Into The Heartland 2026 - Blackletter Fever - Nina Tran

Nina Tran | Blackletter Fever

Blackletter Fever is a skill-building and knowledge acquisition class open to all skill levels. It is especially designed for those who wish to:
• Learn Textura’s underlying structures and defining characteristics “from scratch”
• Explore Textura ligatures and variations
• Gain a fresh perspective and renewed appreciation for Blackletter

This class will begin with a foundational broad edged pen training, followed by a detailed study of a standard Textura minuscule alphabet. Subsequently, we will explore a brimful of fun ligatures, variations and simple layouts. On
the third day, we will learn how to study and analyze letterforms from a manuscript and extrapolate and formulate a full alphabet based on that manuscript. The fourth and fifth day will be dedicated to learning the capitals and how to adorn them with simple decorations and flourishes.

CLASS SUPPLIES

• Pilot Parallel Pens (recommended for beginners*): One of each size: 6mm, 2.4mm, 1.5mm. Two of size 3.8mm (one loaded with black ink, the other with red) If you have more than two 3.8mm PPPs, bring them!
      *Pilot Parallel Pens are recommended for beginners. If you are an intermediate or advanced student, you may work with dip pens instead (e.g. Tape, Mitchell, Brause, Speedball, etc.) in the following nib sizes 5mm, 4mm, 3mm, and 2mm. If using dip pens, you will also need straight pen holders and ink/ gouache (black or brown ink is recommended)

• Cartridge refill colors (black or dark colors recommended)
• 9x12” Borden & Riley #37 Boris Marker Layout, 50 sheets
• 9x12” Strathmore Drawing 400 Series, 24 sheets
• 4 to 5 colored pens or fine-point markers (e.g. Sarasa Clip gel pens, Microns Staedtler Triplus Fineliner,etc.)
• Recommended colors: yellow, red, light green, light blue
• 12” ruler or t-square
• 0.3 or 0.5mm Mechanical pencil
• 2 sharpened HB Pencils
• Sharpener
• Eraser
• Low-tack artist’s tape
• 5-6 Paper clips
• Paper towels
• Small container for clean water
• Scissors
• Optional: other favorite large broadedged tools you might like to work with in different sizes (e.g. Automatic pen size 4, scroll pens, etc)