Drop The Caps by Van Nguyen

the

CAPS

Drop the Caps

ÂŠ 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission. The opinions expressed in this book are those of the author only and not those of York College of Pennsylvania. This book is an experimental class project for purely educational design purposes. Design by Van Nguyen

Printed by www.blurb.com

Drop the Caps A documentation book of drop caps By: Van Nguyen

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface Introduction History Of Drop Caps The Influence Of Jessica Hische Anatomy Of A Character Section 1: Micron Pens Section 2: Black Sharpies Section 3: Color Sharpies Section 4: Bic Marking Section 5: Digital Reflection Final Words Index

2 4 6 10 12 15 27 39 51 63 78 79 84

Preface What is your definition of documentation? To me, the word is pretty self-explanatory but to have a true interpretation in this case then it is a process of classifying and annotating what is in our surroundings and how it influences us.

n this Fall ₂₀₁₈ semester here at York College studying graphic design, I want to be able to get inspired from anything and everything. I believe as an art student; you should be able to see your surroundings as an inspiring tool, resource, influence, and knowledge for your artworks. Yes! Nowadays you can search up whatever you want on Google, and there you go, the whole world is in front of you. This is a straightforward and common way to get inspiration for your artworks. For me, in my opinion, we should change that habit. Therefore, I want to indeed document art and refer to art in many different ways. I want to have real-life experiences, where the real moment was captured for an idea I will have in my mind and from their putting that into my works, which is to creates drop caps.

Theme: The overall theme of this book is to show later generations artists and designers not to depend on what we call the “internet” today too much. It is because the internet put us into this thinking mentally that we can see everything in this world by just a click away and get inspiration from that way also. No! A real life experience will give you that official idea that no one hands to you, it lets you be formal and different, everything around us is our art tool. With this book, I intend to educate the reader about our surroundings in relations I being able to use them as tools. I hope you could also be inspired like me of our surroundings because it is much more than we think. I also hope that you. As a reader can learn about the use of drop caps and how important it is still today.

Introduction

iao! No, I am not Italian, and neither is Italy is my birthplace, but very soon, you will be visiting it. Since it is the birthplace of this books main subject, drop caps. But first let's get to know a little bit about me, the author of this book.

My name is Van Nguyen, and I am currently a Junior at York College of Pennsylvania majoring in Graphic Design. I always liked art and colors. Ever since I was little, I would draw on the wall and get punished later. As I grew up, I always had like taking art classes that were offered in school. Now that I am following my dream to become an artist, I am more than honored and happy with this choice. Even though I am not a good drawer, or an illustrator, I do have a mind and a body of willingness to try and practice to get better at what I want to do each day. Inspired by Jessica Hische, a lettering artist, who influenced others to do something that motivated her daily and that is the drop caps. For this semester-long project, we have to create and write our own original book on a document of a topic that is in our interest, personal or something we want to get more knowledge of. For my version, my book, “Drop The Caps,” was done over the course of twelve weeks with over ₁₀,₀₀₀ words written by myself and documented over ₃₀₀ photos of what influences me and my artwork. As an artist, I believe everything and anything should be the abilities for your influence to create your work. Therefore, I spent each day anywhere from one to two hours building up the drop caps with a different medium using various sources of inspiration hoping that I could also challenge and teach myself something that letterers take years to master. I am not a letterer, but I want to try and experience it to become familiar with the typography because they are prevalent in all facets of design.

History of Drop Caps Drop caps have been around for centuries, and it can be seen in the bibles, manuscripts, and books in the early years and still today. Not only that, as typography expands over time, drop caps are being used more, and we can see it in today not only in books but in spreads, documents, magazines, and many more. Drop caps do not just focus on what are today known as, which is for book designers to use to separate text, but drop caps are also a decorative element that its essential and necessity cannot be underestimated.

rop caps is a letter at the beginning of a word, a paragraph or a chapter that is bigger than the rest of the content. According to dictionary.com, the word “drop caps” was derived from the Latin word, initials, which means at the beginning. Like its definition, this initial is often referred to several higher measurements in the height of a letter that is at the beginning of a text that all started back in the fourth century CE. In the early years, codex (books with pages, as opposed to scrolls) did not have word spaces, sentence breaks, or paragraph breaks like today. Not only that, they composed of all of the written words was not as readable like the way it is now. Therefore, the scribes started to use them big initial letters to mark new sections or new ideas that started at the beginning of contents.

to a declare the first paragraph of a new chapter or section. Not until the fifteeenth century, the monks and scribes who used the drop caps not only to help the “readers” find their place in the text, but drop caps were also decorative elements that visually stood out in a bunch of chunking texts.

In the fifteenth century and forward, the drop caps contains various colors, pictures, and illustrations which most of the time it relates to the text by showing a recognizable figure or scene since it is a way to approach the reader to the content that followed. During this period, it was one of the most religious periods out of all, there the initials was also illuminated. It was decorated with silver or even gold leaf to bring the light of God to the reader with the purpose of not only helped mark the start of a new idea or content in the Moving forward to as late as the fifteenth followed text. But these drop caps acted as century, the uses of these initials changed. place markers for significant places in the In the beginning years; these drop caps text since images related to the story served was just a bigger letter with no specific as memory aids for priests and monks who color and the only the main purpose was “read” the texts by flickering candlelight. [₂]

History (cont.)

n the mid-₁₆₀₀s, that is when the role of type changed, and initial caps fell out of favor. In this period, newspapers were popular, and people did not have to own a codex to be able to read or to get better information, and knowledge from it. It is because, newspapers allowed the readers to share current ideas and information. Scientific inquiry provided that a basis of rational thoughts, and most important what effect of the drop caps are the typographic page was simplified. The relationship between type and images are continuously improved, and it is will be continued to shift. Where the text is much more in form and columns with spread out text. People are now primarily influenced by industrialization and forgotten the bibles/codex, where once it was worth a life of a person to earn, own and have.

Today, drop caps are no longer necessary because followed the industrialization time, contents are way more technology set up and easier to read and followed. Now, drop caps are used primarily as decorative elements that are more to be able to grab someone’s attention rather than to find their place in a text. Drop caps were used for centuries in religious and scholarly

books, where it associated with and communicate an “old” or “traditional” feeling. Therefore, when people want to design a web page that feels traditional, elegant, or historical, they will find their self-wanting to use drop caps. Overall, the drop caps serve as two main functions and purposes over the centuries, and that has not changed: Decoration – In a book with hundreds of pages of black rectangles of type, a colorful, big, with some images or illustrations is considerate to give the readers a sense of imagery of the text, keep the reading interesting, and these drop caps are perfect for that. Navigation – Paragraphs after paragraphs, pages after pages, drop caps will let the reader know when a new section of ideas or contents is coming. When reading the content, people might also lose track of where they are, therefore drop cap will help the reader remember either that section or contents with its large letter, which physically cannot be mistaken with the smaller texts around it. [₃]

The Influence of Jessica Hische Followed by the industrialization period, it took away of the importance and necessity of drop caps. Today, designers/artists and people as a whole forget how much valuable, time, effort, and details were put in for just one drop cap back in the days. Drop caps are beginning to be taken for granted when its mostly being forgotten for its purpose and the thought of using it is no longer as thoughtful. Therefore, a game changer, Jessica Hische, had the drop caps return in a way that they are no longer inconsiderate, and thoughtless plain, simple, big black character in front of the paragraph but a masterpiece. Jessica Hische is a letterer, illustrator, and author, who has done work with many well-known company and publishers such as Tiffany & Co., Chronicle Books, Penguin, The New York Times and many much more. After Jessica Hische graduated from Tyler School of Art, in ₂₀₀₆ with a degree in Graphic Design, she worked for Headcase Design in Philadelphia, Pa. It was before taking a position as Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd. In September of ₂₀₀₉, after two and a half years of little sleep and a lot of hand-lettering, she left Louise Fili to pursue her freelance career further. Same month and same year, September of ₂₀₀₉, she started a project called the daily drop cap and little did she know, this opened many more paths for her career and benefited her significantly overall as a designer and a lettering artist. In this project, Jessica designed, drew and illustrated a letter a day then posted it daily (or at least regularly) on the Daily Drop Cap website/ blog. Started in ₂₀₀₉ and ended in ₂₀₁₁, the overall course of the project, she illustrated twelve alphabets in total, and each letter was unique in its own way. Even though the project ended after the completion of the twelfth alphabets, the website remains up for others to use and to be a source of inspiration. [₆] Personal Impact: Jessica Hische and her Daily Drop Cap project is a significant influence for the return of drop caps in the design world. Not only did she bring back the use of drop caps, but she also brought inspiration to other designers as well. Which include me, one of her fans. From what Jessica Hische did, it is a big inspiration for this documentation book. I wanted to have the same purpose as Jessica did; the purpose of keeping her motivated and getting her to be inspired. So, let’s begin this semi-similar version of “Daily Drop Cap” in this documentation project, where I attempted to create drop caps using the different type of mediums and using my surroundings as an influential source for my designs. Let me stop writing and let this adventure begin! Shall we?

Arial: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTt UuVvWwXxYyZz

Baskerville:Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFf GgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUu VvWwXxYyZz

Charter: Roman

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtU uVvWwXxYyZz

Didot: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSs T t U uV vW w X xY y Z z

Futura: Condensed Medium

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

Georgia: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtU uVvWwXxYyZz

Helvetica: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTt UuVvWwXxYyZz

Kepler Std: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvW wXxYyZz

Minion Pro: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVv WwXxYyZz

Optima: Regular

A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h I i J j K k L l M m N n O o P p Q q R r S sT t U uV vW w X xY y Z z

Times New Roman: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuV vWwXxYyZz

Utopia Std: Regular AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVv WwXxYyZz

Verdana: Regular

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqR rSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz 11

Anatomy of a Character Anatomy of a character is a standard glossary of terms; that is used to describe the different parts of a character in a specific typeface/font. In the typography world, there are about ₃₀₀,₀₀₀ typefaces, so how do we tell one from another? [₇] This is identifiable should be honored to those early type designers who developed, used and acknowledged the typeface anatomy to others. For instance, if you are trying to distinguish two typefaces that are in a different family than one another such as Helvetica vs. Times Roman, the difference is obvious since Helvetica is sans-serif typeface and Times Roman serif typeface, it looks different. But in other cases, what if both fonts were both in the same root family? Especially between the text that was designed with similar characteristics but yet deeply they are different in their own way. For the professional in the field, sometimes identify similar version could take them some time to figure it out, so imagine for the newbies; the differences will be very subtle and challenging for the ones that have less experience with type to see that in their eyes. [₈] Personal Thoughts: As in any profession, not just type designers or artists in general, I believe, it is essential for us to specialize the vocabulary in our specific field of career. Familiarizing yourself with terminology will bring the right cause to your work life because you will be able to have more effective communication with your coworkers and from there, tasks will be done easier. In addition, it is not just important to commit the entire list to memory to communicate better in the jobs, but this act will help ourselves to be able to recognize the different underlying structure of various designs, structures, and our different surroundings. One important step I found while experiencing with types is that I have become very nitpicky and my eyes were educated to identify the littlest thing. I think for artists/ designers this is an excellent skill to have; be able to get super details in the designs, identify fonts, and overall, better artworks will be made. 12

Typog is Awe 15

Glossary of terms 1. Arm/leg – An upper or lower (horizontal or diagonal) stroke that is attached on one end and free on the other. 2. Ascender – The part of a lowercase character (b, d, f, h, k, l, t) that extends above the x-height. 3. Bar – The horizontal stroke in characters such as A, H, R, e, and f. 4. Bowl – A curved stroke which creates an enclosed space within a character (the space is then called a counter). 5. Cap Height – The height of capital letters from the baseline to the top of caps, most accurately measured on a character with a flat bottom (E, H, I, etc.). 6. Counter – The partially or fully enclosed space within a character. 7. Descender – The part of a character (g, j, p, q, y, and sometimes J) that descends below the baseline. 8. Ear – The small stroke that projects from the top of the lowercase g. 9. Link – The stroke that connects the top and bottom part (bowl and loop) of a two–story lowercase g. 10. Loop – The lower portion of the lowercase g. 13

graphy esome 2

11. Serif – The projections extending off the main strokes of the characters of serif typefaces. Serifs come in two styles: bracketed and unbracketed. Brackets are the supportive curves which connect the serif to the stroke. Unbracketed serifs are attached sharply, and usually at 90 degree angles. 12. Shoulder – The curved stroke of the h, m, n. 13. Spine – The main curved stroke of the S. 14. Spur – A small projection off a main stroke found on many capital Gs. 15. Stem – A straight vertical stroke (or the main straight diagonal stroke in a letter which has no verticals). 16. Stress – The direction of thickening in a curved stroke. 17. Stroke – A straight or curved line. 18. Swash – A fancy flourish replacing a terminal or serif. 19. Tail – The descender of a Q or short diagonal stroke of an R. 20. Terminal – The end of a stroke not terminated with a serif. 21. X-height – The height of lowercase letters, specifically the lowercase x, not including ascenders and descenders. 14

Section 1: Micron Pens

The features of Micron Pens: In this section, I will be using all sizes of Micron pens that I have to create drop caps. From the smallest size at ₀₀₃ to ₀₅ it can make those fine details distinct. I believe when using Micron pens, it will make my lines precise and leave a mark that will last a lifetime. Micron pens were invented by Sakura over ₂₅ years ago, and it continues to be the most reliable permanent ink on the market today. Artists and consumers as a whole would consider Pigma Micron is a necessary basic tool for any archival-quality and handwritten project. This is because it is known for precision lines as considered on their official. [₉] Afterthought and Experiences: What I found when using this pens is that they are smooth, thin, permanent, fade resistant, and chemically stable with pigment based ink that will not bleed when applied to the document. This pen was perfect for documents, in log books, and on any papers. It’s no wonder architects, archivists, anthropologists, entomologists, and laboratories depend on Pigma Micron for record keeping because of its nice application on paper after the ink has dried.

rt is not life, nor a reproduction of life, but a representation carried out within the specific terms, conversions and limitations of the particular art used. Hence, absolute truth, with reference to objective fact, is not to be found in the business. The most realistic art is considerably removed from reality. Thomas Hart Benton

irst day here we go. Today is the day where I start designing the first drop cap for this documentation book. I am a bit nervous but super stressed out because I do not really have anything in mind. While taking a rest after doing some homework on screen, I started to look at other artists drop caps from earlier years till recent to see if I can get ideas and inspiration from them. In this letter “A” drop cap, I got my inspiration from a typeface called Black–letter. A typeface that is also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura that has features of the angular strokes and also rounded strokes. With this typeface, it was used throughout the Western Europe from approximately the year of ₁₁₅₀ to well into the ₁₇th century. I chose this kind of Blackletter looking like a typeface because I thought it would be a good fit for the idea of me bring back a traditional way of using type in this modern period. I also believe this font is bold enough that it could have enough room on the inside, so I could create some patterns or designs. From there the inside sketches begin to get started. I was inspired by something that I saw every day but did not think it will be my first influence for this project. The interior of this letter was inspired by a backpack that I barely even used. A backpack that was just there hanging on the clothes rack.The marble design/pattern with the shade of black and white is very contrasty between the two colors which I think will works well for the Micron pens, therefore the designed part was done. Overall, a stressful day is over with one letter finish. I am proud and feel excited to continue the next ones.

ine art, that exists for itself alone, is art in a final state of impotence. If nobody, including the artist, acknowledges art as a means of knowing the world, then art is relegated to a kind of rumpus room of the mind and the irresponsibility of the artist and the irrelevance of art to actual living becomes part and parcel of the practice of art. Angela Carter

ay two here we go. It was sunny today, and while taking some pictures for a photography class, I saw a little tree branch poking up from the rest of its line that looks like a letter “F.” Therefore, I took a picture and then later applied of what I saw into creating this letter form. Letter “F” is a letter that has two main arms sticking out from its stem. Just like the little tree branch, the stem is the body and the two leaves sticking out is the arms. Letter “F” is a letter that looks simple, but it took me three times to design it and then, I have to throw it away because of it's strictly space between the two stems. Overall, this letter was completed with many complications and retries.

ourney to every genuine success has never been easy. I mean, it has always been demanding and challenging.So, if/whenever things fall apart on the course of your journey to genuine success never quit. Rather than quitting, persist and persevere until you emerge a success story. Emeasoba George

o you ever feel bored during a class lecture and you can not stop but doodling to waste time? Either start making random marks or start making some really cool designs? Well, this is me today. This letter “J” drop cap was done in the Jazz history class. During this music class, we get to listen to Duke Ellington, one of the greatest Jazz composer of all time. I got inspire from the music notes and thought of the letter “J.” Letter “J” is a swash letter with one define characteristic is its descender. As I mentioned in the beginning of the book, the descender is a part of a character that descends under the baseline. At the moment, I did not think much and just start doodling randomize lines, and the shapes then letterforms until something come to mind. When I got the idea to make letter “J” out of the music notes, I wrote down the thoughts for this letter “J” and then from there ideas expand and further work will begin to be done.

ractice self–awareness, self–evaluation, and self–improvement. If we are aware that our manners–language, behavior, and actions–are measured against our values and principles, we are able to more easily embody the philosophy, leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do. Frances Hesselbein

etter P is for a penny. Literally, I got my inspiration to create this letter “P” from the head side of a penny. I think pennies are the least out of all the coins that people pay attention to because I keep seeing them on the floor and being left around and no one picks them up. Therefore as part of the project to use my surroundings as an art resource, I chose the penny to be my inspiration for the letter “P.” As for the letter “P,” it looks like a person on a profile view. Just like the head size on a penny, it is a profile view of a man, from there this letter was created.

hatever you do in life, if you want to be creative and intelligent, and develop your brain, you must do everything with the awareness that everything, in some way, connects to everything else. Leonardo Da Vinci

hat do you do with the clothes or something that is ripped? Do you throw it away or do you ever think about sewing it? A lot of my friends when their clothes have a small hole or a missing button, they stop wearing and throw it away instead of sewing it back together. Even when that piece might be one of their favorites. Lucky for me, growing up with a mother that used to be an embroider, she taught me how to sew just in case I ever had to do myself. For this letter “W,” I do not need to sew anything but seeing the basket where it held a bunch of needle sizes, and rolls of the thread got me inspired to create this drop cap. But when I have to sew, the long thread ones always gets in the way. It formed a whole bunch of loops then it just tangled together. For this letter “W,” I want it to be the thread. It is up then it is down again, created the complication just as the threat.

Section 2: Black Sharpie

The features of Black Sharpie: For this section, I will be using two different sizes of black Sharpie such as Ultra Fine and original Fine tip size sharpie. From the experience, I believe when using black Sharpies, the ink will bleed and the line would not be as precise as Micron pens, even using the smallest tip size, the Ultra Fine Sharpie. According to the official Sharpie website, in ₁₈₅₇, Frederick W. Redington and William H. Sanford, Jr. founded Sanford Manufacturing Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, where the company focused on producing and selling ink and glue. From there the company grew and created more products. Such as Sanford turned its focus to the emerging market business and introduced the Sharpie marker. The Sharpie Fine Point black marker became the first pen-style permanent marker. It wrote on almost any surface from glass, wood, and stone, to plastic, metal and, of course, paper. For today, Sharpie stands for far more than just markers. Made to write on, stand out, and stay on practically any surface, it is the permanent marker born for unique, unruly, courageous, outrageous self-expression that never, ever fades from glory. [₁₀] Afterthought and Experiences: While drawing out the letter, I can compare that the use of sharpie was way more difficult and less accurate for the art lines. What I also experienced with this tool is that sharpie easily had ink bleed into the paper and left thick points. But the positive side is when using Sharpie, they are easier to fill in blank spaces, and the black ink is more apparent on the paper. I guess everything has its own purpose and for Sharpie, it served its purpose as its company provided the use of it.

e open minded as an open minded person always sees everything possible and the one who sees everything possible is capable of making anything possible. So keep an open mind and Mickey Mize your life. Share this to have a world of infinite possibilities. Mickey Mehta

oday is the first day where the new tool is being used, black sharpies. Since I know the blank spaces will be easier to be filled in than the micron pens, therefore I want to design a drop cap that is simple and bold since sharpies will not allow me to do art with very detailed designs. Today after a class, I came to the computer lab to work on other projects. The seat where I usually seat is in the back near the bookshelf, from there, ah hah! Letter “B” is for books. It took me quite a while to figure out how do I turn books into letter form beside its just a big rectangle block. As I flip through the pages to see if any ideas pop up, I was about to give up on this idea, placing the book now, a light bulb pop up my head. As I laid the book down, the two spreads and the spine of the book created these curve that looks like a “B”. From there I turn the book ₉₀–degree angle and start drawing for a composition that fit the most. Sometime the less unexpected thing is the most workable thing. From there this letter “B” was able to created.

appiness includes chiefly the idea of satisfaction after full honest effort. No one can possibly be satisfied and no one can be happy who feels that in some paramount affairs he failed to take up the challenge of life. Arnold Bennett

o you ever just make scribble marks as you testing out your pens to see if it run outs of ink? Well, this is the same way I got my inspiration from. As I moved forward with the tools, testing out the thickness of different pens or markers is also important. I wanted to see how it look on paper and how it will make the marks before applied to the real final artwork. Therefore I was just making random marks on a piece of paper to see which sharpies will best fit for what shapes and lines. As I letter using sharpies, I applied the scribble techniques into this drop cap to create a form of letter “H”. It looks messy and unorganized, but in my opinion it is part of the design, where in real life, a human cannot physically make a straight line or something that is ₁₀₀ percent perfect. This piece is simple with just random marks, but I believe it has a personal touch into it, personal touch of a human.

ife can/will sometimes knock you down. It's up to you to either bounce back up or remain where you are knocked down. But, I urge you as ever, don't/never get stuck on where you've fallen. Rather, strive by all means to get back up to your feet. Because, you will hardly make headway until you resolve to get up from your ashes of downfall/failure. Emeasoba George

hile watching a TV show today in the living room with the thought about creating letters specifically the letter “L,” I started to look around for inspiration. I saw this candle that looked vintage and the details on it was so cool by the TV. From there I created this letter “L” as a candle while remembering those earlier moments of this project. Where I was doing some research about the history of drop caps, scripters and letters had to use candles back in the days to read and create those beautiful drops that we see today. We can see it in the old bibles, manuscripts, and books. I am surprised that I never paid any attention to these candles when it is right there by the TV, and I walked past it every day. This shows that I do not pay attention to my surroundings enough because the technology took over it all.

emind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. Successful people are not superhuman. Success does not require a superâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;intellect. Nor is there anything mystical about success. And success doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t based on luck. Successful people are just ordinary folks who have developed belief in themselves and what they do.

David J. Schwartz

ow much attention and care do you give to the road? I bet it is ₁₀₀ percent. But, how about those smaller traffic signs around small streets? I bet not as much. But they are as just as important as any other traffic signs out there on the highway or in the bigger road. Every day driving to school, I must have passed about ten traffics signs, but a lot of people do not follow the rules when I keep seeing people either not stopping for a stop sign or turning left when they are not supposed to. For this letter “R” drop cap, I think of the word reverse. And when applied the word reverse to one of the traffic signs, the sign do not turn here fits perfectly. As for the letter “R,” I designed just a simple, bold font for it. But instead of having the counter open, I substituted for an arrow just like the traffic sign inspired me.

is a letter, a symbol, a sound, and an unknown factor that usually needed to be solved. As an artist, people should learn to be like the letter X; it is one of the letters that can be more than just a letter itself. In art, try different areas, and think in different aspects, because you might discover another skill that you might not know. Van Nguyen

he paperclips are a wonder of simplicity and function. Not only do I use it as a thing to hold papers, but I also use the paperclips as a keychain ring to keep all my flash drives together. This is a simple item, yet with so many functions that can be associated with it. Another example, the paperclips’ shape, to me seems like one of those puzzle toys that you have to separate. Another example is the paperclips has also served as a symbol of unity. This is why for this letter “X” drop cap, I was inspired by the paperclips' form. Letter “X” have two lines in a ₄₅–degree angle joined together. Therefore the word joined makes me think of the paperclips when I put two paper clip together in the same perspective as the letter “X.” Bingo! It is exactly like I thought, there, this letter “X” was created. From there I designed this letter “X” with two simple straight lines in a ₄₅–degree angle with the outside lines of a curvy shape that looked like a half–oval because it resembled the paperclips' shape and form.

Section 3: Color Sharpie

The features of Color Sharpie: In this section, I will be using one size tip Sharpie, the Ultra fine point, but will experiment with all the different colors that were provided to me in the package. Since I did have experience with black Sharpies ultra excellent point, I am pretty sure the features are the same, bleed, vibrant colors and somewhat precise marks. So far, the Ultra fine is considered to be the thinnest tip in all of the Sharpie size. According to its website and on the package, these Ultra fine permanent markers are precise, narrow tipped for extreme control, quick drying and have vibrant color. These set consisted of twelve different colors, and it serves for artistic statements for everyone and anyone. [â&#x201A; â&#x201A;&#x20AC;] Afterthought and Experiences: what I noticed right away when pressing the Ultra Fine Sharpie marker down on to the paper is that it bleed and the color is not as vibrant as I thought it would be. I can also see that the colors easily blended in with others colors. For example, yellow tips will get affected by the purple tip, and it will leave the yellow tip purple. This is something I experienced before with the highlighters, but I would not think Sharpies, especially with these thin tip, I would not have thought they would do the same. Besides that, it created somewhat precise lines, but the color seemed to easily bleed which is what makes these markers not as accurate as the designers would like to be.

arry your bag by yourself; carry your umbrella by yourself; open your door by yourself; light your own candle! Do your job by yourself ! Don’t use others! Don’t behave like a king, don’t behave like a queen! Be humble! Mehmet Murat Ildan

oving on to the next tools! The color Sharpie, Whoohoo! Finally I get to work with colors. I feel excited and at the same time worried because I know color sharpies will be hard to fill in the spaces since the tip of these sharpies is very thin. Today, as I was walking to my next class across from the campus, roses are on the sidewalk. The weather of Fall is near, but these flowers are still living and blooming. This is pretty unique because looking around me, trees are losing its leaves but flowers are still living. This is what inspires me to create this letter â&#x20AC;&#x153;Câ&#x20AC;? drop cap. What inspired me the most from these flowers is the pop red, and since it is the first drop cap using colors, I wanted the colors to be the most influence for the designs. In this drop cap, I have flowers living on the thin lines because is the representation of flowers living on the edge of closing to dying because the cold weather is coming. But there is no worry, right? Because before we all know it, spring will be near and these flowers will be born again to serve its purpose in life.

o to the streets that you have never been to! Wander in the places that you have never known!There is light in the hidden corners of life too! Expand your frontiers and the frontiers will expand you! Mehmet Murat Ildan

ave you ever tried putting Mentos into a bottle or a can of soda? Haha, do not do it, because I will let you know a secret, it explodes. Mentos have grown up with me ever since I was little where I usually had the mint ones because it gives your breath a fresh minty smell. But nowadays, people do not use the mint Mentos as much for fresher breath, but they use minty gums instead; and that is also includes me. But I love their fruity flavor. I love the hard shell before you can even get into the chewy part. It is better than Starburst candy, in my opinion. For this letter “G,” I used the three primary colors from the fruity Mentos I had in a container to designs the letter “G.” Plus, capital letter "G" actually looks like a circle, there, the mentos will works well.

ne very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity. Edward de Bono

n assignment for my painting 1 class was to mixed twelve colors with another set of twelve colors. In the end, I should have ₁₄₄ colors in total which I did. For me, this assignment took so much of my time and effort because not only did I have to make sure I mixed the right colors with the right amount, but I also had to be careful and be neat with it. So far this assignment taught me how to be patient and that hard work will pay off because after the mixed colors were done, it looked pretty cool. I also felt as if I had my own color sample book which they are pretty expensive to buy. From there, this mixed colors sample is what inspired me to create this letter “O” drop cap. For this letter “O,” just like what I had to do with the mixed color palette, two colors then mixed them together. But instead of mixing them I divided each square that made up the letter “O” into two. In the end, this letter was completed with four squares but had more than ten colors in it, twelves to be exact.

o design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit: it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry. Paul Rand

hat kinds of strange flowers or plant growing in your backyard? Today, as I took my dog out for just a short walk and exercise in my backyard, these beautiful flowers that are growing out of nowhere in my backyard caught my attention. They are purple, pink and white colors. Also, to me these flowers looked like those old vintage victrola speaker, it is funny because I think the name might be something weird like that. Not until later I found out that they are called Morning Glory flower. As these flowers grow all around and hang on the fence, it inspired me to create this drop “T.” Letter “T” to me if you repeat it in a row it kind of looks like a fence so, therefore, I designed the letter “T” as the primary support for these Morning Glory flower to continue to grow on.

our work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle. Steve Jobs

hen was the last time you went outside and explored the nature? Seem like nowadays we do not want to go outside and play anymore. Today, I take my dog out for a long good walk since it is very gorgeous out. Taking my camera with me cause I know I will be taking pictures for a project anyway. As I look around me, this beautiful tree trunk has a pop of colors into it. I love nature, but I hate the bugs. Therefore I barely look at anything in nature up close cause I am scared that I will see some weird creatures crawling, moving or something. But the assignment was texture; therefore, I needed this close-ups shots. When I took the photos I took, is sure looked sharp and nice. Therefore I was inspired to create this letter â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yâ&#x20AC;? that looks like a tree with not just a normal brown color, but those warm tone colors have initially been in the tree trunk.

Section 4: Bic Marking

The features of Bic Marking: This section tool is the Bic marking permanent markers. I had never use Bic markers or any of their products such as their lighters and razors, but I have used their pens. Black, blue, red and green pens from Bic are excellent, in my opinion. I have not had a bad experience with Bic pens where the ink does not come out, or the pen is dried up. Therefore, with the past experience I had with Bic, I believe their marker is also high quality, smooth and vibrant. Bic company got started in ₁₉₄₅ when Marcel Bich and Edouard Buffard began manufacturing fountain pens in France. By ₁₉₅₀ , the company was named “Bic,” and the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen was introduced in France. Even though it started off as a pen company and still is, Bic now is also known for its production of lighters and razors. [₁₁] According to the markers packaging and their website, these Bic markings are Low odor with vivid ink, bold, and long lasting colors. The markers also come in twenty-four colors in fine tip size. And its slogan is “Simple, inventive and reliable products for everyone, everywhere, every time.” [₁₂] Afterthought and Experiences: From the Ultra Fine point tip of Sharpies compared to these Bic marking, they are way different from each other. Since these markers are a fine tip, they are easier to fill in the blank space and also quicker. In addition, I found that the colors are way more vibrant than I thought and it is a pretty accurate color to their caps colors. Not like the Ultra Sharpies, the caps showed different colors, and the actual colors of the pens are somewhat different. I do have one bad thing to say about this product when experiencing it, and I found that these markers did bleed when it said it would not. Besides that, these markers did it is the job and honestly advertised.

o everything in life with passion. Amazing artists, brilliant inventors, and wonderful writers reach the highest levels in their fields because of their passion. Without passion, life is like an empty and hollow seashell lying in the sand. It's the Passion that brings Life into everything that you do in life. Cheers! Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate

he third tool already, time does fly by so fast. I am not sure if I should be happy or not. It because it is getting harder to be influenced by what is in my surroundings since the weather is getting cold, and raining causing me cannot go outside. Okay, no excuses! Let's get this letter going. Letter “D” is like the letter “O,” but instead of just one big circle, it has a straight line on the left. As I was looking for a circular thing around the house to take pictures, the lens of a camera is literally a very interest circular thing right in front of my eyes. Luckily, last semester, the Spring ₂₀₁₈ here at york college, I took a film photography class. Therefore, I have two cameras to make this drop cap work. One, the digital is for taking photographs, and one is for me to take off the lens. What influences me the most of lens is at a certain angle there is a different reflection of colors shines right through it. Since it is another tool that has colors, I found this idea is a perfect chance for me to mix and match black with many others colors.

nowing your self-worth is extremely important in life. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll gain a great respect from everyone, only when you stand confident in your own worth, stay firm with your values, and never settle for anything less. Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate

ini rubber hair elastics influenced me to created this letter “K” drop cap. These tiny mini hair ties are elastic rubber bands that have been with me ever since I was little. They are good for tieing hair when you do not want to have a thick hair tie on your head and hair. What that influences me the most about these elastic hair ties are the small loops after loops connect to each other. Therefore, I put these influence on my design. In the design, you can see I choose most of the colors that stand out the most in the bundle of the elastics. I also created loops within the letter “K.” Letter “K” is a very straight letter with two legs, one poking up and one is down. Therefore I want to add more curvy lines to the letter also.

ake failure a success by taking a learning from it. Make excellence your habit, than your act. Make hard work your culture of working, you will succeed undoubtedly. Make Learning a habit and you will become unstoppable. Make success out of failures as failure is a stepping stone to success. Harsh Malik

y first and last experience of hand embroidery was when I was taught how to knit in primary school. I am not an embroiderer, but I want to try to experience it to become familiar with the craft. I love the beauty of the finished work, with embroidery, the time and patience that I will spend on this project will be worth it. This embroidered letter “M” was originally created and dedicated to my beloved mother. She, who used to work as an embroiderer to earned money to support the family and me. Therefore, I created the letter “M” exactly like the ones in the embroidered one because I love the curvy lines with also the red and pink roses that really pop out because of its complementary color, green. When I created this embroider project, I wanted to show another unique way to use typography besides on the computer screens. With this project, it is also hand on, where it is handmade by me one more time but this time it is different medium, I used the Bic Marking markers.

ery few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass. Fran Lebowitz

encils are something that everyone in the world is familiar with. Ever since I was little, it was something that I must learn how to hold and use. Unfortunately, growing up in Vietnam, you cannot use the pencil anymore starting from the first grade. We used blue pens for everything which suck because if you messed up, you had to redo a whole paper when I came to the United States. I was so glad because even now till today in college, I am still able to use the pencil to make marks without any hesitation to make any mistake. Pencils are also important for my major. As a graphic designer, pencils are something that we must not live without. It is important for other majors too I bet, but it might not be as important as for the artists. We use the pencil to jot down our thoughts or draw out our ideas and much more. There, something so similar yet, it is what inspired me to create this letter “V” drop cap. To me the tip of a pencil is like a letter v, you need a sharp pencil to be able to draw precisely and accurately. So, I literary designed exactly what I saw, a pointy pencil as a letter “V.”

ero skill, zero effort, zero thought, zero power, zero work, zero communication, zero confident, zero performance, and zero professionalism in what are you doing means you just a lazy person with no actual goal in life. Sad. Van Nguyen

n assignment for my Publication Design class was to create a newsletter that is about science and chemistry. While doing the mood boards to get inspired so I can create the mastheads, it inspired me to create this drop cap instead. The letter “Z” is a mysterious letter because you do not see it much in texts and there are not much you can start with the letter “Z.” But to me, I see letter “Z” as a DNA strand, just as I was inspired to create the DNA strands for the mastheads. Even though the DNA strands usually looks like the letter “S” curl, to me the letter seems more like the letter “Z.” From there, I mashed up the DNA strand I created for another assignment with letter “Z” to create this drop cap. I also used blue and orange colors just like the ones I created for the newsletter.

Section 5: Digital

The features of Adobe Illustrator: Every Graphic Designer some time and point in their life have had the experience to work with an Adobe system called Illustrator. Ever since my freshman year, the Illustrator was already being introduced. Since coming from just a regular school, some of the peers who went to a tech school had already experienced and worked with it. Through my two and a half years here at york college, I experiment and use Illustrator with every project, but to say I am good at it, no no, I am still learning and practicing every day to get better. With some experience from the past few years, I believe using Illustrator straight lines are easier to make then curvy, and colors are more accessible than to color them by hand. Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor that developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in ₁₉₈₅. Along with Creative Cloud, Illustrator CC was released. Some of Adobe Illustrator functions are graphic-driven software used primarily for creating vector graphics. Developed alongside Adobe Photoshop as a companion product, Adobe Illustrator is used for creating logos, graphics, cartoons, and fonts for the photo-realistic layouts of Adobe Photoshop. [₁₃] Afterthought and Experiences: Just as I thought, with past experience and now, it is harder to make a curve line than straight. With this program, I used the pen tool that came with it the most which I mainly use to create my artwork. And with the pen tool, I must have to be precise with my original artwork, if not the vector design would look ruined. Another thing that has not changed is the colors. To color, it is still much easier to do on screen than coloring it by hands. Just a click away and the whole blank space is filled with the color I want. Even though technology software is much faster and easier, the one thing that is missing is the humanity. Where nothing is perfect, just the process will be the improvement.

xcellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Aristotle

hat is your favorite candy when you were young or even now? When I was little, I was lucky to have both of my parents letting me eat as much candy as I wanted. Even though they knew and said that candy is bad for the teeth and it is not a healthy way to gain some energy/ strength. Even though my parents did not strictly enforce the no candy rule, I did not even think I ate a lot of candies when I was little anyway. I am more of a snack for the chips person more than sugary treats. Moving on to these jelly beans candy, where they are were my least favorite candy. But, I kind of still enjoyed them. What I disliked about the jelly beans candy are the texture and not so much of the flavor. But, what stood out to me the most for me to be inspired are the colors. Red, white, pink, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue and much more. For this letter â&#x20AC;&#x153;E,â&#x20AC;? I got inspired by a jar of jelly beans where my mom got it as a gift. Instead of doing the oval shape of the jelly beans, I chose circles instead. I feel as that circle works better in building up the letter. I did the color in order from dark to light which my intented was to created an ombre effect. I also chose a black background so the neon colors inspired from the jelly beans can be pop out even more.

n order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner well, an artistic reservoir, is ideally like a well-stocked fish pond. If we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give some attention to upkeep, our well is apt to become depleted, stagnant, or blocked. As artists, we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on themâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;to restock the trout pond, so to speak. Julia Cameron Story

feel as that my Photography ₁ class inspired me a lot to create the drop caps. This is the second time where I spent a day to go shoot a photoshoot for my photography ₁ class that I also see something to be an inspiration source to create my drop caps. Shadow, that the assignment. But, it was actually called light, even though most of the photos we needed to take are shadows of an object or a person. For this letter “I,” I feel that this letter is so unique, because it represented more than one thing, but at the same time, it is a lonely letter. Where every letter has its own characteristics like a descender, squash, arm, bowl or counter, the letter “I” just have a stem as for capital and when is in the lower case it has just a little circle at the top. Therefore shadows will best fit for this letter because it will create another character to the letter “I.” Not much was inspired from the photograph beside the idea of shadow. For this drop cap, I used both a lowercase “I” and a capital “I” as its shadow. I believe people should not judge a book by its cover, and for the lowercase “I” might be small and weak but its shadow shows something that is different.

o difficulty can discourage, no obstacle dismay, no trouble dishearten the man who has acquired the art of being alive. Difficulties are but dares of fate, obstacles but hurdles to try his skill, troubles but bitter tonics to give him strength; and he rises higher and looms greater after each encounter with adversity. Ella Wheeler Wilcox

his is so out of order, but today is the last day of this drop caps documentation book project journey, but for sure even though I am not great, this would not be the end for me to keep lettering and documenting it. This letter “N” was inspired by a box of chocolate that is nicely tied and wrapped with a red ribbon. Christmas is a month and a half away, so, this box of chocolate must have influenced by that. Everywhere I go, the decoration of Christmas, which considered to be one of the biggest holidays of the year is decorated all around cities. For this letter “N,” I like the loop after loop of a bow. Therefore I put it into my design. Even though, the letter “N” does not have any loops in most of the fonts, I made it into gradient color, so it created an effect of it. Luckily for me, this letter was done with a digital tool, the Adobe Illustrator, which makes the coloring into gradients much easier than coloring by hands in person.

uality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality. Peter F. Drucker

ne of the many special holidays for the Vietnamese people is called the Mid Autumn Festival. For this holiday, its dedication is for the little kids to celebrate with their family while eating moon cakes and getting blessingsfrom the elders. When received the moon cakes from my mom, not only are the moon cakes was good, but the packaging was also caught my attention. The Koi fishes and it is colorfulness. Orange, red, purple, and gold stood out the most to me. From there I created this letter “Q” as in the circular part of the “Q” is the water and the letter’s leg that poke out is the Koi fish. Overall, I tried to design something more creative since it is almost towards the end of the project, I did not know if this design would work because it is up to the viewers, but to me, overall, I gave it a try.

ometimes, being different feels a lot like being alone. But with that being said, being true to that and being true to my standards and my way of doing things in my art and my music, everything that has made me feel very different... In the end, it has made me the happiest. Lindsey Stirling

ere comes the letter that I found to be the hardest of them all to design and to make. The letter “S” is a very complicated letter in my opinion. This is because you must make the first curl same as the second curl on the bottom and as human, we just physically cannot make a perfect circle by hand unless you are very talented which I am not and in this case, it is the two curls of letter s that have to be perfect. Luckily today I had to help out a friend where we have to DIY a cat tree for her little cats. We have these long tubes that are empty, and we were going to glue it together. While looking at the tubes from the side, two of the tubes close to each other created these two perfect circles, and it reminded me of the letter “S.” Since these tubes made out of the scrappy paper, it, even more, reminds me of the history of drop cap where the scrolls back then was made out of scrappy paper too. From there, this letter “S” was created. I also added a feather pen to the side because it resembles the manuscript back in the days also.

ntil you dare to go after whatever you've been longing for and as well dare to go extra mile for it, you may never realize how far you can go. Therefore, you've got to courageously and unyieldingly go after whatever you aspire to do. For, you have what it takes to achieve whatever you long to achieve. Emeasoba George

hat is your last memorie of shoelaces? You are probably do not even think much about tying the shoelaces since it must be something that you are so used too. When I was little, I did not like to wear shoes that are closed toe. It because of it hot and it took too long to put on and took out. I even had struggled trying to tie my own shoes when I was little kid. The only time I would wear shoes that have to tie it, is for gym class. Not until in high school as a senior I found out that sneakers to be the most comfortable thing ever. While all of my classmates wear other foot wears such as sandals, boots, high heels, I am always stick with sneakers till today. This is got me to influence to create this letter “U” drop cap. Since I have to tie my shoes everyday, when looking at it, the shoelaces connect to each other which look like a letter “U.” Therefore, I literally put everything I saw to create this letter. I always chose to do black and white because I feel as that it is already complicated and stand out enough from each other, so I believe no colors were needed.

Reflection

have always loved reading others people’s reflections because I can feel their sincerity about what they been through, and what they learn throughout any of their hardships. And for me, I will be the same, truthful and sincere as I can be. What I found to be the hardest throughout this journey is the writing and the building up part. I am not a good writer nor a good speaker. Therefore, I dislike both, but the minimum requirement for this book was ₁₀,₀₀₀ words. When I heard of the requirement, literally my mouth dropped to the floor. But it turns out, I had written over ₁₀,₀₀₀ words which is something I am so impressed with myself because I would have never thought I was able to do it. In addition, as I continued to move further with the project, I could see that I am improving the theme that I want to address to others, be inspired by everything and anything, where I used my surroundings as my inspiration art source for my works. Beside overcoming myself with writing and proving my theme, I also learned a lot. I learned how to time management, learned about type, different tools, and gained more knowledge of the drop caps. Right now, I am feeling relieved. I felt like a heavyweight is lifted off my chest after getting this book done because this book took a lot of my time, where not only did I have to be self–committed, but, I had to make sure the contents were also good. Which made me barely have time to get any personal stuff done. Besides that, when this project was getting worked on, I also had other assignments from six other classes. Even though I am relieved, I am also a bit sad because this project was with me for over three months and now I have to move on to start something new.

Final Words

y last few words before ending this book are that I want to give a special thanks to my Professor Patterson. A person who assigned this project to the us, students, as an opportunity to build our own book and a nice portfolio piece that will help us in the long run. I also want to thank you, my boyfriend, who supported me throughout this journey, even though he is ₈₇₇ miles away. And last and not least, a big special thanks to you, the readers of this book. Overall, Thank you for your time and interest. Now it is time for me to start a new project. See you soon.

Index 1. “Historias de la Biblia.” Taschen.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₁₉ Nov. ₂₀₁₈. 2. Franz, Laura. “Drop Caps: Historical Use And Current Best Practices With CSS.” Smashingmagazine.com. N.p., ₄ Apr. ₂₀₁₂. Web. ₂₁ Sep. ₂₀₁₈. 3. Friedlander, Joel. “Book Design: ₆ Variations on Drop-Cap Typography.” Thebookdesigner.com. N.p., ₂₉ Feb. ₂₀₁₂. Web. ₂₁ Sep. ₂₀₁₈. 4. “Drop Caps.” Abcdefridays.blogspot.com. N.p.,

₂₃ Sep. ₂₀₁₄. Web. ₁₉ Nov, ₂₀₁₈.

5. “Jessica Hische.” Underconsideration.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₃ Nov. ₂₀₁₈. 6. “Daily Drop Cap.” Dailydropcap.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₁₉ Oct. ₂₀₁₈. 7. Phinney, Thomas. “How many fonts are there in the world?” Quora.com. N.p., ₁₁ Jun. ₂₀₁₈. Web. ₂₅ Oct. ₂₀₁₈. 8. Strizver, Ilene. “Anatomy of a Character.” Fonts.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₁₉ Oct. ₂₀₁₈. 9. “History.” Pigmamicron.com. N.p., ₂₀₁₄. Web. ₈ Nov. ₂₀₁₈. 10. “About.” Sharpie.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₈ Nov. ₂₀₁₈. 11. “Our-heritage-your-passion.” Bicworld.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₈ Nov. ₂₀₁₈. 12. “Markers.” Shopbic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. ₈ Nov. ₂₀₁₈. 13. “Adobe Illustrator.” Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia,

₃₁ Oct, ₂₀₁₈. Web. ₈ Nov. ₂₀₁₈.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s be inspired by everything and anything.