The brush is the most flexible and the most difficult of all lettering tools. Used on rough or absorbent papers it can express a wide range of emotion and drama, or it can be tamed for highly readable and stylized looks with a crisp edge. This collection shows a wide range of projects for the movie industry, publishing, packaging and advertising. I have over a hundred brushes and a stack of various papers five feet high in my studio. Depending on the kind of paper, the brush and the medium used, a slightly different effect emerges each time. To work with the brush you have to be in the moment -- there is no place to hide.
Some of my well-worn brushes, a stone I use for weighting rice paper, and a traditional fan with the heart sutra written on it. Part of my early practice was to write the sutra in entirety over and over until the brush wore out (and so did I.....) Now I keep the fan on the wall to remind me to concentrate. The best music I have found for doing brush calligraphy is music with a heartbeat to it. Like Gotan Project. Always looking for new music to get me into the work, so pass on your suggestions!
I use ground ink and bottled ink, and sometimes I mix the two. The best bottled ink I have found is called "Moon Palace." How can you resist that name? When I was regularly practicing kanji I signed my work with a chop for my name. I have many chops, each one has a different interpretation of my name. I carved most of them myself with dental tools in marble or sandstone.
After awhile you can tell how much ink is on the brush without looking at it -- you can just feel the weight in your hand. But blotting the brush is an important step in getting dry-brush effects.
You can read the complete post about zen brush work in advertising design on my blog, Alphabet Roadtrip. Photographs © Iskra Design
