Typeface design education from Cooper Union
Blackletter textura fraktur

Blackletter: From Textura to Fraktur
with Julian Waters

This workshop will begin with both historical and contemporary interpretations of bold early Gothic Textura styles, and principles of consistency. Then onto variations and refinements, detail and playfulness as the style moves closer to the more intricate later Fraktur, including lowercase and capitals -- and with the capitals, crazy variations abound! We will work both small and large and focus on the dense and powerful textural qualities. The workshop will include paper cutting exercises to further explore graphic qualities and to reference woodcuts and early metal type. Blackletter is both simple and complex and its study can teach much about lettering in general, especially spacing. In Blackletter, it is "all about the white" as we dive into the Dark Side.Students should bring for the first day of class:

Registration is now closed

When:
Mon, June 22 – Thu, June 25, 2015

Where:
On campus at Cooper Union
New York, NY

About Julian Waters

Julian waters
An internationally acclaimed lettering designer with 40 years' experience, Julian Waters studied extensively with legendary calligrapher and type designer Hermann Zapf at RIT, starting in 1979. Zapf later chose Julian to take over his masterclasses there in 1990. Julian’s clients have included the U.S. Postal Service, National Geographic, and many agencies, design studios, institutions and memorials. His typefaces include Adobe Waters Titling Pro family and “ThJefferson” for Monticello. In the 1990s, he taught lettering and typography at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC. In 2001, he was featured in the “Zapfest” exhibition in San Francisco. For more than 35 years, he has taught lettering workshops all over Canada, USA, Europe, UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. He has taught several times at Cooper Union, NY, and Wells College, NY, including digital font design. He has received many awards and his work has been widely published. In 2014, he was the culminating speaker at the Legacies international calligraphy conference and a lecturer at the “Making Sense” symposium at Texas A&M University. Julian’s parents are the renowned calligrapher, illustrator, author and teacher Sheila Waters and the late bookbinder and international library conservation and preservation expert Peter Waters.