How Magic was Created

Now that finished art was posted for the Creative Magic script I am adding a couple images of the preliminary work. The first is the original handwriting with ink and a calligraphy nib on parchment. I wrote the words with a pencil, inked the letters and erased the pencil lines. There is a lot of bleed on the parchment and I wanted a clean edge to the letterforms.

I scanned the inked parchment for use as a template in Adobe Illustrator. With the pen tool at a 5 pt. setting I redraw the script. Next, I outlined the path and adjusted thick and thins to match the inked hand writing. It was important to ink the letters with a calligraphy pen before creating the art in Illustrator. The inked original provided me with the visual information needed to recreate the thicks and thins of script lettering.

The screen shot shows the adjustment made to the cap C and position of the word Creative. My handwriting is what created the rhythm, flow and balance of this lettering treatment. The computer is just another tool used to produce the finished art.