Illumination

Illumination is the embellishment or added decoration to manuscript pages, addingt interest and imporatnce, most of which was done by hand. Often times, images/illustrations would be added to the inside of letters that reflected the content int the text. Images may have also been added within the letter itself incorporating it or unifying it to the patterns and imagery surrounding it.

In our next exploration in typography, we will study the different styles of artists of our choosing and experiment with re-creating designs that reflect aspects of their styles. We will create illuminated letters of our own that include embellishments influenced by these artists.

The Illuminated Letter

Artist 6: Stina Persson

Word List:

vibrant

saturated

flat

shape

black

bold

expressive

edgy

scribble

color-block

chunky

angular

abstract

cut-out

contrast

aggressive

emotive

loose

noodled

harsh

free-form

editorial

innovative

illustrative

attitude

Artist 5: Jason Thielke

Word List:

line

shapes

monochromatic

dynamic

complex

pattern

silhouette

outline

overlap

elegant

meticulous

planned

intentional

graceful

broken-down

endearing

detailed

geometric

elemental

expressive

movement

shade

Artist 4: Heike Weber

Word List:

organic

warped

dimensional

depth

contrast

space

dynamic

line-work

gradiation

2-dimensional AND 3-dimensional

abstract

free-form

distorted

doodled

spontaneous

curvature

random

unified

movement

rhythmic

flowing

gradual

growth

progression

spilling

connectedness

loopy

bulging

towering

illusion

Artist 3: Andreas Preis

Word List:

cross-hatch

linear

shape

prganic

monochromatic

stern

harsh

angular

repetitive

pattern

masculine

straight

sharp

simple

basic

rough

rugged

Artist 2: Mucha

Word List:

elaborate

organic

curvature

linework

neutral color

expressive

erotic

detailed

ornate

excessive

realism?

delicate

intricate

floral

decorative

pretty

feminine

specific

formal

sophisticated

classy

viney

weaving

S-curve

curling

Artist 1: Mondrian

Word List:

simplistic

minimalistic

primary

linear

architectural

geometruc

sharp

angualr

straight-forward

two-dimensional

repetitive

pattern

color

block

assymmetrical

flat

shape

bold

graphic

mathematical

radical

Palatino

We began a project focusing on a specific font and analyzing its characters to determine those that are most distinguishing. Once we've gathered information for our fonts, we design a series of posters that display the information in a clear, organized way that is visually engaging and demonstrates a strong hierarchy. This image is an example of the most basic way to present the entire Palatino font.

Motion Graphics

Our class has taken a two week hiatus from our current project to learn and gain experience in motion graphics using the Adobe After Effects software. We created a short video about 30 seconds that animates the five day weather forcast in an interesting and engaging way.While getting familiar with the software was difficult as first as I had no prior experience, I feel I have learned so much in such a short period of time. I have thoroughly enjoyed this short project, more than was intially expected, because it is so different from any project I've done in the past.

Looking forward to similar projects in the future.