Reggimented Sunday

Another assignment was to "make an alphabet of 'Plain Romans', broad-edge, 1 inch tall, black gouache on grid, touch-up, paste-up reproduce to make an exemplar. Use a Speedball C-2 nib"

This assignment caused me much anxiety, and I ended up procrastinating until I ran out of time. I didn't quite get to the touch-up, and paste-up part. And of course, CJ didn't read the assignment thoroughly so instead of black gouache, I used blue.

I wrote out a few of each letter on a grid pad. Then I chose the best letter, cut it out and arranged it on a waxed grid.

Instead of arranging the letters in A to Z order, I arranged them in the sequence Reggie suggested for practice.  I pulled the C from the G line and the J from the U line to sign my work.

From Reggie: "Always start at a point where you can give yourself the opportunity for the most success and encouragement. Do not start with the hardest first and defeat yourself. We all need as many confidence builders as possible when attempting anything new. Roman Capitals are the most humbling letterforms you will every try. Be patient and give yourself opportunities to succeed."

I should have read that statement a dozen times instead of giving in to the negative whispers of the inner critic. I should have just done the work instead of worrying what my Roman looked like. I shouldn't have been comparing my fledgling efforts to others in the class, especially classmates who have taken this course before.

I was pleased and relieved when I finished the assignment. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but some of the letters aren't half bad. After all, if I could do these letterforms in my sleep, what would be the point of taking this class?