderful feeling once donw.

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