TypeThursday: Vincent, thank you for being here for TypeThursday.

Vincent de Boer: Hi there! Nice meeting you.

TT: I’m excited to talk to you about All Eyes on Type, but before we do, I’d like to learn more about yourself. Looking at your work, I can see you love letterforms. Can you share with us more about yourself?

Vincent’s Motivations

VB: Thanks! Nice talking to you. I’m Vincent de Boer, Letter artist from the Netherlands. I have a background in Graphic Design but always had a strong urge to focus on typography. What is vital for me is making letters by the hand. Whether it’s writing or drawing, I need to make my letters and alphabets by hand. For the last two years I have been an independent artist. Previously, I had a graphic design agency together with two fellow type lovers.

TT: Fantastic. What motivates you to make letters by hand? Is it a personal preference or something you learn from school or mentors?

VB: Since a very young age I’ve been drawing, of course not yet letters at the age of 4; But other things, like comic books and stuff like that. It has been an unconscious challenge for me since I was 4 to get my left hand as skilled as possible. When I was 11, I started to have an interest in graphics. It felt like a very logical step to combine these two interests. Besides that, I’m very much in love with the directness of making things by hand. Just one brush, one piece of paper, one stroke of black ink. That’s pure romance to me.

TT: Your writing hand is your left hand. Is that correct?

VB: Yes.

TT: Being left handed is a challenge for calligraphy. Did you experience such challenges?

Performing Calligraphy When Left-Handed

VB: It’s indeed very much a challenge. The smudges you make as a lefty can be frustrating. Plus what annoys me the most is that my hand is blocking the view of the finished writing. That makes it very hard to calculate your spacing. Joining classes from right-handed teachers was also difficult because they just cannot understand what’s going on. But unconsciously, I think it brought me good things as well. Creativity to me is something that exists by the need of solving issues: to follow a path that has not been walked before. I had to accept that some things in calligraphy are just not reachable, like writing with copperplate for instance. That made me focus on other things. Plus I started with the dry brush technique, probably because of avoiding smudges.

TT: That’s fascinating you had to respond to the limitations of being left handed. Can you walk us through the different writing tools available? I noticed you note copperplate and dry brush. Are there others? How do each stack up from your experience?