Judgment
she opens the mind
weighing scales for those once blind—
those that surrender
The Hermit
it— a lonesome beast
now striking the match itself
to light its own lamp
Two of Cups
snakes are arduous,
both in their love and their hate
they’re bound together
Queen of swords
student of judgment
sword polished for punishment—
she falls without detachment
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
Today we’re gonna take a bit of a deep dive into the terminology for different types of lettering. Overall, it really doesn’t matter, but I would say the most common question when it comes to lettering is “isn’t it just cursive?” If you don’t know the difference either, no worries! Hopefully this clears things up 🙂
So what’s cursive? I’m sure most of you are aware of what cursive actually is, but things probably get a little foggy in terms of how it differs from other forms of lettering. The main difference is that cursive isn’t really a form of art and instead a style of writing. Cursive is supposed to be a way of writing that’s more efficient than regular writing because your pen never has to leave the page–in other words, it’s practical and more of a fancy-looking shortcut than anything. It’s also much more rigid in terms of style and rules; there’s a cursive alphabet that, aside from a few stylistic variations, is pretty set in stone.
Lettering (synonymous with handlettering), on the other hand, is an umbrella term for all sorts of word art. Calligraphy, which falls under the lettering category, is probably the most similar to cursive. There’s a lot of different kinds of calligraphy, but it’s typically based loosely on cursive, and is centered on the idea of using strokes (you can check out my post on upstrokes and downstrokes to learn more about that!). Unlike cursive, calligraphy is much more flexible and can involve a lot of experimentation or style variation, which in my opinion makes it a lot more fun. You can see my version of a calligraphy alphabet below, and then I also included potential variations of uppercase letters (A) and lowercase letters (I chose “r” because it has a lot of fun options). Some people also refer to this as modern calligraphy, because calligraphy can also refer to the sort of gothic style that would use a pen and ink or some sort of pen with a nib.
Lettering in general essentially just means “drawing letters” in an artistic way. This means that instead of adhering to strict rules like cursive, or requiring the use of strokes like calligraphy, lettering can be any creative depiction of letters. For example, bubble letters would fall under the lettering category, because instead of using lines and strokes to create a letter, you’re using shapes.
There are pretty much limitless other categories that fall under the umbrella of lettering, but some other common ones include brushlettering, which I’ve talked a lot about, faux calligraphy, serif and sans serif, gothic, and tons of other ones. Hopefully that helps clear up any confusion, but feel free to leave any other questions in the comments!
Have a lovely rest of the week everyone 🙂
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about art. About how much I draw myself. I can give myself any form, and over time this can become more and more abstract.
I’ve been doing OTM for almost two semesters now, and thinking about how I’ve created a sort of persona for myself. I’ve always loved character design; I think comics and cartoons are so amazing at creating relatable characters with simple shapes. I’ve tried to make my own drawings of myself come off that way – I’m most inspired by stuff like Calvin and Hobbes, using simple dot eyes and fun expressions. I don’t really draw myself based on how I look most days anymore, but rather use a recognizable, repeatable, exaggerated version of myself. Truth be told, the blonde streaks I draw on the underside of my hair are barely visible anymore. But over time, I’ve grown really attached to them as a part of my cartoon “persona”, so I continue to draw them. It’s really fun to be able to think about these things, and I’m really grateful I get to reflect upon how I see myself through art. That’s always been my favorite aspect of art – being able to see how people view the world through their work. I’ve been thinking about characters and character designs a lot because of this, practicing making my own interpretations more.
These are a few of my results from my drawing exercises; characters from one of my favorite childhood games, “Ib.” The original sprites are above, my drawings are below. The original sprites are pretty vague and simple, so it was super fun to be able to draw out fun colors and interpret what kind of outfit each character was wearing. My result is very different than the original, but that, to me, is what makes it so fun. Fans of “Ib” could still recognize them as characters from the game, but I’ve given my own personal touch of love. Character design is so amazing!!!
Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! Today I wanted to share with you the origin of a Punjabi holiday that took place this weekend. I will admit that even though I was born and raised in a traditional Indian household and have grown up practicing the traditions and festivals, there is still so much that I learn every day. There is much that I don’t know. When I found out that Lohri was on Saturday the 14th, I decided to do some research to learn about the origin of this festival and share it with all of you!
Lohri marks the New Year for Punjabi farmers. On this day, the farmers show gratitude for their crops before the harvesting begins and pray to Lord Agni (the Lord of Fire) to bless their land with abundance. They chant while moving around a bonfire fire, praying for honor to come and to eliminate poverty. It is also believed that if one walks around the fire on Lohri, it helps in bringing prosperity. In Punjab, this festival holds special value for new brides. Many devotees believe that their prayers and concerns will immediately be answers and granted and that they will receive prosperity, good fortune, and a healthy life. Lohri marks the end of winter, and is a traditional welcome of longer days and the sun’s journey to the northern hemisphere.
Lohri is celebrated by lighting bonfires, eating festive food, dancing and collecting gifts. There are special desserts that are made during the time of Lohri out of the crops that farmers are able to harvest this season. People eat corn, sugarcane (also called gurh and gajak), and nuts. It is traditional to eat Gajak (sugarcane), Sarson da saag (spinach curry) with Makki di roti (corn tortillas), radish, ground nuts and jaggery. It is also traditional to eat “til rice” which is made by mixing jaggery, sesame seeds and puffed rice. As is the custom of all Indian festivals, people just come together, laugh, eat good food, dance to great music, and enjoy time with friends and family. 
If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to reach out! Also, please let me know if there is anything that you all would like to see from me this year. If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!
Until next week,
Riya
Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art
Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/
Hey guys!
This week I thought that I would show a comic that I worked on last semester. I really like incorporating science and science fiction into my work. I like dinosaurs and wanted to pursue a minor in Paleontology but didn’t have room on my schedule. It has a little bit of humor at the end. This comic took roughly half the semester to work on all of the individual panels. I used a mix of colored pencil, Copic markers, pen, and procreate on my iPad in order to get all of the different textures. It was convenient to be able to use procreate last in order to use it for the final editing and coloring.
See you guys next week! 
