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 Kufic: Align the top and the foot of the line, space the uprights evenly, and run the letters as a band
- Type
- Set in Kufic's manner (Fix the ratio of upright to horizontal first, and turn every corner at a right angle), and let Persian Miniature's lettering (Build the text panel into the picture, one ruled order for both) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Kufic's material (Cut into stone, brick and tile, and on parchment hold the stroke to an even weight with the reed pen); bring in exactly one thing from Persian Miniature (Hold mineral saturation, tighten planes with fine outlines and gold points).
- Colour
- Build on #ddd0b2, #3b5398, #3f3028 and admit one accent from #e0c19a, #8f3415, #11141f.
Where they fight
- Kufic and Persian Miniature stand roughly 500 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Kufic Copying only the right angles while breaking the joins between letters leaves an ornamental band that no longer reads as a word.
- Persian Miniature Converting the multiple viewpoints into single-point perspective collapses the space and destroys the picture's ability to narrate simultaneous events.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Kufic (style, 8th century onward) and their accent from Persian Miniature (style, 13th–17th century). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Kufic exists for: cutting an inscription into a wall or a vessel as a band, or using the angular letterforms as figure, for titling and marks meant to be read from a distance. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Kufic - Horizontals drawn long - Short angular uprights - Letters turning at right angles - Lines massed into an even band Composition: Align the top and the foot of the line, space the uprights evenly, and run the letters as a band. Type and lettering: Fix the ratio of upright to horizontal first, and turn every corner at a right angle. ## Accent comes from Persian Miniature, used sparingly - Multi-viewpoint space - Saturated mineral pigments - Ornamentalized nature - Script united with image Let one material quality come from it: Hold mineral saturation, tighten planes with fine outlines and gold points. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #ddd0b2, carry the structure in #3b5398 and #3f3028, and let a single accent come from #8f3415. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, calm, trust, play. ## Where they fight - Kufic and Persian Miniature stand roughly 500 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Kufic: Copying only the right angles while breaking the joins between letters leaves an ornamental band that no longer reads as a word. - Persian Miniature: Converting the multiple viewpoints into single-point perspective collapses the space and destroys the picture's ability to narrate simultaneous events. ## 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
- 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.
- Persian Miniature 13th–17th century / Style / Persian and Indian Painting
Multiple viewpoints, jewel-like pigments and a composition unafraid of empty space paint poetry and history as complete worlds contained inside a book.
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