NADINE CHAHINE
The Lebanese calligrapher Nadine Chahine used to always work on her art projects on the computer. She was a digital based artist.
She lately noticed that there is a quality of movement that she wont be able to capture without going back to ink and paper.
"It was when Nadine began practicing calligraphy with a brush that she finally felt able to explore the concepts of energy, speed and movement in letter forms."
Source: Designing with type: The essential guide to typography by James Craig.
ARABIC ISLAMIC SCIENCE MUSEUM
"The Arabic Islamic Science Museum is an interactive, object-rich exploration of the Islamic civilisation, examining the people and innovations that played a crucial part in the development of intellectual thought in our world. The museum explores how and why the Islamic civilisation flourished from the 8th to the 15th century and the impact on our world and lives today."
Source: http://www.thehublimited.co.uk/project/museum-of-arabic-science
THE NASKH
The naskh was also continued in the contemporary world by some calligraphers.
"[they] were faithful followers of [nakh] style, ensuring its continuation into the nineteenth century."
Source: How to read Islamic Calligraphy by Maryam D. Ekhtiar
AZUR ET ASMAR
This is my all time favorite childhood movie because it is a mix of both French and Arabic and it introduces culture mixing to kids by exploring both the French and the arab world.
This movie helped me when I was thinking of the illustrated patterns I wanted to include in my “Arabic education” outcome.
This movie illustrates diversity and shows the beauty of the Arabic world and also addresses stereotypes of the the Arab world being only a desert and having mostly workers and non-rich people.
The Arabesque as a Motif Unit
"The arabesque as a unit are the key decorative element on tiles. As with wood and ivory lozenges, arabesque compositions on single tiles filling particular spaces and embedded in brick walls are popular."
"The overall composition is a combination of embossed stucco tiles and glazed mosaics forming an elaborate geometric design."
Source: The arabesque, An introduction by Dr Heba Nayel Barakat
BAHMAN ESLAMI
"When I sketch, my hand - somehow magically - draws something that I could never imagine."
"I can go to my sketches and turn the pages to see what I've done [...] but a digital sketch seems ephemeral to me"
I found these two artists in a book that I also found in the library. I was research type and calligraphy when I stumbled upon these artists that talk about their journey as digital artists-graphic designers that experienced calligraphy and they talk about the importance of hand made calligraphy.
Those artists are mainly the reason why my typeface was hand-made. I wanted to experience the hand movement results that you wont find in digital art.
Source: Designing with type: the essential guide to typography by James Craig
ARABIC SCRIPT AND THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY
"Calligraphy is considered the quintessential art form of the Islamic world— Arabic letters decorate objects ranging from bowls to buildings. Numerous scripts have emerged over the centuries that serve a multitude of religious, political, social, and cultural functions."
Dimensions of the Arabesque
"The ultimate goal of Muslim designers, craftsmen and patrons of the arts was to extol the glory of God and to seek his mercy and forgiveness."
"Arabesque moves in a rhythmic flow, within geometrically measured intervals and compositions. This movement is seen as soothing and is comparable to the tones of recitation."
Source: The arabesque, An introduction by Dr Heba Nayel Barakat
ARAB INK ART
Arab ink art is an instagram photographer based in Iran that makes it a mission to travel around the Arab world and take shots of beautiful Islamic patterns he finds.
I have been following him for almost a year and his work is the first thing that came to my mind when I was looking for inspiration for pattern creation.
Source: @Arabinkart on instagram
MOHAMED ZAKARIYA
"I cut lengths of bamboo into what I thought a calligrapher’s pen would look like, tried all the different inks I could find, and used every conceivable type of paper. Discovering how difficult it was to copy from these examples made me try all the harder, made me want more than anything else to write calligraphy, to become a calligrapher."
When I started doing the typeface on my sketchbook, I experienced some difficulties regarding the pen that I had to use and the hardness of actually creating a perfect calligraphic letter.
I did some research, and I stumbled upon this article that talks about the journey of a Mohamed, a high school dropout that pursued a career in calligraphy starting from scratch.
These worlds that I quoted are the formal example of how hard calligraphy can be, and how much experience and practice it requires.
Source: https://qz.com/882411/this-californian-brought-the-art-of-islamic-calligraphy-to-america/
http://mohamedzakariya.com/about/islamic-arabic-calligrapher/
THE NASKH
This script is called "the naskh" script and it is known for its large proportions, elegance and clarity.
"The lines are well spaced, and the letters are bold and well formed and contain vocalization marks."
After I created the typeface, I was looking at pieces that both included calligraphy and some sort of pattern.
Source: How to read Islamic Calligraphy by Maryam D. Ekhtiar
Hamdullah Ubn Mustafa Dede
These folios are from an album of religious poetry, prayers, and prophetic traditions.
"The short vowels and diacritical marks are carefully rendered to facilitate readability"
"The combination of the superb hand of Shaikh Hamdullah and the rich and varied marbled borders endows this album with an overall stunning visual effect."
Source: How to read Islamic Calligraphy by Maryam D. Ekhtar
BANZAI Japanese
The way I got the idea of creating a digital educational poster for the typeface is by researching educational games that could help other with language. I found this Japanese game called banzai that consists of helping you write your name in Japanese when you are not a native speaker.
Source: http://banzaijapanese.com/game.html
GETTY CENTER
Concrete Poetry: Words and Sounds in Graphic Space
This exhibition focuses on the visual, verbal, and sonic experiments of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Featuring works by foundational figures Augusto de Campos and Ian Hamilton Finlay, Concrete Poetry explores how these artists invented new forms such as cube poems and standing poems and continuously re-created their projects across media.
I looked at this exhibition when I was working on my Arabic calligraphy typeface. It explores the way you can use shapes and forms in type and I needed that before starting to create my Arabic alphabet typeface because It was my first time doing calligraphy full handmade so I used this exhibition as a motivation to do it.
Source: http://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_1439.html