miss munster - houses

i keep making up nicknames for my penpals. karen ness gets to be miss munster. i recently found out that miss munster is a scribe-of-note who has won the purchase prize in the newberry library exhibit in chicago. that is a big deal. it does not surprise me one bit. i could tell from this envelope that she is classically trained.

here are just 2 of many features that separate the classically trained ballerinas from the hokey-pokey dancers.

her capital letters are just a smidgen taller than her lower case letters. her l, in wilson is taller than the W. if you are trying to learn italics from a book, be sure you are looking at a book that has these features. there are plenty of exemplars out there where the caps are just too tall. It is such a small detail, but IMHO, it completely separates the sheep from the goats.

i say sheep and goats so you know that i'm not saying that classically trained is *better* than completely untrained, naive and wonky lettering. i'm just saying that if you looked at this envelope and thought to yourself, "dang, that's really good, i could never write like that"  - i'm here to tell you that you CAN write like that. it is not rocket science. it is doable if you can hold a pen. but there are some subtle little details that you need to know and you need to be studying from the right book. The Speedball Textbook has a proper exemplar. if you reeeeeeeally want to get serious, the book for you is:

B.2769 Sheila Waters' Foundations of Calligraphy
http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/23

and you get lots more than just italics....it is a treasure trove of the best instruction.
it's the holiday season. if you don't have it - put it on your list.