It is a privilege and honour to be the subject of Calligraphy Masters Podcast Episode 22, which is released today!

Calligraphy Masters is a platform built for showcasing inspirational Calligraphy and Hand Lettering from around the world.

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Thank you so much, Milen - I'm looking forward to the next one already.

Hosted by the San Francisco calligraphy guild Friends of Calligraphy, Daniel gave an online lecture on his calligraphy, maps and art in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies of films, via Zoom.

300 or so people attended the lecture, from all corners of the globe: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Honduras, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, and the United States.

Technology triumphs over virus and distance barriers, bringing calligraphy enthusiasts together. (Well, apart from the powercut that brought proceedings to an abrupt end - luckily the event had nearly concluded anyway.)

Daniel is once again taking part in the Porirua Arts Trail, over the weekend of 16-17 March 2018, at Pataka Arts+Museum, Parumoana Street, Porirua. Over twenty artists and groups are on the trail, which extends from Tawa to Pukerua Bay; some in their studios, others at hubs such as Pataka.

Daniel will be painting artworks and demonstrating calligraphy and letter art during each day (10am-4pm), at The Spine in Pataka

Daniel's portrait of Gandalf the Grey is now for sale at Weta Workshop.

The portrait matches the one of Bilbo Baggins which Daniel drew for The Hobbit films. Both were drawn with pen and ink, on paper.

Click here to view the items for sale at Weta Workshop

Hobbiton calligrapher kept busy...

Daniel contributed to a mini documentary: "Conlang - the language of Nerdom" on TVNS's Re: channel - check it out!

The Writer's Map, An Atlas of Imaginary Lands, is published today!

This book is a wonderful compendium of writers' thoughts on the geographies they describe and the wild landscapes of their imagination. A treasure trove for anyone who loves maps, real or fanciful!

Daniel is honoured to be included among the amazing cast of contributors to this book, lovingly put together by historian, explorer, expedition guide, teacher, photographer, and champion of the environment, Dr Huw Lewis-Jones of Polarworld.

Teaching another calligraphy workshop, this time for Karori Arts Centre in association with Watercolour New Zealand. This is a one-day workshop tailored to the abilities of the students, focusing on italics and uncials, and the techniques for combining calligraphy and watercolour.

Date: 24 June 2018, 9:30am - 5:00pm

Venue: Karori Arts Centre, 7 Beauchamp Street, Karori, Wellington

Level: All levels. Tailored to the abilities of students.

Cost: $95 NZD

To book this workshop or request further information:
email: karoriarts.crafts@xtra.co.nz
or phone (04)476-6817

Teaching a calligraphy workshop over the weekend 28th-29th April 2018: Uncials With Attitude, with Calligraphers of Kapiti and Calligraphy on the Coast.

We examine various historical uncial alphabets, and adding some modern-day tweaks, arriving at an exemplar uncial alphabet for this workshop. Then the fun stuff: pressure, twisting, lifting, serifs, ligatures, variations, spacing, size contrast, different papers, ink lifting, speed.

Daniel is taking part in the inaugural Porirua Arts Trail, over the weekend of 10-11 March 2018, at Pataka Arts+Museum, Parumoana Street, Porirua. Over twenty artists and groups are on the trail, which extends from Tawa to Pukerua Bay; some in their studios, others at hubs such as Pataka.

Daniel will demonstrate calligraphy during each day (10am-4pm)

Artworks will be for sale.

Daniel is exhibiting with the Calligraphers of Kapiti in their "Many A Word" exhibition in the Community Art Space at Paraparaumu Public Library from 18 November to 8 December 2017. Daniel's piece is an homage to the draught horse, with a diagram of the parts of its harness. See the Calligraphy page for a better view of the piece.

To the lady who commissioned a diagram of a Draught Horse Harness all those years ago: your piece is FINALLY READY! How are your Percherons?

Daniel created replicas of both pages of the 1835 Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand, for Archives New Zealand, for display in the National Gallery. Having replicas means that both sides of the document can be viewed.

In early 2015 Daniel worked on Krampus, contributing artwork for the bad toys packaging, and various pieces of design, lettering and calligraphy. See the Small Projects page to view larger images.

Prints of "Elements" are now for sale.

Daniel's calligraphic piece "Elements" was featured in Letter Arts Review, the Annual Juried Issue, which showcases the best calligraphy of the year - and it even made it onto the front cover! (amongst other pieces) Entries come from all over the world, and about 70 pieces are selected from over 400 entries submitted each year. Letter Arts Review is the world's pre-eminent calligraphy publication.

Prints of Elements are now available for sale here.

Read more...

Waitangi Day. Daniel was invited by Porirua's Festival of the Elements to paint a watercolour depicting the day's events - the painting is now being auctioned for charity, raising funds for The Titahi Bay Surf Lifesaving Club.

Daniel Reeve is one of a select group of artists invited to exhibit at the NZ Academy of Fine Arts ' exhibition SIGNING, commemorating 175 since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi; what it means to live in Aotearoa today.

Daniel is exhibiting two paintings, and has also provided a replica of the main sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi for display during the course of the exhibition, which runs from 31 January to 1 March.

Designed a T-shirt for Red Carpet Tour's premiere tour for the release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Sold out in minutes, proceeds going to charity.

Daniel also did the artwork for the Collector's Pin for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, released by Weta in December 2014.

Exhibiting with the Calligraphers of Kapiti at their "Earth, Air, Fire, Water" exhibition in the Roderick and Gillian Deane Community Art Space at the Paraparaumu Public Library, 8 - 28 November 2014.

Here is Daniel's piece "Elements". View a detailed image on the Calligraphy page.

Daniel designed maps and a cover for Richard Woolley's new sci-fi novel Sekabo, a thriller set in England in the future (2097) and recent past (1990).

Daniel designed the Sekaboan flag, drew two maps (one shown here), and designed the cover of the book, featuring the Sekaboan flag flying over a fragmenting Union Jack....

The book launched in September 2014

PERSPECTIVE IN DEPTH

(Haha - get it?).

As painters, we are constantly trying to portray a three-dimensional world on a flat surface - and one of the key elements in achieving the illusion of depth and distance is perspective.

There is more to perspective than you might think. In this workshop we will cover linear perspective - vanishing points, horizons, figures in a scene, subjective veiwpoints, the effect of proximity, camera versus eye, perspective in portraiture, foreshortening; and aerial perspective - diminishing tonal contrast, diminishing of warm colours, diminishing saturation, hazy edges, blues; and we'll put it all together - painting from life and from reference material - and include some particular instruction on clouds, water, streets and buildings. And for the brave, there'll even be a discussion on why the vanishing point is a lie....

Daniel will teach a perspective workshop for Watercolour NZ on the weekend of 9-10 August, 2014. Details on the Watercolour NZ website

Daniel did all the calligraphy for The Prime Minister's Educational Excellence Awards 2014.

Created the lettering design for the Spirit Storm logo. Spirit Storm is a game by Kabam.

Jaseth of Jaelshead, Book One: "Bloodkin" is a novel by Cathy Ashford, the first of a series.

Daniel created artwork and lettering for the cover and a map for inside the book, showing the arena in which the narrative takes place. The book is now published and for sale at Amazon

Cathy Ashford

Also released recently by Weta is the family tree of Baggins of Hobbiton, as seen in The Hobbit. This is for sale as an art print, available exclusively from Weta.

"The family tree used in LOTR naturally included the next generation (with Frodo et al); but events in The Hobbit are sixty years earlier, so I had to create this 'earlier' family tree for The Hobbit films." - DR

Watercolour NZ's monthly painting group met at Government House in Wellington for February's session; Daniel was the tutor.

With it being a special location, painting was followed by picnic lunch and wine on the lawn in front of Government House.

Daniel's demonstration painting can be viewed on the Paintings page.

"Amongst the many things I created for Bag End were these recipes, written by Bilbo Baggins. I decided on a Stuffing recipe(for chicken, duck, etc), a Lamb Stew, and Pastry Cakes. The pantry scenes were to be shot the next day, so I had to invent the recipes on the spot!

But I like to cook, so these should work fine...(as long as you know your noggins from your scruples, and have a porringer to measure things with)...."

These are now available as prints, from Weta

The Green Dragon is opened at the Hobbiton Movie Set, now a major tourist attraction near Matamata, New Zealand.

The Green Dragon is the local Hobbiton pub, featured in The Lord of the Rings, and now exists as a real bar, where visitors can sample hobbit-brewed ale and eat good hobbit fare, and view Daniel's artwork and maps on the walls.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" premieres at The Embassy theatre in Wellington, New Zealand.

Wellington City Council launched the "Middle of Middle-earth" re-branding of Wellington City today, adopting this logo designed by Daniel, in the lead-up to November's world premiere of The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey.

The design features Bilbo Baggins' round, green front door of Bag End. Symbolically, "when you open this door, you enter the world of The Hobbit; you enter Middle-earth".

The design also features the golden Ring, central to both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and a leaf representing Middle-earth fused with a "koru" representing New Zealand.

Sharp-eyed viewers will also find that the brass doorknob in the centre is actually a map of Wellington - Wellington of course being the "Middle of Middle-earth"

Daniel Reeve's prop replicas of the Lonely Mountain Map and the Burglar Contract are now for sale, exclusively from Weta, in their growing line-up of merchandise from The Hobbit films.

"Creating these things for the films was such a pleasure - but after their fleeting moments in the movie, they're gone. So it's fantastic now to be able to faithfully reproduce them for fans, to own for themselves, and enjoy all the detail that went into them, the detail that can never be fully appreciated on screen."

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The "moon runes" on Thorin's Map are invisible until the map is back-lit. The edges of the map are painted, every crease and every fold has been reproduced by hand, all the same "distressing" work done to the original has been applied to these replicas.

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Daniel not only created the Contract physically; he was also the author of it! A major piece of work, and an icon of The Hobbit films, this faithful replica of the original prop is truly a collector's item.

Daniel's famous Map of Middle-earth is now available for sale at Weta.

For the first time, this is a true and faithful reproduction of the original artwork, with no colour enhancements or other tweaks; just the warts-and-all ink and watercolour as Daniel created it on a bit of print-making paper in his garage, way back in 2001.

One of Daniel's paintings has become a ceramic tile!

The maori name for the fantail is "piwakawaka".

Calligraphers of Kapiti are exhibiting "Iconic Kiwis" - calligraphic depictions, representations and essays on famous New Zealanders.

The exhibition is in the Roderick & Gillian Deane Community Art Space at the Paraparaumu Public Library until November 11, 2011.

Daniel did two demonstration paintings for Watercolour NZ at their 2011 exhibition at the Michael Fowler Centre. This demonstration painting, entitled "How To Decorate Your Hobbit Hole" was painted using a limited palette of 3 colours, and sold on the spot.

Took part in the Unscripted exhibition, showcasing the artistic talents of workers in New Zealand's film industry. A great event, with amazing work. Hopefully it'll happen again next year.

WordsWork published by the Australian Society of Calligraphers. The ASC promotes calligraphy in Australia (and indeed New Zealand), and in 2010 decided to create a showcase of contemporary calligraphy from both countries. "WordsWork" is the result, and features calligraphy and Lettering Art from 72 artists - including Daniel Reeve.

The Northern Escape Artists Tour, with Daniel Reeve as Artist-in-residence, visited the beautiful Far North of New Zealand. Full report here

The latest issue of Calligraphers of Kapiti magazine (published quarterly) is released today. Covers Gemma Black's visit, various workshop reports, and an article on Spacing in our new Back to Basics column.

Daniel taught a watercolour painting workshop on the subject of the limited palette. The paintings shown here were created with only two colours. Daniel also demonstrated other two-colour palettes, as well as three-colour palettes in low key, mid key and high key variations.

Daniel taught a calligraphy workshop: teaching a script based on the Bâtarde hands, and how to create "parchment" effects on paper.