The Italic hand originated in Renaissance Italy. It is the most versatile and flexible of the calligraphic hands — the mother of all handwriting models, and a script that still feels alive and relevant today.

 

The Renaissance scribes who developed this hand wrote books — planned with care, with considered margins, text areas, and a feeling for the page as a designed whole. Script and layout were inseparable.

 

In this workshop, we bring those two things back together.

 

We will work through the Italic hand step by step, from the basics toward greater variation and complexity. Alongside the calligraphy, we will explore the principles of a classical manuscript layout — how the scribes planned their pages, and how those principles can guide us in making a small manuscript book of our own.

 

This workshop includes lectures, live demonstrations, Q&A sessions, and corrections and comments on your work between sessions via Slack.

 

A downloadable workbook with calligraphic models and layout guides will be provided.

All levels welcome.

 

When: Tuesdays 11th, 18th, 25th August, 1st of September. 19–20:30 CEST.

 

How: Interactive online workshop via Zoom

 

Content: Weekly 90-minute sessions · Slack for in-between communication · Access to videos for two months after classes have ended · Downloadable workbook as pdf