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This was the first draft I made with acrylic and gold pen. I found that the acrylic did not look how I wanted it to as it was matte and looked quite patchy. Additionally, the gold pen looked too thick which was not the effect I was going for as I wanted it to look intricate. I also tried to edit the background to make it look orange however, it did not turn out as intended.

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This is the final draft I made incorporating different elements of my research all in one to resemble illumination art, manuscripts and Turkish tiles.

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Above are some thumbnails of my idea sketches.

These are the words I jot down as potential starting points: question, quiz, quantity, quarrel, queen, quit, qualify, quiet, quest, quote, quirky, quartz, quality, quick.
The first three ideas I had were based on words starting with the letter in which I was assigned - 'Q'. I chose words in which I felt resonated with me most however, I did struggle a lot as initially as I did not know how to relate it to a place, space, or location.

Idea 1 - Quirky
Definition: having or characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits or aspects.
Keywords: eccentric, different, unusual, individual, slightly strange.
I felt that the word 'Quirky' struck a chord with me as I feel that I have been described as such in various ways as well as the found that based on the definition, I would say my outlook and approach to life is somewhat related.

After doing some research, I discovered that the letterforms that stood out to me as 'quirky' shared a common theme of unconventional curves and edges. I also noticed that the 'quirky' fonts and letterforms that I came across did not really relate to the definition as they were still somewhat conventional - I think this is because the designers were more focused on the legibility and popularity of the work they made. An example of this is Dard Hunter's 1900-1910 font called 'P22 Arts and Crafts'. I personally would not classify it as quirky, although it may have been at the time it was made. This made me realise the definition of 'quirky' was quite vague and thus my main goal if I created a letterform based on the word was for it to not conform to conventional forms.

Idea 2 - Qualify
Definition: to achieve or have a standard of skills, knowledge, or ability that is necessary for doing or being something.
- to measure up
- to be entitled to a particular benefit or privilege by fulfilling a necessary condition.
Keywords: fit the mold, achieve, standard, attain quality.

My idea for this word was to make the letter resemble fitting a mold as the word to me symbolises this concept. I felt that this related to me as I have always felt the weight of having to qualify, whether it be academically, socially, physically, and so on. I noticed that the goal of qualifying is present in all parts of life to determine a person's value in which I felt strongly determined my self-image. This was represented as a mental space to me in terms of the value I held to myself based on society's standards.

Idea 3 - Queen
Definition: A female sovereign, a person exercising government or dominion.
Keywords: dignity, fertility, motherhood, noble birth, stateliness, dominance, supremacy.

I chose 'Queen' as my last word as I felt it was a mental and physical state in which I wanted to achieve, especially because of what it symbolised - having power, respect, and control. Growing up, I also wanted to be a princess, like most little girls but most of all I wanted to be everything that a queen embodies in order to feel less helpless and have the power to control in life. When doing research on the symbolism, I found that queens represent strength, power and they never stood alone. This was supported by secular texts, mythology, folklore and chess.

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After discussing my ideas with various people, I was reminded that my house back home in Malaysia is described as quite 'quirky' and thus I began to deconstruct what exactly it made it so. I asked my dad to take some pictures of the house and noticed that the colours add to the quirkiness but most of all, the collection of tiles, pots, bowls and various other decorations that was distributed throughout my whole house. A lot of them were Turkish tiles which we have accumulated over the years from when we visit my grandmother in turkey (as my dad is Turkish). I felt that this especially paid homage to both my Malaysian and Turkish heritage as it embraces my home where I grew up as well as the art which i admired and grew with.

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These are the pictures of the tiles from my house that I used as inspiration for my project.

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For the overall concept for my project, I found research on Ottoman art and the history of Iznik tiles which lead me to a deep history on the types of nature they would represent in these works as well as the colours, process, and methods they used to create them. They would use colours such as turquoise, sage green, aubergine and cobalt blue.
I also found a lot of information on the creation of them during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent in 16th century. Another thing that I discovered which heavily influenced my choice of colour is that the word 'turquoise' derived from the french word 'turquois' which meant Turkish. I also chose to use the colour orange as it symbolises energy and is a complimentary colour to turqouise.
These are links to where I found my research:

https://mediaevalmusings.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/bloom-of-empire-the-ottoman-tulip/
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451739
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/447013
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O90733/tile-panel-unknown/

http://www.ebruliturizm.com/875/seljuk-and-ottoman-art-in-anatolia/

https://www.iznikcini.com/collections/iznik-panel

https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/tulip-the-flower-lending-its-name-to-an-ottoman-period/news

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/72850/two-tiles-with-continuous-floral-pattern

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The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flowers and Leaves: The Ottoman Pottery of Iznik," September 25, 1991-November 15, 1992, no catalogue.

Rome. Scuderie del Quirinale. "Matisse Arabesque," March 4-June 21, 2015, no. 33.

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Tile with Saz Leave, Tulips, and Hyacinth Flowers | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flowers and Leaves: The Ottoman Pottery of Iznik," September 25, 1991-November 15, 1992, no catalogue. Rome. Scuderie del Quirinale. "Matisse Arabesque," March 4-June 21, 2015, no. 33.

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https://www.lizziehobbs.co.uk/
This is a local artist which creates middle eastern designs using pigments which also inspired me to hand paint my own and do more research into the type of she created.

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© Lizzie Hobbs 2021 All Rights Reserved - Manchester - Privacy Policy

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I also did research on Illumination art as I came across it while doing research, I found that it was very popular in history all over the world, whether it be in Europe, Asia, or the middle east. I initially discovered it when it was related to the Illuminated Islamic Ottoman arts in which it was first presented to me. This specific art was This also links back to as Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country that practices the religion regularly, with many mosques, including similar Islamic art patterns and daily prayers which are amplified throughout the city.
These designs inspired me to look into 'gild' and forms of illumination art to incorporate it into my own work and also specific materials to use as a surface which resembled manuscript paper.

These are some links to the research I found:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/illuminated-arabic-ottoman-turkish-1814533585
http://www.turkishculture.org/traditional-arts/handwritten-books/manuscript-illumination-264.htm?type=1
https://www.jeeamirza.com/illumination

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That the earliest examples of Turkish illumination were produced in the period of the Anatolian Seljuks is apparent from the few handwritten works that have come down to us.

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Overall, I think that I like the concept behind my letterform and am happy with the design to an extent however, I feel that I could have improved my execution, to make it a lot cleaner and more professional looking. I feel that it does not capture the essence of the tile as well as I wanted it to however, I think the gloss was a good choice considering the surface which I was painting it on. I think that the colours work well together however, the orange does not resemble the colours of the Iznik tiles. Additionally, I think the god was a good choice as it makes the letter more clear and stand out from the design.

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This is my final piece, I used acrylic paint, colour pouring medium gloss to replicate the glossy finish of the Iznik tiles. I also used a gold finish gliding kit to create the effect of illumination art around the letter to draw attention on Khadi papers to replicate manuscript papers.

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These are some sketches I did based on the designs on the tiles from my house. 

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I decided tried to design my letterform from pre-exisitng forms which resembled the letter 'Q' from the pictures I received from my dad. I wanted to use the sketches as a guideline so that I could create a vector shape on illustrator but found that it was more useful to use the actual image so that it would be more accurate to the actual design as although, it was similar, it did not do the design justice.

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This is the sketch I made for the first draft that I painted. After reflection, I found that I did not like how big the tulip flower was and some of the leaf/flower shapes and placements.

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I tried different shades, colours, and mixtures of paint to get the right one to get the desired effect. The top left shows my experimentation of different paints, the top right is my experimentation to replicate the tile's design with the chosen colours to test if they would work well together. The bottom two pictures show one failed attempt trying to use a marker in which I used to try different paint colours and how they would work together and another one using acrylic paint and gloss. I also experimented with the gold glide here to see whether or not it would clash with the rest of the image.

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In conclusion, I think that I could have found nicer letters around the city and maybe chose a certain theme of images or given myself a rule to work around. However, considering the circumstances I think this captures what my eyes were drawn to and paid attention to in my first couple weeks here. It is a good representation of my my new point of view of an unfamiliar places which fits well to what I wanted to represent. However, I could have explored further into the city to find other things that grabbed my attention as well as stop and look around more often in the busy streets to find more 'hidden' and unique letters.

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After most of the initial photos were taken during our workshop, I did some research and discovered other attempts of the same project. I discovered differing styles and approaches, some of which manipulated objects, points of view, forms, and so on. All of which were very creative and alluring to look at, however, I found that the ones that stuck out to me were the pieces of work that seemed mundane and ordinary. I think they were most beautiful because of the concept and action behind them. For something to be ordinary and seemingly worthless but with a little time and an alternate perspective, you found hidden treasures and signs of communication with or without the intention. Although they are inanimate, they feel seen and thus appreciated, even if they are not widely recognized.

The accidental alphabet was really nice to see as it shows the beauty in accidents and how it does not have to be carefully planned out to mean something. I think these projects are more closely related to what I want to achieve with my work.
https://www.redbubble.com/people/helmetheads/works/6260337-accidental-alphabet-2
https://www.redbubble.com/people/helmetheads/works/5368275-accidental-alphabet-1?epik=dj0yJnU9bWJNcU44ZGJ1cFRTWThMLUxmRFM1X2tZY0tyM2ZseU0mcD0wJm49MnJCYm5Gc1ZxT2JiVUhkMjE1aXRWZyZ0PUFBQUFBR0dCd0JR

I really appreciated these approaches to a found alphabet as they used normal, ignored objects to create meaning which actively made them worth noticing.
https://medium.com/fgd1-the-archive/found-font-1995-present-2328b96459fe
https://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughts/the-alphabet-that-keeps-on-giving

This is another one that I thought was very interesting as it really makes you think about the way you look at things and adds value just by changing a point of view.
https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/a_architects_unparalleled

I really enjoyed this piece of work as it was an approach I had not considered before. I found it intriguing how they found these images from where our eyes do not usually go to look.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1197898/Pictured-The-Google-Earth-alphabet-Britains-hedgerows-roads-buildings.html

https://mlbelen.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/alphabet-photography/

http://www.wildalphabet.com/

I really liked this piece of work as it highlighted parts of the world which we quite literally walk all over and do not pay any mind to, it highlights the value in something deemed not valuable.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/268584/Urban-Decay--A-Conceptual-Typeface

I thought that this was very impressive as they looked at the small details in a butterfly that made letters. It really accentuates the details and also brings to light how the bigger picture may be beautiful but there is still more to see, reinforcing the idea that beauty is more than just what we can initially see.
https://mymodernmet.com/kjell-bloch-sandved-butterfly-alphabet/

I also really liked this as it was most probably time-consuming and meticulous which makes it really meaningful. It also gives a certain form of appreciation to something in nature in which we usually take for granted and do not look at with care or interest.
https://kottke.org/19/06/stone-alphabets

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I tried to take a different approach and relating it to home, in Malaysia by trying to find letters from google maps near and around where I live but found that it was not as successful or effective as I had hoped.

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I changed the name to 'mark making in Manchester' to represent the marks that have been made around the city, in hopes that I will make one too.

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Found letters around Manchester City Center, include a mix of architectural details, graffiti, illustrations, objects, and things found on the floor.

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I found that I most appreciated letters that did not resemble letters at first glance as I think there is a beauty in the ‘double take’. It gives us the opportunity to find value in the mundane and give appreciation to forms that usually go unnoticed and are taken for granted. This prompted my choice of images as they are all underappreciated and somewhat invisible.

Additionally, I chose to find letters around Manchester to pay tribute to the change of scenery I am currently experiencing and the fact that this will be my new home for the next 3 years which I had never previously visited. This allowed me to look at the city and discover what there is to offer, look at the details and get to know it better. It also gave me the opportunity to look around with a different, more inspective pair of eyes instead of bewildered eyes glancing at a big city.

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Tile vector form made from Adobe Illustrator

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This is the vector shape I made using Illustrator, although, I almost exactly replicated the design from the images from home, I found that it almost took away from the overall effect in terms of detail and intricacy in which the tiles are most known for and therefore, I decided to try something different.

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I tried different techniques to convey the idea in which I was inspired by. I tried to arrange mundane things into the form of letters but felt that it seemed forced rather than something that was pre-existing.

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I found this resource from the VT1 board and experimented with it to try and create a similar design using this website using 'shapes' as I thought I could replicate a cursive style form similar to Violaine et Jérémy. After experimenting with the resources on this website, I realised that it may not be an effective platform to create my letterform due to a multitude of reasons. Firstly, there were limited shapes to at my disposable to create my form and secondly, I was unable to change the colours of the symbols to specific colours like turquoise, only the background. This made me recognize that I also did not want to use black as it did not replicate or accentuate the vibrancy of Iznik designs.

I found that I much prefer an illustrative technique more similar to another resource we were given as it is clean and resembles symbols and figures, much like the handpainted Ottoman Iznik tiles. Therefore, I chose to try illustrator to further develop my work instead.