Discovering Illumination

 Dearest Reader,

After my last post, I went online looking for different artists/videos showing how to make more fancy floral embellishments for my pages. Happily, I stumbled upon this term, Illumination, which is the styling of books in the medieval, monastic aesthetic. That little keyword unlocked a whole new world of artistry for me! For, unlike liturgical typesetting, there are numerous resources online I can draw from to work on my drawing skills.

One book I found in the public domain online recommended I simply copy other artist's work, and over time I can develop my taste to develop my unique designs. So that's what I'm doing now: practicing with fancy drop-cap letters based on designs from other artists!

I: My Notebook Sketches on Thursday

My first couple attempts on Thursday were a little too hurried and ambitious, so I quickly abandoned them (I). But my third try, which was a blocky yet smaller T, wasn't too bad considering all I had were my pens and notebook paper (III)!

II: Original Illumined T

III: My Copycat on Pen and Pad

Yesterday I brought to work with me my sketch pad, and most of my fancy markers, pencils and pens. Finding another illumination, this time the Letter A (IV), I went to work whenever I had a few spare moments. I made sure this time to scale the piece properly, so I drew a rectangular outline in pencil, measured approximate distances between the major curves of the sides, and slowly filled in the details before solidifying them in ink. After coming home, I made the finishing touches, including two coats of gold acrylic paint to resemble the gold leaf on the original. 

IV: Original Illumined A

V: My Version (Marker, Acrylic Paint)

The final result (V) turned out better than I first expected! Next time I will be going straight from pencil to paint though, since the felt-tipped markers left an uneven, "stop and start" effect on the blue lines.

Today, after scheming out my first devotional booklet, I decided to synthesize my typesetting and new illumination skills! After scanning the image (this time in JPG format), I oversaturated the colors on Microsoft Designer and manually inserted the A as a "drop-cap" in Word. I then entered in the opening prayer for the Divine Office, "Aperi Domine", in the document, added in my vine border, and exported it as a PDF.

While it looked nice, the white background just made it look - well - too clean. So, I converted it back into a JPG and put it through a warm filter on Designer. The end product (VI) is approaching the layout of how I would illuminate certain pages in "The Warrior's Prayerbook". Not every page, mind you, but at the beginning of each major section, as well as anywhere where the impact should be felt.

VI: The finished "Aperi Domine" Prayer Card. I pray the English version before each hour of my

"Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary".

That's all I know for now! For any original artwork of mine, you are free to copy and use what you like! The point of my work is to help others grow closer to Jesus Christ, not to gatekeep the beauty for greater profit. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to making another progress report soon! 

Remember: Jesus is King, Mary is Queen, and you are their slaves! God bless!

✠︎ Your fellow Papist,

Andy Christopher