I am so excited to bring you the interview of Nancy Hopkins, this has been in the works for a while now.  I wanted to be one of the first blogs to showcase her work and be the one that introduced her to a broader audience.  I feel like a lot of designers and letterpress artists know and work with her but keep her as their secret.  As you know, I am not good with secrets and I prefer to tell everyone that will listen how great this, that or so & so is, so without further ado let me start gushing…Thank you Nancy!

//NANCY HOPKINS INTERVIEW//

Where are you located?  

In Berkeley, California.

How did you get started in lettering?

Well, I’ve been drawing on most any available surface (including walls, clothes, shoes, newspapers, furniture, you name it) since I was a kid, but didn’t formally discover calligraphy and lettering  until I was in college.  While in a typography class, a calligrapher came in to give a guest lecture, and boom! I knew that was what I wanted to do.

What are some of your favorite supplies (inks, nibs, paper)

This is an area of the craft in which I’m not very well versed….and that is why I am so excited to discover your fabulous blog!  I always feel I could know a lot more. There are many times I sit down to a job convinced there must be a better paper, or a better ink, or a better nib for the task at hand!   That said, there is a Sumi ink sold by John Neal (my favorite resource) called “Moon Palace” that I use all the time because it gives the best hairlines.  And I use Mitchell nibs (size 4 & 5) and Nikko G nibs a lot.

Can you name some of your inspiration?

This is a tough question because there are so many things influencing me all the time.  Looking at other calligraphers and lettering artists’ work has got to be most inspiring. Georgia Deaver (who recently passed) was a great. The latest craze of chalkboard lettering is so cool — I love the work of Dana Tanamachi,  and type designer Jessica Hische is an incredibly creative talent.  The beauty and spontaneity of  graffiti, when done well, can be the ultimate mastery of control and  fluidity of movement.  This probably sounds kind of corny but feel that the most rewarding aspect of calligraphy is the rhythm  and flow you experience while doing it.  When you are in that “zone”, nothing compares.

Name one random talent you have that people may not know?  

Uh….well….I like to play tennis….

Any recommendations of books or classes for lettering enthusiasts to further their studies?

The Letter Arts Review is a beautifully produced quarterly publication that has interesting articles and high quality photos of lots of great works, especially the edition devoted to their juried review.  Also, most major cities have great local calligraphy guilds.  Here in the Bay Area, we have a fantastic organization called The Friends of Calligraphy.

I love how prolific you are with all your styles (and I do LOVE every single one of them), any advice on the best way to develop ones own style or create their own lettering off shoots. 

As is true with all art forms, in order to start abstracting from established styles, you’ve got to know the basics first.  Once you are comfortable with a specific hand and how it is  technically created, (which usually involves A LOT of practice) then you can start playing around with it.  Maybe try using a different tool (like a brush instead of a nib), or different types of inks, or  varying pen pressure at different junctures in the letter, or trying different types of paper (ones that bleed as opposed to to ones that don’t) to create different affects. Often really simple experimentation can inspire you in ways you hadn’t dreamt possible.

 I get asked a TON about white ink, is there any formula you use or suggestions?

Another calligrapher once told me she adds Pro White to Winsor & Newton’s Permanent White gouache.  I’ve tried it, and it works, but it does have a slightly thick, grainy  texture.

Any advice on what ‘not’ to do?

Never start in on a job without warming up for at least 20-30 minutes.  Sometimes I get impatient, and am always sorry when I begin writing when not fully “in the groove”.

P.S. This has been my best couple of weeks EVER!  I got to travel to the West Coast and meet such wonderful people, then I I got the thrill to work with Caitlin of Roost (faint) and then my very favorite stylist and someone I have long admired online Ginny Branch posted the NICEST post on me.  I am still fanning myself in order to not hyperventilate, it’s hard not to since this has been such an exciting time for me. Thank you’s all around to Caitlin, Ginny and of course you, you make my days so much brighter!

I recently discovered the lettering work of Kelly Cummings and what immediately struck me was her enthusiasm and willingness to share what she has learned.  Kelly a photographer by trade recently picked up nib and  ink and started her grand lettering adventure. Her site aptly named ‘The Year of Lettering’ is not only a showcase of her progress, but is filled with tips and answers to questions from fellow lettering enthusiasts. I loved reading the q & a’s sandwiched between her beautiful work. Her dedication to learning a new craft is so inspiring.  If you have been reading these weekly lettering posts you know how much emphasize I put on practice. You can get better at anything if you put the time in, it doesn’t have to be lettering if you want to be a better photographer, writer, reader, cook, parent, what have you, you need to dedicate the time.  I practice my lettering every day, sometimes I only get a few stolen moments in but I know the more I practice the better I become and the more accomplished I feel.  When I started this lettering journey I couldn’t even remember how to write cursive as I have been utilizing an architect’s hand for more years than I can remember. I was convinced that perhaps I wouldn’t have the aptitude for it (it’s always good to start off a project with a ‘can’t do attitude’. I jest), but I have just persevered and I am thrilled with my own progress, it’s not perfect and many times not even good, but if you told me I would be able to do this a year ago I would have rolled my eyes at you. Practice friends, that’s all it takes, you can do it! I do hope Kelly inspires you as much as she has me to go out and try something you have been wanting to do, share your experience and to just put your work out there and see what happens.  It’s scary but could lead to some wonderful things. Here’s to wishing Kelly many more days of continued inspiration.

P.S. I love this deco inspired quote + illustration. I recently saw the trailer for ‘The Great Gatsby’ adapted by Baz Lurhmann and I can not wait to go see it–sumptuous is what comes to mind. It looks like there will be some serious eye candy–the costumes, the sets, the actors every detail looks magnificent!

P.P.S. Skillshare is launching what looks like will be an amazing illustrative lettering class for only $20!

This is a bit if a controversial recommendation of a calligraphy book for most traditional calligraphers, but since a lot of you who are interested in this medium would prefer to develop your own contemporary calligraphy or modern lettering hand, than I think it would be a valuable addition to your studies. I am sure you have heard the adage that you must first learn the rules before you can break them? This book will assist you with the basics so you can then feel free to riff on your own.  It will give you a ‘base’ + reference to begin to build your own lettering style. I have checked out many calligraphy books and watched numerous videos (I recommend Dr. Vitolo’s copperplate video’s and if you have an Ipad you can download his free book at Itunes), but Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy is the one that I keep coming back to. It is such a great reference because the author truly breaks down each letter to its very basics starting with the strokes you will need to know to create your initial letterforms. She has many examples of right and wrong ways for each letter and why a letter works or doesn’t (very helpful). I also like that she gives you many different variations/styles on a letter so you can work on the style you prefer most. There are guideline sheets in the book that you can copy and Winters even explains in depth how to create your own.

Many of you might be thinking, “peeshaw, I don’t want to learn traditional calligraphy, it’s not my thing”. I understand this sentiment (especially the peeshaw part), but I can tell you from my experience that even trying to practice a basic calligraphy alphabet will get you to your ultimate goal faster. You will learn things like spacing, baselines, heights of letters, how wide, etc. All of these tools will give you a better foundation to build your own alphabet one day.  It may not look like there is any sort of structure to my own lettering samples I show you, but I do create all my samples utilizing a guideline sheet and starting the letters at the same baseline and adjusting the heights (the ascender, ie. the loop of an ‘h’ or the descender, ie the bottom loop of a ‘g’). I do take a lot of liberties and may make a rouge ‘u’ lower than it technically should be but I try to make sure it flows and works well with the word as a total. Of course, these are all things I have learned in my very limited time lettering and I am not trained as a traditional calligrapher so take this advice with a grain of salt; I am just sharing my personal experience. It has helped me a lot to hear that you are ‘drawing’ the letters rather than writing them. It makes sense to me and helps me feel better when I feel like I am taking too long creating a letterform.  For those of you that are feeling completely overwhelmed right about now, my friend Maybelle (artist & calligrapher extraordinaire) suggests just using the nib + ink paired with your own handwriting to create a unique hand, she says that you may just be pleasantly surprised by the results; yes, even those of you like myself that have terrible cursive handwriting, she assures it can look quite charming!

I am a bit of a Type A personality. I once remarked that I was not a perfectionist because I could never get anything perfect which made the room of girls that heard my sentiment erupt in laughter; I guess I didn’t understand the meaning of the word and they all knew me too well. I always learn the hard way.  One of the things I have been struggling with in my lettering practice is being able to identify a nib once it is in its holder. Even though I feel like I thoroughly clean my nibs after each use there’s always ink that hides the nib identification and the nib holder hides the other part. I don’t know about you, but I have the hardest time removing my nibs from the holder. I have even tried the suggested jewelery pliers and only succeeded in breaking my nib in the holder thus rendering it useless and almost losing an eye.  In these novice stages of my lettering adventure it’s important to me to know which nibs I am enjoying so I can reference back to them for the future, if I can’t read what they are (and trust me it is hard enough without ink on them and being hidden in the holder) then I am working blindly. I decided to start from ground zero and replace nibs + holders and use a label ( a sheet of label paper cut to size). I am so happy with this system! Eventually I plan to create a chart so I can reference the different effects I can achieve with each nib. This may seem like a lot of extra work that you aren’t up for and you may wonder why I have so many different nibs. In this nascent stage I want to find the nibs that work best with how I create my letterforms. I am very heavy handed and a flexible, ‘bouncy’ nib creates a completely different look than a stiffer nib for me.  I haven’t been doing this very long, but I feel like I have already outgrown some of my earlier nib favorites in favor of nibs that respond to my heavy-handedness.  My main goal for the identification system is to be able to have a quick reference so I can re-create a look.  I also want to reiterate that what I am doing is not traditional calligraphy (although I admire that very much), although I do reference traditional calligraphy techniques like using guidelines and referencing calligraphy specimens. My goal is create my own hand(s) and thus the need/desire to experiment with multiple tools (nibs).

Since I get this email about 20 times a day I thought I would make sure I included my current favorite nibs, these most likely will change in the coming months but these are the ones I have been gravitating towards and why:

Hiro Leonardt No. 41-I would not suggest this for a beginner, it is very flexible and delicate. This is my favorite nib to create loopy girly letters, it makes loop forms like a champ.

Blue Pumpkin- This seems to be a favorite of  modern lettering artists/calligraphers (for good reason) such as Meredith Bullock of Hazel Wonderland. Both Poppy Pedals and Holly Hollon love it for cotton envelopes which have a lot of pulp. It is similar to the the above nib, a little stiffer. Again, this may not be the best nib to try if you are just starting out. I feel like I can control this nib well when I want to create very thin hairline strokes and a balanced down stroke. Sample lettering.

Gillot 1068A-I honestly don’t remember why I bought this, a mistake? Perhaps. It has turned out to be a happy accident. It’s very stiff and I would recommend for an advanced beginner. It works best on smooth surfaces so if you have any texture it will catch. You can get very nice angular/sharp letter-forms with this nib. Sample lettering.

Zebra G-I can’t recommend this nib enough. If you are starting out buy this nib, please.  It’s a little more flexible than the Nikko G (these two are very similar). It’s a nice stiff + smooth nib. When you are starting out with your lettering/calligraphy practice you have so many new things to worry about (angle, pressure, inking, substrates, etc.) just make it easy on yourself and get a nib that won’t be too wonky in your newbie hands and that won’t get caught on your paper and cause messy disasters. You can create nice fine hairlines (which seems to be what calligraphers around the globe covet). As long as I am lettering this nib will be in my lettering rotation.

Brause Rose-I have mentioned this nib before, I LOVE it! This nib is very flexible and the nib I go to when I want to re-create an almost brush like stroke, the upside is that it can also create very thin hairlines. Again, not a beginner nib (stick with stiff nibs), but it is a nib that you may want to add to your nib arsenal if you love the look of brush lettering but can’t get the hang of using a paint brush to letter. Sample lettering.

Nikko G-This nib is so similar to the Zebra G and the reason I mention them both is in the off chance you can’t find one or the other you have options. Stiffer than the Zebra G, again a great nib for beginners. I really love Japanese nibs they are precision cut, the Nikko G by hand! So smooth–like butter.  This is another nib that is in regular rotation. Advanced letterers will love this nib as well.

What I have learned in this lettering quest is that anyone can learn calligraphy, it’s about practice + practice (and then more practice), dedication and a passion for the art. I absolutely want to learn traditional calligraphy in the near future, but I have been so happy with where this project has taken me both personally and (recently) professionally. Let me know if you have specific questions I am interviewing an amazingly talented calligrapher for an upcoming feature and would be happy to pose some of your questions to her.

P.S. I have linked to the nibs in this feature (companies I trust like Amazon + Dick Blick), but you can always reference The Directory and look under Calligraphy Supplies for vendors I recommend. If you have a reputable Calligraphy supply company overseas that you like please let me know and I will add.  I want everyone to be able to find calligraphy supplies at a great price without worrying about outrageous shipping fees or long delivery times.

If you have been following along with my lettering adventures here and trying it out for yourself I want to recommend you invest in what is called a dinky dip. They come in many incarnations, most of them are four small vials housed in a natural pine block.  There’s pros and cons with that one, the big pro is if you knock one over (which you invariably will) you spill only the most minute amount of ink on your work surface. The cons for me are that I have been using an oblique holder (and sometimes nib) and I find it difficult to navigate the nib dipping within such a small space. Perhaps there’s a trick to it, but I don’t know it yet. The other con is I hate the way the natural unfinished wood gets so messy. I ended up spray painting mine with black chalkboard paint so it didn’t look like such a mess.  The one I purchased above has a much wider dipping area and you don’t need to fill it to the top, so if you knock it over again the mess is less. I also like that the block is finished which means if I get ink on it I just wipe it off after each session and it looks brand new (yes, I am a neat freak).

This is an oblique nib holder, this version is a very inexpensive plastic option, I wanted to try the oblique holder out and didn’t want to invest in one that was more expensive if I wasn’t going to enjoy using it. I have since found that I do indeed like using this type of holder a lot. The oblique holder assists me with keeping on a nice slant which I have found very helpful. I have since invested in a more comfortable version, but it is pretty ugly so I didn’t photograph it, but you can take a peek at what I own here.

This is an oblique nib, which to me is one my most favorite lettering discoveries thus far, you can use it with a straight holder.  This nib is made by Mitchell and is firm, for beginner’s it seems a firmer nib is much easier to manipulate (at least that has been my experience). You can get beautiful hair line strokes with this nib. The nib holder with the cork is so nice to have when you are doing long practice sessions or writing out multiple envelopes (which I have not tried to do yet).  I promise to get up some specimen samples created with this nib so you can get a better idea, but I think this is a lot of information to process for today, no?

P.S. for those of you lucky enough to be in NYC, Paperfinger is doing a workshop-Love Letters & Valentines that I wish I could attend! It’s a beginning modern calligraphy workshop in a very intimate setting. I don’t know if there are still spaces but here is the link.