Choose the letterforms written by hand.
Rustic Capitals
You can tell the difference between constructed letterforms and handwritten letterforms. The look of letterforms changes with the technology used to form a letter.
This image is an example of what are called rustic capitals (Latin: littera capitalis rustica ). literally rural capital letter
Writing capitals in stone (Latin: capitalis monumentalis ) lends itself to geometric letterforms. As writing evolves, the same letters written by ink and pen soften and become rounded due to the organic nature of their creation.
literally monumental capitalsWriting with a pen is much quicker than stone carving. To speed the process even more, the flat tip brush is held at a consistent angle for every stroke. The technology influences the style. Thousands of years later, this style is still with us, as consistently angle strokes is how most calligraphy is done today.
Concerns about a resource may also cause the form of letters to change. In the ancient world, parchment or papyrus was rare and sometimes difficult to obtain. The condensed width of rustic capital letterforms meant a writer could fit anywhere from 25% to 50% more writing in the same space over using capitalis monumentalis.
Examine the grid and stroke order of rustic capitals.
Square capitals and rustic capitals still have huge similarities. Rustic capitals continue to fully fit between two lines, the letterform taking up the whole space.
However, with the technological change to pen and ink, the stroke order and stroke direction is important in a way it was not in stone.
How Were Rustics Used?
Rustic capitals were a handwritten script, comparable to our modern calligraphy. They were not often used for day-to-day writing, but used in official documents or books. Rustic capitals likely began to be used around the 1st century AD and were in regular use until around 700 AD.