The Letter "G"

I feel like I am in Sesame Street, playing with letters all over again. I've had a lifelong fascination with ornate and fantastical lettering, hand drawn and heavily decorated, the kind you find in illuminated manuscripts, it was about time to tangle some!

Here's one letter G I started in my sketch book, using tangles Riverstones (Lori Howe), Arc Flower, Ruutz, Tipple and Opus.

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According to Wikipedia:

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders (marginalia) and miniature illustrations.

Illumination was done mostly by monks starting in the early Middle Ages, not only as a way to decorate manuscripts artistically, but also as a way to enhance and help preserve those publications at a time when books had very little significance. It's much harder to dispose of a book when it looks so magnificent!

Here is the line-art for this particular letter G:

Here is another picture, a close-up of the final image:

The shading is a bit unfinished -- the sketchbook was awkward and not as easy to turn as a loose sheet of paper or tile -- but I love it anyway, and it only gives me greater excuse to draw more!

By the way, I've had a couple of very enthusiastic requests for a future ebook on how to create these illuminated tangled letters. If you have any interest in this type of book, send me a quick note and I'll add it to my list of ideas.