Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Ebru: Scatter a few flowers only and fill the rest with combed waves
- Type
- Set in Ebru's manner (Write the letters afterwards, into space the pattern left open), and let Kufic's lettering (Fix the ratio of upright to horizontal first, and turn every corner at a right angle) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Ebru's material (Pigment dropped on thickened water, drawn with comb and stylus, lifted once); bring in exactly one thing from Kufic (Cut into stone, brick and tile, and on parchment hold the stroke to an even weight with the reed pen).
- Colour
- Build on #e9ebe5, #63618b, #274d1a and admit one accent from #ddd0b2, #3b5398, #3f3028.
Where they fight
- Ebru and Kufic stand roughly 700 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Ebru Scanning the pattern and tiling it removes the chance of the single sheet, which is what makes it work, and leaves printed wallpaper.
- Kufic Copying only the right angles while breaking the joins between letters leaves an ornamental band that no longer reads as a word.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Ebru (technique, 15th century–) and their accent from Kufic (style, 8th century onward). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Ebru exists for: endpapers and bindings where every sheet must differ from the last, or using chance pattern as the ground beneath calligraphy. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Ebru - Flower forms on water (ebru çiçekleri) - Combed wave patterns - The chance of each single sheet - Pairing with calligraphy Composition: Scatter a few flowers only and fill the rest with combed waves. Type and lettering: Write the letters afterwards, into space the pattern left open. ## Accent comes from Kufic, used sparingly - Horizontals drawn long - Short angular uprights - Letters turning at right angles - Lines massed into an even band Let one material quality come from it: Cut into stone, brick and tile, and on parchment hold the stroke to an even weight with the reed pen. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #e9ebe5, carry the structure in #63618b and #274d1a, and let a single accent come from #3b5398. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: calm, luxury, play, trust. ## Where they fight - Ebru and Kufic stand roughly 700 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Ebru: Scanning the pattern and tiling it removes the chance of the single sheet, which is what makes it work, and leaves printed wallpaper. - Kufic: Copying only the right angles while breaking the joins between letters leaves an ornamental band that no longer reads as a word. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Ebru 15th century– / Technique / Decorated Paper
Turkish marbling: pigments floated on thickened water, drawn into flowers and swirls with comb and stylus, lifted onto paper. Grown from calligraphy's ground into an art of its own, inscribed by UNESCO.
- Kufic 8th century onward / Style / Calligraphic Traditions
Keeps the uprights short and draws the horizontals long, massing letters of straight strokes and right angles into a band of even height.
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