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Friday, February 3, 2012

Amateur Calligraphy

Hi bloggers, I've decided to post some of my last year's work, while I had a job at the language institute I tried some ink on my nib and went on writing things. I was inspired by Park Jiyoung, the charming calligrapher who still is a distant friend. I tried to do something similar with my own language as well. While I recognize is an amateur level set of calligraphy work I got to say I like it a lot and can improve.

Eventually it was quite popular among the teachers and students at the insitute and some of them wanted their name calligraphed, then the unexpected happened. Earthquake hit Japan on full strenght and I actually was very moved. Until the date I haven't seen any of the many videos surrounding the net of the catastophic scenes that shook the whole world but I felt moved nevertheless. So I asked my students, young and old to make a donation for the Japanese Red Cross and in exchange for their compassion token they would get their names on ink on a small white paper. So I raised a "symbolic" amount of money but people didn't walk away empty handed, and I'm happy for that.

So I continued with my calligraphic work and managed to get occidental characters twisted and bent to the point of the irrecognizable state, still with a little of persistance you can find the hidden text in the middle of the images.

Even though I couldn't resist the temptation of modify through PS some of the originals I still hope you guys enjoy my work.

This is how my font started looking when I did the names on paper for Japanese Red Cross donors. More rounded, sincere and cuter.


 This one is dedicated to You Wen Ting, my ex-wife. We know why : D

The scanning didn't help much to this one, it makes it look too sharp and contrasted. When I did this text I was looking for words of courage to overcome the situation at home, I used to get yelled by my landlady a lot, she's a maniac.


 There was an issue here, because the original actually had a typo. Well, Photoshop magic on the last N which was actually a D.

I liked this little one a lot, it took me a very long while to make the letters in a straight horizontal line without making mistakes, there still are but there aren't as bad as the sketches.
 Here I wanted to give my work a twist, I remembered how Gaudi's buildings looked like and wanted to make something tortured, smoked but legible and amusing.

Some exercises with repetitions, I didn't want my practice sessions making it into the page, sorry.


I thought "well I got to sell my work, so what better seller than the most iconic religious figure throughout the world?" lol, seriously I wanted to do words which people can easily recognize and appreciate.

 ... yeah, this one too. Simple, well rounded and easy to read.

No, I didn't do this right after watching 300. The word was surrounding my mind. I wanted so bad to put it into paper. The lacy, loopy and open faced characters used above... simply wasn't going to fit. This is a calligraphic exercise with personality and low pitched voice.

This one is dedicated to all the System of a Down fans.


 Later on, my main font morphed into this thin and tall style, notice it keeps the lower left and upper right drops.


This is a small detail from the previous one, poetic and full of expression old school types can be done as well in modern times. I envisioned this one as the font for a national television drama's name.


 Here I was actually looking for ideas, to the point of trying to do it in Korean as well, I want to learn how to type with brush as they do but for now I'm quite happy with the quill.

 This was a one out of the very few drawings that made the cut into my scanned calligraphic exercises. I dedicated it to Dita Von Teese. it reads "slenderness".

The letters, the person who is dedicated to as well as the pic is filled with sensuality, I hope they like it.

It does look like the Eurobuilding's logo, but wasn't done with that in mind. I wanted to do a bigger texture and looked good.

 This very thin font was made with lots of bracket shapes and gothic inspirations, I wanted to do those written boards which you hang on lintels or refrigerator lids. It feels mature, antique and sober.
Here's another example of the previous but a little bit less thinned. This actually is the last one I did, much more perfected than the previous one. Straighter and better looking.


Some Venezuelan proverb which is used when you get the same bad result whenever you're trying two different options. I wanted to get back to the festive, oscillant type and I did.


Another common saying also made it into a song, mixed with the cup drawing, I liked this a lot even though of the typo.

 One of my earliest works, I really like the simplicity, openness and sincerity this font reflects. I like it.

More culture slang on my art, when you keep hearing some words, tongtwisters, sayings and proverbs, they float to your memory like driftwood when you're looking for something smart to write up, one of my favorites no doubt.

This has been my most enigmatic work. It reads a children song which we learned on kindergarten, I had to transform each syllable into a aesthetic element which had a real relationship with the other ones. At the end you may just think they are similar elements put together creating a harmonic interaction when is NOT just that! there's text there, transformed and created to bend your brains out, people laughs a lot when they find out what's written.


Some of my most experimental work, my calligraphy even in amateur state doesn't go along well with symmetry and linearity, I wanted to write something in English but didn't mean to write it differently as the Spanish ones, simply came up like this :)

These are some very elegant pieces, where some interesting words got all laced and spiralled up. Again, you might think there's just some nice lines in the image but there's more that that, I made sure to put the answer to the puzzle below.

And this is it, if you like it share it on FB or Twitter and contact me if you want to get your name or text written, I'll post it on this blog as soon as I get it. Have a good day and spread the word!

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