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 Seal Engraving's lettering (Seal-script strokes stretched per character to fill the field) 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 Seal Engraving (Cinnabar red on white paper, chipped stone and blade tremor kept).
- Colour
- Build on #ddd0b2, #3b5398, #3f3028 and admit one accent from #f7f6f4, #b8362c, #231b18.
Where they fight
- Kufic and Seal Engraving both belong to Calligraphic Traditions, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Kufic and Seal Engraving stand roughly 971 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.
- Seal Engraving Squeezing an existing typeface into a square without designing how the strokes breathe produces a cramped block instead of a seal.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Kufic (style, 8th century onward) and their accent from Seal Engraving (technique, Qin dynasty–). ## 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 Seal Engraving, used sparingly - Red-white reversal - Seal-script line design - Composition in centimeters - The texture of carved stone Let one material quality come from it: Cinnabar red on white paper, chipped stone and blade tremor kept. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #ddd0b2, carry the structure in #3b5398 and #3f3028, and let a single accent come from #b8362c. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, calm, trust. ## Where they fight - Kufic and Seal Engraving both belong to Calligraphic Traditions, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. - Kufic and Seal Engraving stand roughly 971 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. - Seal Engraving: Squeezing an existing typeface into a square without designing how the strokes breathe produces a cramped block instead of a seal. ## 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.
- Seal Engraving Qin dynasty– / Technique / Calligraphic Traditions
East Asia's seal art: seal script carved in stone, composed in a few square centimeters through the reversal of red and white (zhuwen and baiwen). Participating in paintings as signature, it perfected design inside the small square.
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