13 August 2010

Black Arches Cover - Con't

It was a work of art from Glen Epstein that got me going on the black Arches cover paper. Mr. Epstein was a marvel of an artist and calligrapher. You can see his work here, if you have never seen it before.



So in the style of Glen Epstein I created this piece. The text is a translation from a portion of "The Extremes of Good and Evil" by Cicero written in 45 BC. The picture above has the text only written. The picture below has the addition of the colored pencil between lettering. The color pencil adds to the vibrancy of the piece but also tames any hot spots of black in between the letters. 






I really had to concentrate on keeping the counter spaces and the letter spacing tight. I actually started with the bottom block of text, which unfortunately, has larger spacing between letters and words than the top. I was able to tighten it up as I wrote, but it could all be tighter still. 


The piece was lots of fun! 




3 comments:

  1. You look like you're having fun with this watercolour on black paper - it's stunning! I like the addition of the coloured pencils and even tho I can't pick it from the shots, I have empathy for the tightening and loosening of spacing!

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  2. gorgeous piece!! it's been a long time since i've worked on arches black cover, but i always loved it! your tribute to glen's work is wonderful! :))

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  3. Hey, do you know how that letter is called?
    I’d like to find out more of that specific lettering style (love IT)

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