Case Study: Taking On Stroke Order with Kaiju
I've been busy with work and other things and as a result I've been unable to blog. Having said that, I'm trying to get back into it. Here's a little study regarding a little something I made for our Kaiju brand (check out my previous blog post for context) lately.
A pretty simple Sting Test. In it, the Kaiju Kanji is drawn out in red against a black-and-white cityscape. And then paint splatters, forming the beast, appear on the logo as the logotype emerges. The concept isn't exactly award-winningly innovative, but a good bit of research and digging into my heritage was necessary to execute this.
You see, there's an order to how Kanji (Japanese characters adopted from China) and Hanzi (the Chinese name for those Chinese characters) is written. And there are sets of rules (that differ slightly in China, Japan, Taiwan, and others) that define that writing order. In creating this Sting, I was very careful to follow these rules. Partially because it's fun to emulate the natural flow of writing with software, and partially because I think it helps add authenticity/panache to the look of the brand. I'd like to outline them a little here. Again, the rules differ a little bit between Kanji and Hanzi, so I'm just generalizing a little here. There are actually specific codified rules for each character in each system of writing, so I can only provide the basic rules.
The Rules
Rule 1 - Top to Bottom, Left to Right
A character with distinct vertical components is written top to bottom. A character with distinct horizontal components is written left to right.
Rule 2 - When Crossed, Horizontal Before Vertical
When the elements cross, the horizontal is drawn before the vertical. This rule is different in Kanji, where if a vertical element doesn't pass through the bottom stroke it is drawn first.
Rule 3 - Character-Spanning Strokes Come Last
Any stroke that cuts through a whole bunch of other strokes, vertical or horizontal, is written last.
Rule 4 - Right-To-Left Diagonals Before Left-To-Right Ones
When diagonals are symmetric, right-to-left before left-to-right. When asymmetric, other rules apply.
Rule 5 - In Vertically Symmetrical Characters, Center Before Outside
Also, don't forget to follow left-to-right in this case after writing the center.
Rule 6 - Enclosures Before Contents, Except Bottom
When a full enclosure is created, the enclosure is drawn before the rest of it, but the bottom stroke of the enclosure is usually last.
Rule 7 - Full Enclosures Are Written Left, Top, Right, (And Bottom After Everything Else)
Pretty self-explanatory. The top and right are usually written in a single stroke.
Rule 8 - Bottom Enclosures AFTER ENCLOSURE CONTENTS
When an enclosure only envelops the bottom, it's treated like the bottom of the box and written last (in the enclosure).
Rule 9 - Dots Last
Self Explanatory. Any sort of 'minor stroke' comes last.
In Conclusion
I hope you've enjoyed this little foray into the Kanji/Hanzi writing systems. I've had a good time delving back into my childhood (when I studied this stuff in elementary school and Chinese school). Hopefully it's taught you a little something too. Thanks for reading!
Sources
* Wikipedia article on Stroke Order
* Tutorming's page on Hanzi Stroke Order
* Tofugu's page on Kanji Stroke Order